Booking Holdings CEO Sees Greater Need for Urgency Under New Exec Structure
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Booking Holdings, along with Expedia Group, have both had to deal with acquisitions and integrations that have been taking too long. Booking officials are undoubtedly frustrated with the pace of progress at OpenTable and Rentalcars.com. At Expedia Group, Vrbo has been a multiyear reclamation project. To the speedster go the spoils.
From alternative accommodations to its attractions business, and the opportunity presented by the growth in Chinese travelers, Booking Holdings officials are upbeat about the company's long-term prospects.
And although the company, which calls itself the world's largest online accommodations business, beat analysts' expectations on revenue and earnings per share in the second quarter, there were some hiccups along the way.
For example, Booking Holdings, which increased its brand marketing, including TV advertising, 41 percent to $175 million in the second quarter versus the same period in 2018, was disappointed in the results.
Over the last couple of years, Booking Holdings has been making a push to tilt its marketing spend toward brand marketing, as opposed to performance channels such as Google, in a bid to attract more direct traffic to Booking's sites. The brand marketing spend, though, is still way smaller than performance marketing spend, $175 million versus nearly $1.2 billion in the second quarter.
Come See Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel Speak at Skift Global Forum on Sept. 18 in NYC. Get Tickets Now
CEO Glenn Fogel said Booking.com launched a brand marketing campaign in late February, and he'd like to see it performi