Booking Holdings Missed Out on the Pandemic's Global Short-Term Rental Boom: Here's Why
Skift Take
The geographic business mix of Booking Holdings has always been a tightly held secret. The trajectory of the uneven recovery, with the U.S. being its strongest and Europe the weakest regions, prompted the company the tell-all. The dynamic proved disadvantageous for Booking's short-term rentals.
The dynamics of the travel recovery and setbacks around the world during the first quarter prompted Booking Holdings — for the first time in recent memory — to provide percentages about the geographic sources of its business.
Other than the company being strongest in Europe and committed to expanding in the U.S., that business mix has always been kept under wraps, absent from financial discussions and filings.
The numbers explain why expanding into the U.S. is so important for Booking.com, the largest brand in a portfolio that includes Priceline, Kayak and others, and why Booking Holdings was unable to take advantage of the boom in short-term rentals during the quarter that ended March 31.
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During the company's first quarter earnings call Wednesday, Booking Chief Financial Officer David Goulden said pre-Covid Booking Holdings generated around 50 percent "or maybe a little bit more," 20 percent came from Asia, and the rest of the world, including the U.S., accounted for a
