Booking Holdings Inc (BKNG) 2017 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to The Priceline Group's Second Quarter 2017 Conference Call. The Priceline Group would like to remind everyone that this call may contain forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from those expressed, implied or forecasted in any such forward-looking statements.

歡迎參加 Priceline 集團 2017 年第二季電話會議。Priceline 集團謹此提醒各位，本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述是根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款作出的。這些前瞻性陳述並非對未來績效的保證，並且受到某些難以預測的風險、不確定性和假設的影響。因此，實際結果可能與任何此類前瞻性聲明中表達、暗示或預測的結果有重大差異。

Expressions of future goals or expectations and similar expressions reflecting something other than the historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For a list of factors that could cause the Group's actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the safe harbor statements at the end of the Group's earnings press release as well as the Group's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unless required by law, The Priceline Group undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

表達未來目標或期望以及反映歷史事實以外的類似表達旨在識別前瞻性陳述。有關可能導致集團實際業績與前瞻性聲明中所述業績存在重大差異的因素列表，請參閱集團盈利新聞稿末尾的安全港聲明以及集團最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。除非法律另有規定，否則 Priceline 集團不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而公開更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

A copy of the Group's earnings press release, together with an accompanying financial and statistical supplement, is available in the For Investors section of The Priceline Group's website, www.pricelinegroup.com.

本集團獲利新聞稿及其財務與統計補充資料的副本可在 Priceline 集團網站 www.pricelinegroup.com 的「投資者」部分查閱。

And now I'd like to introduce The Priceline Group's speakers for this afternoon, Glenn Fogel and Daniel Finnegan. Go ahead, gentlemen.

現在，我謹向大家介紹今天下午 Priceline 集團的演講嘉賓，Glenn Fogel 和 Daniel Finnegan。請繼續，先生們。

Thank you, and welcome to The Priceline Group's second quarter conference call. I am joined this afternoon by our Priceline Group CFO, Dan Finnegan.

謝謝，歡迎參加Priceline集團第二季電話會議。今天下午，我邀請了 Priceline 集團的財務長 Dan Finnegan。

The Group produced a solid quarter, reporting worldwide accommodation reservations of 170 million room nights, which is up 21% year-over-year and hit the top of our guidance range. Consolidated gross bookings were up about 19% year-over-year on a constant-currency basis or about 16% in U.S. dollars. Gross profit was up about 24% year-over-year on a constant-currency basis or about 21% in U.S. dollars. Adjusted EBITDA increased 20% year-over-year to $974 million.

集團本季業績穩健，全球住宿預訂 1.7 億間夜，年增 21%，達到我們預期範圍的上限。以固定匯率計算，合併總預訂量年增約 19%；以美元計算，年增約 16%。以固定匯率計算，毛利年增約 24%；以美元計算，毛利年增約 21%。調整後 EBITDA 年成長 20% 至 9.74 億美元。

We believe the growth that we are reporting demonstrates the strength of our brands, the value of a diversified global footprint and solid execution by our more than 22,000 employees located in more than 280 offices around the world.

我們相信，我們所報告的成長證明了我們品牌的實力、多元化的全球佈局的價值，以及我們遍布全球 280 多個辦事處的 22,000 多名員工的紮實執行力。

Looking at our individual brands, Booking.com recorded another impressive quarter, adding approximately 150,000 properties to the platform. As of June 30, 2017, Booking.com's total property count was more than 1.3 million, which was a 39% year-over-year growth rate and represented approximately 26.1 million potentially bookable rooms. These properties are located in over 220 countries and territories and show Booking.com's depth and breadth of global accommodation listings.

從我們各個品牌來看，Booking.com 又取得了令人矚目的季度業績，平台上新增了約 15 萬家飯店。截至 2017 年 6 月 30 日，Booking.com 的飯店總數超過 130 萬家，年增 39%，約有 2,610 萬間客房可供預訂。這些房源遍佈全球 220 多個國家和地區，展現了 Booking.com 在全球住宿資訊的深度和廣度。

One of the most important parts of the Booking.com platform is its vacation rental properties, which adds real choice for our customers. As of June 30, 2017, Booking.com had over 721,000 vacation rental properties, a growth rate of 54% year-over-year. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth in vacation rental properties. We will continue to add these type of properties across our entire global footprint, and note that all of the Booking.com vacation rental properties are instantly bookable. We believe these types of properties not only offer more choice for our customers but also provides conversion benefits across the entire Booking.com marketplace.

Booking.com平台最重要的部分之一是其度假租賃房源，這為我們的客戶提供了真正的選擇。截至 2017 年 6 月 30 日，Booking.com 擁有超過 721,000 套度假租賃房產，較去年同期成長 54%。這標誌著度假租賃房產市場連續第四個季度加速成長。我們將繼續在全球範圍內增加此類房源，請注意，Booking.com 上的所有度假租賃房源均可立即預訂。我們相信，這類房源不僅能為我們的客戶提供更多選擇，還能為整個 Booking.com 市場帶來轉換率提升。

We recently closed KAYAK's acquisition of the Momondo Group and are delighted to welcome the Momondo team to The Priceline Group. We believe the Momondo Group's 2 strong brands, Momondo and Cheapflights, will help further our goal of having the world's best meta-platforms. The Momondo Group is being integrated into KAYAK, and we are pleased to see early progress in this area.

我們最近完成了 KAYAK 對 Momondo 集團的收購，非常高興地歡迎 Momondo 團隊加入 Priceline 集團。我們相信，Momondo 集團旗下的 Momondo 和 Cheapflights 這兩個強大的品牌將有助於我們實現擁有全球最佳元平台的目標。Momondo集團正在併入KAYAK，我們很高興看到這方面取得了初步進展。

Agoda produced another solid quarter of gross bookings growth despite the competitive Asian markets in which it operates. Agoda is using technology to maintain a high level of competitiveness, employing machine learning to price effectively and continuously improving its front end through relentless experimentation. We believe that these efforts and others will enable Agoda to continue to be one of Asia's premier accommodation booking sites.

儘管Agoda所在的亞洲市場競爭激烈，但仍實現了另一個季度穩定的總預訂量成長。Agoda 利用科技保持高度競爭力，運用機器學習進行有效定價，並透過不懈的實驗不斷改進其前端。我們相信，這些努力以及其他舉措將使 Agoda 繼續保持亞洲領先的住宿預訂網站之一的地位。

Rentalcars.com delivered another strong quarter on both the top and bottom lines as the team continues to push operational improvements in key areas like customer service. Rentalcars.com is also beginning to build its capabilities to provide multiple ground transportation products for the entirety of its customers' journeys. We are excited about Rentalcars.com long-term vision to significantly reduce customer friction in ground transportation.

Rentalcars.com 在營收和利潤方面又取得了強勁的季度業績，團隊繼續在客戶服務等關鍵領域推進營運改善。Rentalcars.com 也開始逐步提升自身能力，以便為客戶的整個旅程提供多種地面交通產品。我們對 Rentalcars.com 的長期願景感到興奮，該願景旨在大幅減少客戶在地面交通方面的摩擦。

Priceline.com extended the progress it made in the first quarter and is seeing gradual acceleration in room night growth. We believe investments in people, product, technology and marketing are contributing to this improvement.

Priceline.com延續了第一季的進展，客房夜數成長正逐步加速。我們相信，對人才、產品、技術和行銷的投資正在促成這一進步。

OpenTable produced another positive quarter, driven by top line growth, and is meeting or exceeding its key operating metrics for the year, such as scaling its restaurant listings, growing total visitors on the platform and upgrading restaurants from its legacy electronic reservation book system to its cloud-based, guest-centered service.

OpenTable 在營收成長的推動下，又實現了一個積極的季度業績，並達到或超過了其年度關鍵營運指標，例如擴大餐廳清單規模、增加平台上的總訪客量以及將餐廳從傳統的電子預訂系統升級到基於雲端的、以客戶為中心的服務。

As we turn to the second half of the year and beyond, we note that we are always striving to increase the value of our accommodations platform. First, we believe that adding inventory, especially non-hotel properties and its related content, is an important step. We also believe that building a closer, direct relationship with our customers is an important long-term goal. One way we are doing this is by increasing our focus on brand marketing, which we've been doing and expect to continue to do so.

展望下半年及未來，我們注意到，我們始終致力於提升住宿平台的價值。首先，我們認為增加庫存，特別是增加非酒店物業及其相關內容，是一個重要的步驟。我們也認為，與客戶建立更緊密、更直接的關係是重要的長期目標。我們實現這一目標的方式之一是加大對品牌行銷的投入，我們一直在這樣做，並希望繼續這樣做。

However, even in paid channels, building the direct relationship is relevant. As we choose how much capital to deploy to a given paid channel, we evaluate things like the ROI, the overall user experience and the repeat-to-direct rates. Once a customer has landed on our site, we want to provide a great user experience with the greatest selection of all types of accommodations, at the best prices, on the best digital platforms, with the best customer support. Overall, we expect to continually measure and analyze all of our marketing mix to ensure that we are building a direct relationship with our customers.

然而，即使在付費管道中，建立直接關係也至關重要。在決定投入多少資金在特定付費管道時，我們會評估投資報酬率、整體使用者體驗和重複購買轉換率等因素。一旦客戶造訪我們的網站，我們希望透過最佳的數位平台、最優惠的價格和最好的客戶支持，提供最佳的使用者體驗，包括各種住宿類型的最豐富選擇。總而言之，我們希望不斷衡量和分析我們所有的行銷組合，以確保我們與客戶建立直接關係。

Finally, as we continue to move through our busy summer season, our employees are intensely focused on delivering an exceptional customer experience. I would like to thank our employees around the world for their hard work and dedication, especially during this peak travel season. And I would like to thank our supplier partners, with whom we are so proud to be associated with. And most important of all, thank you to our millions of customers throughout the world.

最後，隨著我們繼續進入繁忙的夏季，我們的員工正全力以赴地為客戶提供卓越的體驗。我要感謝我們世界各地的員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，尤其是在這個旅遊旺季。我還要感謝我們的供應商合作夥伴，我們非常榮幸能與他們合作。最重要的是，感謝我們遍布全球的數百萬客戶。

I will now turn the call over to Dan for the detailed financial review.

現在我將把電話交給丹，讓他進行詳細的財務審查。

Thanks, Glenn. I'll discuss operating results and cash flows for the quarter and then provide guidance for the third quarter of 2017. All growth rates referenced in my comments are relative to the prior year comparable period unless otherwise indicated.

謝謝你，格倫。我將討論本季的經營業績和現金流，然後對 2017 年第三季進行展望。除非另有說明，否則我評論中提到的所有成長率均相對於去年同期。

I highlight that our non-GAAP financial results and forecast include stock-based compensation and do not reflect the reduction to income tax expense related to available NOLs. The reconciliation between our GAAP and non-GAAP results is detailed in our earnings release.

我在此強調，我們的非GAAP財務表現和預測包括股票選擇權激勵，並未反映與可用淨營業虧損相關的所得稅費用減少。我們的獲利報告中詳細說明了 GAAP 和非 GAAP 結果之間的調整。

Room nights booked in Q2 grew by 21%, which was the top end of our guidance range. Performance was strong across each of our key geographic regions, and we believe that the growth rate achieved represents another quarter of increased market share. Rental car day reservations grew by 12% compared to 15% growth in Q1. Average daily rates for accommodations, or ADRs, were down slightly for Q2 versus prior year on a constant currency basis for the consolidated Group, which was below our forecast for growth of about 1%.

第二季客房預訂量增加了 21%，達到了我們預期範圍的上限。我們在各個主要地理區域都取得了強勁的業績，我們相信所取得的成長率代表著市佔率又一個季度的成長。與第一季 15% 的增幅相比，租車日預訂量增加了 12%。集團合併後的第二季平均每日住宿價格（ADR）以固定匯率計算略低於上年同期水平，低於我們先前預測的約 1% 的成長。

Foreign exchange rates unfavorably impacted growth rates expressed in U.S. dollars for our Q2 results as compared to prior year, but were slightly favorable to our guidance forecast. The favorable trend for foreign exchange rates has continued in Q3, as we will discuss in a moment when we get to guidance.

與去年同期相比，外匯匯率對我們以美元計價的第二季業績成長率產生了不利影響，但略微有利於我們的預期。第三季外匯匯率的利多趨勢仍在繼續，我們將在稍後談到業績指引時進行討論。

Q2 gross bookings grew by 16% expressed in U.S. dollars and grew by about 19% on a constant-currency basis compared to prior year. Gross profit for the quarter for The Priceline Group was $3 billion and grew by 21% in U.S. dollars and by about 24% on a constant-currency basis compared to prior year.

第二季總預訂金額以美元計算成長了 16%，以固定匯率計算成長了約 19%。Priceline 集團本季毛利為 30 億美元，以美元計算成長 21%，以固定匯率計算成長約 24%。

We estimate the gross profit growth benefits by about 2 percentage points from Easter shifting to Q2 this year. The shift of Easter from Q1 last year to Q2 this year also favorably impacts Q2 operating profit, EBITDA, net income and profit margins compared to the prior year.

我們預計，由於今年復活節假期提前至第二季度，毛利成長將提高約 2 個百分點。與前一年相比，復活節從去年的第一季推遲到今年的第二季度，也對第二季度的營業利潤、EBITDA、淨收入和利潤率產生了有利影響。

Our international operations generated gross profit of $2.6 billion, which grew by 24% in U.S. dollars and by about 26% on a constant-currency basis compared to prior year. Gross profit for our U.S. operations amounted to $351 million, which grew about 7% compared to the prior year. Advertising and other revenue, which is mainly comprised of non-intercompany revenues for KAYAK and OpenTable, grew by 5% in Q2 compared to the prior year.

我們的國際業務創造了 26 億美元的毛利，以美元計算增長了 24%，以固定匯率計算增長了約 26%。我們美國業務的毛利達到 3.51 億美元，比上年成長約 7%。第二季廣告及其他營收（主要包括 KAYAK 和 OpenTable 的非公司間營收）比去年同期成長了 5%。

GAAP operating income grew by 22%, and GAAP operating margins increased by 12 bps compared to Q2 last year. Operating margin performance was better than our forecast and prior year due mainly to gross profit growth and some brand advertising shifting into Q3. Non-advertising operating expenses were also favorable to forecast, due mainly to relatively lower bonus accruals and timing of spend.

與去年第二季相比，GAAP 營業收入成長了 22%，GAAP 營業利潤率提高了 12 個基點。營業利潤率表現優於我們的預期和去年同期，主要原因是毛利成長以及一些品牌廣告投放轉移到了第三季。非廣告營運支出也符合預期，這主要歸功於相對較低的獎金提列和支出時間表。

Performance advertising deleverage compared to the prior year was caused by lower ROIs and share of traffic by channel, partly offset by timing of bookings versus stays, including the impact of the timing of Easter that I just discussed.

與前一年相比，效果廣告的槓桿作用減弱是由於各通路的投資回報率和流量份額下降造成的，部分被預訂與入住時間的變化所抵消，包括我剛才討論的複活節時間的影響。

Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 amounted to $974 million, which exceeded the top end of our guidance range of $905 million and grew by 20% versus prior year. GAAP net income and fully diluted EPS both increased by 24%. Non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share was $15.14, up 20% versus the prior year, exceeding our guidance for the quarter and FactSet consensus of $14.20.

第二季調整後 EBITDA 為 9.74 億美元，超過了我們先前 9.05 億美元的預期上限，比去年同期成長了 20%。GAAP淨利潤和完全稀釋後每股收益均成長了24%。非GAAP完全稀釋後每股淨收益為15.14美元，比上年同期成長20%，超過了我們對本季的預期以及FactSet一致預期的14.20美元。

In terms of cash flow, we generated $1.2 billion of cash from operations during second quarter 2017, which is an increase of about 19%. During the quarter, we returned $344 million to our stockholders through share buybacks. Our cash and investments amounted to $16.6 billion at June 30, 2017, with about $1.9 billion of that balance in the U.S.

就現金流而言，我們在 2017 年第二季透過經營活動產生了 12 億美元的現金，比上一季成長了約 19%。本季度，我們透過股票回購向股東返還了 3.44 億美元。截至 2017 年 6 月 30 日，我們的現金和投資總額為 166 億美元，其中約 19 億美元在美國。

In July, we paid about $550 million of our international cash to close the Momondo acquisition. We are very happy to welcome the Momondo team into KAYAK and The Priceline Group. The acquisition is expected to be modestly accretive to our consolidated non-GAAP earnings in its first year post-close but to have a de minimis impact in Q3. We expect the acquisition to have a materially accretive impact to KAYAK's results and to help KAYAK accelerate its international growth and build its scale in the metasearch channel.

7 月，我們動用了約 5.5 億美元的國際現金完成了對 Momondo 的收購。我們非常高興地歡迎 Momondo 團隊加入 KAYAK 和 Priceline 集團。預計此次收購將在交易完成後的第一年對我們的合併非GAAP收益略有成長，但在第三季的影響微乎其微。我們預計此次收購將對 KAYAK 的業績產生實質的增益影響，並幫助 KAYAK 加速其國際成長，並在元搜尋管道擴大其規模。

Now for Q3 guidance. Our guidance assumes that our growth rates will decelerate, mainly due to the size of our business and consistent with long-term trends. Our guidance also reflects a difficult comp because our room night growth accelerated in the third and fourth quarters of last year. Our Q3 forecast is based upon recent foreign exchange rates, which, for the first time in recent memory, are favorable to our growth rates expressed in U.S. dollars. We have hedge contracts in place to substantially shield our third quarter EBITDA net earnings from any further fluctuations in the euro, British pound and various other currencies versus the dollar between now and the end of the quarter, but the hedges do not protect our gross bookings, gross profit or operating profit from the impact of foreign currency fluctuations.

接下來是第三季業績指引。我們的業績預期是，由於公司規模龐大且符合長期趨勢，我們的成長率將會放緩。我們的業績指引也反映了去年同期業績比較困難的情況，因為我們的客房夜數成長在去年第三季和第四季加速。我們的第三季預測是基於近期的外匯匯率，而近期的匯率首次對我們以美元計價的成長率有利。我們已簽訂對沖合約，以大幅降低第三季 EBITDA 淨收益在歐元、英鎊及其他各種貨幣兌美元匯率從現在到本季末的任何進一步波動的影響，但這些對沖合約並不能保護我們的總預訂量、毛利或營業利潤免受外匯波動的影響。

We are forecasting booked room nights to grow by 11% to 16% and total gross bookings to also grow by 11% to 16% in U.S. dollars and by 9% to 14% on a constant currency basis. Our Q3 forecast assumes that constant currency accommodation ADRs for the consolidated Group will be down by about 1% compared to the prior year period. We forecast gross profit to grow by 15.5% to 20.5% in U.S. dollars and by 12.5% to 17.5% on a constant currency basis. GAAP operating margins, expressed as operating income as a percentage of gross profit, are expected to be about 2,400 bps higher than prior year Q3, which included a $941 million noncash goodwill impairment charge.

我們預測，以美元計算，預訂客房夜數將增加 11% 至 16%，總預訂額也將增加 11% 至 16%；以固定匯率計算，總預訂額將增加 9% 至 14%。我們第三季的預測假設，以固定匯率計算，集團合併後的 ADR 將比去年同期下降約 1%。我們預測，以美元計價的毛利將成長 15.5% 至 20.5%，以固定匯率計算將成長 12.5% 至 17.5%。GAAP 營業利潤率（以營業收入佔毛利的百分比表示）預計將比去年同期第三季高出約 2,400 個基點，其中包括 9.41 億美元的非現金商譽減損支出。

Q3 adjusted EBITDA is expected to range between $2.03 billion and $2.13 billion, which, at the midpoint, is up 13% versus prior year. We forecast that adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of gross profit will be about 230 bps lower than prior year Q3. Our Q3 forecast assumes year-over-year pressure on performance marketing ROIs and increases in brand advertising, partly related to phasing of spend. More than half of the forecasted deleverage relates to non-advertising operating expenses as we invest for high travel season and innovation to drive future growth.

第三季調整後 EBITDA 預計在 20.3 億美元至 21.3 億美元之間，其中數值比上年同期成長 13%。我們預測，調整後的 EBITDA 佔毛利的百分比將比上年同期下降約 230 個基點。我們第三季的預測假設效果行銷投資報酬率年比承壓，品牌廣告支出增加，部分原因是支出分階段進行。預計去槓桿化的一半以上與非廣告營運支出有關，因為我們投資於旅遊旺季和創新，以推動未來的成長。

Glenn just spoke about some of the areas where we are investing. We are confident that investments in IT talent, supply acquisition, customer service and advertising will help us continue to stay ahead of the competition and deliver healthy growth in the future. We still expect that our non-advertising expenses will grow more slowly than our gross profit over the longer term, but in the short term, these investments will also exert a similar level of margin pressure in Q4.

格倫剛才談到了我們正在投資的一些領域。我們相信，對IT人才、供應採購、客戶服務和廣告的投資將幫助我們繼續保持競爭優勢，並在未來實現健康成長。我們仍然預計，從長遠來看，我們的非廣告支出成長速度將低於毛利成長速度，但短期內，這些投資也會在第四季對利潤率造成類似的壓力。

We forecast GAAP EPS between $31.70 to $33.40 per share for Q3, which, at the midpoint, is up by about 221% versus prior year. Year-over-year growth is impacted by the $941 million noncash goodwill impairment charge recorded in the third quarter of last year that I just mentioned. Our EPS guidance assumes a fully diluted share count of 50.1 million shares, which reflects the beneficial impact of the common stock repurchases we have made to date, offset by additional equivalent shares related to our convertible bonds due to the increase in our stock price.

我們預測第三季 GAAP 每股盈餘在 31.70 美元至 33.40 美元之間，其中數值比上年同期成長約 221%。去年第三季提列的 9.41 億美元非現金商譽減損費用（我剛才已經提過）影響了年增速。我們的每股盈餘預期假設完全稀釋後的股份數量為 5,010 萬股，這反映了我們迄今為止進行的普通股回購的正面影響，但被由於股價上漲而與可轉換債券相關的額外等值股份所抵消。

We are forecasting Q3 non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share of approximately $32.40 to $34.10 per share, which, at the midpoint, is up by about 12% versus prior year. Our forecasted non-GAAP income tax rate is about 18% for Q3 and the full year. Our forecast does not assume any significant change in macro-economic conditions in general or in the travel market in particular.

我們預測第三季非GAAP完全稀釋後每股淨收益約為32.40美元至34.10美元，其中數值比上年同期成長約12%。我們預測第三季和全年的非GAAP所得稅率約為18%。我們的預測並未假設宏觀經濟狀況（包括旅遊市場）會發生任何重大變化。

We will now take your questions.

現在開始回答各位的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Mark Mahaney of RBC.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行的馬克·馬哈尼。

Could you just talk about demand trends and, I guess, conversion rates, too, for traditional hotels versus kind of the alternative accommodations and what you're seeing there, to the extent which you're able to move the needle and start driving demand over to alternative accommodations, how much success you've had with doing that?

您能否談談傳統飯店與替代住宿的需求趨勢和轉換率，以及您觀察到的情況，以及您在多大程度上能夠改變這種趨勢，並將需求引導至替代住宿，您在這方面取得了多大的成功？

Mark, it's Glenn speaking. So I think you know we don't disclose the individual conversion rates for the different types of properties, but maybe I can give you a little color about how important we think the non-hotel accommodation, or sometimes we like to call it the vacation rentals business is. And I made the point in my prepared remarks about how we are continuing to accelerate the number of properties we're bringing on, and I think that's evidence of how important it is to us. And certainly, sometimes, people come to our site or to our mobile apps, and they didn't even think that they wanted to get a vacation room instead of a hotel.

馬克，我是格倫。所以我想您也知道，我們不會透露不同類型房產的具體轉換率，但我可以稍微向您介紹一下我們認為非飯店住宿（或我們有時喜歡稱之為度假租賃業務）有多麼重要。我在事先準備好的發言稿中也提到了我們正在不斷加快收購房產數量的趨勢，我認為這證明了房產收購對我們來說有多重要。當然，有時人們會訪問我們的網站或行動應用程序，他們甚至沒有想過要預訂度假房間而不是酒店。

That's one of the benefits of our platform, where we offer both property -- both types of properties right on that results page. So I can even give myself as an example, going on a holiday with 2 teenage kids and my wife. So there are 4 of us and trying to think, do we want a hotel? Or do we want to do something like a vacation stay? And it's so easy on the Booking.com site to see both types of properties right there and be able to make that decision. So we don't try and drive people to one or the other. The customer makes that decision. It's our job to make sure we get the right product out there at the right prices, giving people the opportunity to choose what they want and, if anything were to ever go wrong, make sure that we have that customer service there to back it up. And that's the way we're going forward. That's how we're going to win in that business. And Dan, I don't know if you want to give any added points to it.

這就是我們平台的優勢之一，我們在搜尋結果頁面上同時提供兩種類型的房產。所以我甚至可以以我自己為例，帶著兩個十幾歲的孩子和我的妻子去度假。我們一行四人，正在考慮是否要住飯店？或者我們想來一次類似度假之類的活動？在 Booking.com 網站上，您可以輕鬆查看這兩種類型的房源，並做出決定。所以我們不會試圖引導人們選擇其中一個。顧客做出這個決定。我們的職責是確保以合適的價格提供合適的產品，讓人們有機會選擇他們想要的東西，並且，如果出現任何問題，確保我們有完善的客戶服務來提供支援。這就是我們前進的方向。這就是我們在這個行業中取勝之道。丹，我不知道你是否想給它加分。

No, Glenn. I think you covered it all.

不，格倫。我覺得你已經涵蓋所有內容了。

Our next question comes from the line of Justin Post of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行美林證券的賈斯汀·波斯特。

Just related to the deceleration in the guidance in 3Q. Anything unusual happening in the marketing channels versus competition besides just tougher comps? Or any downtick in your marketing conversion rates contemplated in the quarter?

僅與第三季業績指引放緩有關。除了競爭更加激烈之外，行銷通路方面與競爭對手相比還有什麼異常情況嗎？或者，您預計本季行銷轉換率會有任何下降嗎？

So Justin, let me put it this way. Again, we hit the top of our guidance. We're pleased with our growth rate. The deceleration in the growth rate is consistent with our long-term trends and expectation for the business given our size now. The rate of deceleration certainly fluctuates from time to time, but I would say that we're pleased by the resiliency in our growth rate over many years. And I'd like to say that the factors that propelled us to where we are now are still intact. Some of the factors would be the secular shift from offline to online. We still have a very, very large market opportunity. We're still a single-digit market share of the global accommodation business. We're growing the property count. You saw those numbers.

賈斯汀，我這麼說吧。我們再次達到了指導原則的上限。我們對成長率感到滿意。鑑於我們目前的規模，成長速度放緩符合我們的長期發展趨勢和業務預期。雖然增速放緩的幅度時有波動，但多年來我們保持的成長率令人欣慰。我想說，推動我們走到今天這一步的因素依然存在。其中一些因素包括從線下到線上的長期轉變。我們仍然擁有非常非常大的市場機會。我們在全球住宿業務的市佔率仍然只有個位數。我們正在增加房產數量。你看到了那些數字。

We're the best-converting mobile and desktop platform in the whole space. We believe we're doing thousands of experiments every day. It's a consistent and balanced approach is our marketing. So I'm not going to call one out for this. We're always looking to make sure that we are optimizing in our marketing for all the different ways to market. And I'd just say that we're continuing to do the hard work. We have people who are coming out with innovation all the time in mobile execution, the vacation rentals I just mentioned. So I'm pretty pleased with where we sit right now. And Dan, anything you want to add?

我們是整個領域轉換率最高的行動和桌面平台。我們相信我們每天都在進行數千次實驗。我們的行銷策略是始終如一且平衡的。所以我不會因此點名批評任何人。我們始終致力於優化行銷策略，以適應各種不同的行銷方式。我只想說，我們仍在繼續努力。我們不斷有人在行動應用領域進行創新，例如我剛才提到的度假租賃。所以我對我們目前的處境相當滿意。丹，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

I would highlight that the comp is particularly difficult, so that factors into the deceleration relative to the prior year and our guide. And as Glenn said, our approach in the paid channels is consistent with what it's always been, so nothing that I would call out there.

我想強調的是，這次比賽難度特別大，因此與前一年和我們的指導方針相比，成績有所下降。正如格倫所說，我們在付費管道上的做法與以往一樣，所以沒有什麼特別需要指出的。

Our next question comes from the line of Eric Sheridan of UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的艾瑞克·謝裡丹。

Maybe just following up on your comments on the marketing spend. You called out ROI and share of traffic by channel. I wanted to know if we could get any more color there as you look into the back part of the year or what those pressures might be in terms of the marketing spend or the return you get on marketing spend.

也許只是想就您之前關於行銷支出的評論做個後續說明。你提到了各通路的投資報酬率和流量份額。我想知道，隨著時間推移，我們能否獲得更多相關信息，或者在行銷​​支出或行銷支出回報方面可能會面臨哪些壓力。

So it's Glenn speaking, Eric. We don't count -- we don't call out the different factors for the different marketing channels. One of the things that we think is very important is to using all the science we have. And we've hired a lot of very, very talented people in all areas: marketing, data scientists, technologists, to try and make sure that we can measure the amount of money we spend in all the different places that we can -- that we're marketing, that we can get the best return. In that return, certainly, ROI is an important factor, but it's not the only factor.

艾瑞克，是格倫在說話。我們不進行統計——我們不會針對不同的行銷管道指出不同的因素。我們認為非常重要的一點是，要充分利用我們所掌握的所有科學技術。我們聘請了許多各領域非常有才華的人才：行銷、資料科學家、技術專家，以確保我們能夠衡量我們在各個不同領域的支出——確保我們的行銷活動能夠獲得最佳回報。在上述回報中，投資報酬率當然是一個重要因素，但它並不是唯一因素。

And we include other things such as -- so we mentioned things like repeat rates. Are people coming back direct? How sticky is this? What's the user experience? We factor everything in we can to make sure that in the long run, we're going to help build that direct relationship with our customers, which, we believe, in the long run, is the way to become successful. Dan, you've been involved in this for a long time. What are your thoughts?

我們還包括其他因素，例如——例如我們提到的重複購買率。人們會直接回來嗎？這個東西有多黏？使用者體驗如何？我們會考慮所有可能的因素，以確保從長遠來看，我們能夠幫助建立與客戶的直接關係，我們相信，從長遠來看，這才是獲得成功的方式。丹，你參與這件事已經很久了。你有什麼想法？

Well, we did specifically say, Eric, in the prepared remarks that we are expecting that we'll see continued pressure on ROIs in Q3, so that is built into the forecast. And we didn't talk about our expectations for channel share, so we'll probably update you on that when we report the quarter.

嗯，艾瑞克，我們在準備好的發言稿中確實明確指出，我們預計第三季投資報酬率將繼續面臨壓力，這一點已經納入了預測中。我們沒有談到對通路份額的預期，所以我們可能會在發布季度報告時向您更新這方面的資訊。

And ladies and gentlemen, our next question comes from the line of Douglas Anmuth of JPMorgan.

女士們、先生們，我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的道格拉斯·安穆斯。

Can you guys just talk about the gross profit growth? And even if we're just looking at it on an FX-neutral basis, it just looks like the gross profit dollars that you're getting there are coming from kind of higher-gross-profit bookings, perhaps, relative to what we've seen in recent quarters. So we saw some of that in 2Q, and maybe that's implied in the 3Q guide as well. Is there something in particular going on there in terms of the mix?

你們能談談毛利成長情況嗎？即使我們僅從匯率中性的角度來看，您獲得的毛利似乎也來自毛利較高的訂單，相對於我們最近幾季看到的訂單。所以我們在第二季看到了一些這樣的跡象，也許第三季的業績指南中也有所體現。這種混合方式有什麼特別之處嗎？

No, Doug, nothing in terms of the mix. So we had a few quarters there where we're seeing pressure on that metric, gross profit as a percentage of gross bookings. And we've said that there's a modest underlying pressure on take rates, things like Agoda experimenting with discounting in their markets. But fundamentally, take rate's down. And what we were seeing was just the difference in timing between when bookings were occurring and stays were occurring. And when we have accelerating growth or strong growth, as we had in the end of last year and the first quarter of this year, the gross bookings grow faster than the gross profit. We also had the added impact of Easter shifting out of Q1 last year and into Q2 this year. And so now we're getting the benefit of that in Q2, just higher growth in checkouts relative to gross bookings and we're forecasting the same phenomena for Q3. But I would tell you, underlying that is a similar level of what I would call very modest pressure on underlying take rates.

不，道格，混合物方面沒有任何問題。所以，在過去的幾個季度裡，我們看到毛利佔總預訂量的百分比這項指標承受著壓力。我們之前說過，佣金率面臨一些潛在的壓力，例如 Agoda 等公司在其市場上嘗試折扣促銷。但從根本上來說，利率下降了。我們看到的只是預訂發生的時間和入住發生的時間之間的差異。當業務成長加速或強勁成長時，就像去年年底和今年第一季一樣，總預訂量成長速度超過了毛利成長速度。去年復活節從第一季移至今年的第二季度，這也對我們造成了額外的影響。因此，我們在第二季就享受到了這種成長帶來的好處，結帳量相對於總預訂量的成長更高，我們預測第三季也會出現同樣的現象。但我要告訴你的是，背後是類似的、我稱之為非常溫和的潛在成交率壓力。

Our next question comes from the line of Heath Terry of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的希思·特里。

Great. Glenn, wondering if you could just give us a sense of how much of this is related to strategy for you. This quarter is actually the lowest that we've seen in terms of the increase in advertising spend as a percentage of brand in the last year, 1.5 years or so. Was there a decision -- or is there a point to be made around your preference between sort of margin and gross bookings growth or gross profit growth here? Was there -- it would appear, based on that, that there was a trade-off that was made this quarter relative to the rate that you had been running for the prior 4 quarters.

偉大的。格倫，我想請你簡單介紹一下，對你來說，這其中有多少與策略有關。實際上，本季廣告支出佔品牌價值的百分比增幅是過去一年半以來最低的。這裡是否需要做出決定——或者說，您是否需要就利潤率和總預訂量增長或毛利成長之間的偏好做出表態？確實存在這種情況——根據這一點來看，本季度相對於前四個季度的運行速度，似乎做出了某種權衡。

Yes. I'm going to let Dan take that.

是的。我打算讓丹來做這件事。

Let me start off, and then Glenn can talk about our focused advertising. But fundamentally, what you're seeing there, Heath, is that deceleration in the top line. So we're getting the benefit of checkouts in Q2 from Easter and just from strong growth in gross bookings in prior quarters and the -- we had some deceleration in the room night growth. And so there's less advertising spend coming through to drive those bookings, but the fundamental ROI pressure there underlying that is similar to what we saw in the quarters before.

我先開始，然後格倫可以談談我們的定向廣告。但從根本上來說，希思，你看到的是最高增速的放緩。因此，我們受益於第二季度復活節假期的退房，以及前幾季總預訂量的強勁增長，但——我們的客房夜數增長有所放緩。因此，用於推動預訂的廣告支出減少了，但背後的基本投資回報率壓力與我們前幾季看到的類似。

And in the overall strategy, I would say there's been no change in strategy. We're always looking for a balance between growth and profit, and you've seen how we've done this for many, many years. I've been here now 17.5 years, and I think we've been fairly consistent and will continue to be consistent. In terms of the amount of money we're going to put to marketing, it's -- that's a function of that and it depends on ROIs. And what kind of returns we're going to be able to get is going to help determine how much money we're going to spend, and even more so, where we're going to spend it. And as I mentioned a couple of times now, but I'll repeat it because it's very important, that we're going to spend the money, and no matter what the marketing channel is, that's going to give us the optimal return for the long run. And that's important.

就整體策略而言，我認為戰略沒有改變。我們一直在尋求成長和獲利之間的平衡，而你們也看到了我們多年來是如何做到這一點的。我在這裡工作已經17年半了，我認為我們一直都比較穩定，而且會繼續保持穩定。至於我們要在行銷上投入多少資金，這取決於投資報酬率。我們能夠獲得什麼樣的回報，將有助於決定我們將花多少錢，更重要的是，決定我們將把錢花在哪裡。正如我之前多次提到的，但我還要再說一遍，因為這非常重要，我們要投入資金，無論採用何種行銷管道，這都將為我們帶來長期的最佳回報。這一點很重要。

Our next question comes from the line of Brian Nowak of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的布萊恩·諾瓦克。

I have 2. The first one is going back to your comments on building direct relationships, just curious, did the business mix shift toward direct in the quarter? And then high level, can you just talk to any of the hurdles you think you need to overcome to improve -- to really grow your overall direct bookings mix? And then Glenn, I'd be curious to hear. You've inherited a very strong European business that seems to have pretty big market share. If you step back, what are 1 or 2 areas where you really see the potential to improve the overall European growth over the next couple of years?

我有兩個問題。第一個問題是關於您之前提到的建立直接關係，我只是好奇，本季業務組合是否向直接業務模式轉變？那麼，從宏觀層面來說，您能否談談您認為在提升整體直接預訂量方面需要克服哪些障礙？那麼，我很想聽聽格倫的看法。你接手的是一家實力雄厚的歐洲企業，這家企業似乎擁有相當大的市場佔有率。如果從宏觀角度來看，你認為在未來幾年內，哪一、兩個領域最有潛力提升歐洲整體經濟成長？

Okay. So the first question about direct -- and we don't really talk about what the rate of people who come to us are direct or not, but there's nothing that I'll call out that's different or any of that. It's just -- what I will say is, and you've seen this over many, many years, and Dan's pointed this out several times -- about increasing pressure in certain parts of the marketing channels, ROIs going down. And you can see CPCs going up on certain paid channels. So of course, everybody always wants to get as many customers as possible to come to you direct and not have to pay for the marketing. And that's just exasperated when the cost of getting a new customer is more expensive. So nothing really new there. Still trying the best.

好的。所以第一個問題是關於直接就診——我們其實不討論來我們這裡的人中，直接就診的和不直接就診的佔比是多少，但我不會指出有什麼不同之處。我想說的是，多年來你們也看到了這一點，丹也多次指出過這一點——行銷管道某些部分的壓力越來越大，投資回報率卻在下降。你可以看到某些付費管道的每次點擊費用正在上漲。所以，當然，每個人都希望盡可能多的客戶直接找上門來，而不用支付行銷費用。當獲取新客戶的成本更高時，這種情況就更加令人惱火了。所以沒什麼新鮮的。仍在努力做到最好。

How we're going to do that is the same way we've always been doing it, but even more so. And that is providing all the things that we talk about each time we go on the call, which is making sure we have the greatest breadth of accommodations. That choice and making sure there's everything available is very important to the consumer when they come to our site. You have to have the inventory, then you need make sure that you got the best price because if you don't have the best price, they're going to go somewhere else. And once they do that, once they're okay with that, they want to make -- you want to make sure they have the easiest way to go through the process, whether it be on our desktop or our mobile apps or whatever form it may be down the road, is the most efficient, easiest, most frictionless way possible.

我們將採用與以往相同的方式，但會做得更好。而這正是為了滿足我們每次通話時討論的所有事項，確保我們擁有最廣泛的住宿選擇。對於造訪我們網站的消費者來說，這種選擇以及確保所有商品都能買到是非常重要的。你首先要有庫存，然後要確保你拿到了最優惠的價格，因為如果你沒有最優惠的價格，他們就會去別的地方買。一旦他們這樣做，一旦他們對此感到滿意，他們就希望——你希望確保他們能夠以最簡單的方式完成整個過程，無論是在我們的桌面電腦上，還是在我們的行動應用程式上，或者將來可能以任何形式出現，都要確保這是最有效、最簡單、最順暢的方式。

And then as I've pointed out before, at the end of the day, it's unfortunate but true, sometimes, things go wrong for people. And many times, it's nobody's fault. It's just something that's gone wrong in the person's travels. And we want to be there to be able to provide them with that assistance, which is why we do it 24 hours, 7 days a week in so many different languages. We have 43 languages on our Booking.com site. Doing all those things is what helps promote loyalty, and we're going to keep on doing that to get those people. So when they think about they're going to travel, they need an accommodation on Booking.com, or they're thinking of getting a car rental from Rentalcars.com, or they need a reservation at a restaurant, they go to OpenTable. Whatever part of our group, we want to make sure that the first thing they think is coming to us. And by providing the great service, that's how we're going to be able to do it.

正如我之前指出的那樣，歸根結底，雖然很不幸，但事實是，有時候，人們會遇到不順利的事情。很多時候，這不是任何人的錯。這只是此人在旅途中遇到的一件不愉快的事。我們希望能夠為他們提供幫助，所以我們每週 7 天、每天 24 小時用多種語言提供服務。Booking.com網站提供43種語言。做這些事情有助於培養忠誠度，我們將繼續這樣做來贏得這些人。所以當他們計劃旅行時，例如需要在 Booking.com 上預訂住宿，或者想從 Rentalcars.com 上租車，或者需要在餐廳預訂座位時，他們就會去 OpenTable。無論我們團隊的哪個部門，我們都希望確保他們首先想到的就是我們。透過提供優質的服務，我們就能做到這一點。

And your last question about Europe, while it's true we are probably the biggest player in Europe in accommodations and it's -- I would not say us to be a small player, I would still say, relative to the total amount of accommodations in Europe, it's not a large share. And that's just a tremendous opportunity for us to continue to build that out. And it's not just Europe but, of course, throughout the world. And as I said before, there's a lot of road left for us.

至於你最後一個關於歐洲的問題，雖然我們可能是歐洲住宿業最大的參與者，但我不會說我們是小參與者，不過相對於歐洲住宿業的總量而言，我們的份額並不算大。這對我們來說是一個絕佳的機會，可以繼續發展壯大。而這種情況不僅發生在歐洲，當然也發生在世界各地。正如我之前所說，我們還有很長的路要走。

Our next question comes from the line of Mark May of Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的馬克‧梅。

I believe in your prepared remarks, you commented about shifting some of your brand spend from Q2 to Q3. Can you discuss a little bit about why that occurred, maybe the magnitude, and if there's maybe a bit more flexibility in terms of pushing that out even further? And then just a bigger-picture question around metasearch. You've obviously been acquiring some metasearch assets. Does that, in all, reflect your view that it's been a bit difficult to convert some of the metasearch customers into direct-repeat customers?

我相信您在事先準備好的發言稿中提到過，將部分品牌支出從第二季轉移到第三季。您能否談談造成這種情況的原因、影響程度，以及是否有更大的靈活性來進一步推遲此事？然後，我想問一個關於元搜尋的更宏觀的問題。顯然，你們一直在收購一些元搜尋資產。總的來說，這是否反映了您的觀點，即把一些元搜尋客戶轉化為直接回頭客有點困難？

In terms of the advertising phasing, that's determined by our marketing teams, and they determined that they weren't going to spend as much in Q2 as they had initially thought, and now they're going to spend it instead in Q3. So nothing specific that I'd call out there, Mark, other than that's the marketing teams at the helm and deciding how they want to deploy the advertising.

至於廣告投放階段，這是由我們的行銷團隊決定的，他們決定在第二季減少投入，而不是像最初設想的那樣投入那麼多，現在他們將把這筆錢轉移到第三季。所以，馬克，我沒有什麼特別要指出的，除了行銷團隊在主導，決定如何投放廣告之外。

On metasearch, we've seen that it's a channel that's gained traction with travelers over the years, and so we saw Momondo as a great acquisition that we could add into the KAYAK fold and help build the scale of that business. We like having a metasearch business in the group, and we like having an even bigger metasearch business. We think that's even a better position to be in. There was just very natural fit between the 2 brands in various markets across Europe. So KAYAK is strong in some markets. Momondo is strong in others. And so we're really excited about the 2 businesses working together to maximize the opportunity in our metasearch platform going forward.

在元搜尋領域，我們看到它多年來一直受到旅客的青睞，因此我們認為收購 Momondo 是一項不錯的選擇，我們可以將其納入 KAYAK 旗下，並幫助擴大該業務的規模。我們喜歡集團內有元搜尋業務，而且我們希望元搜尋業務發展得更大。我們認為這甚至是一個更好的處境。這兩個品牌在歐洲各市場都非常契合。所以KAYAK在某些市場表現強勁。Momondo在其他方面也很強大。因此，我們非常高興這兩家公司能夠攜手合作，最大限度地發揮我們元搜尋平台未來的發展潛力。

Our next question comes from the line of Paul Bieber of Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的保羅·比伯。

I think it's the first time in maybe several quarters that you haven't beaten the high end of your room night growth guidance, so I was just wondering if something changed intra-quarter or if your approach to guidance changed. And then secondly, I believe you made some comments about the Asian competitive landscape when commenting on Agoda growth. Could you just provide some color on what you're seeing on the competition front in Asia?

我認為這可能是幾個季度以來你們首次未能達到客房夜數增長預期的上限，所以我只是想知道季度內是否發生了什麼變化，或者你們的預期方法是否發生了變化。其次，我認為您在評論 Agoda 的成長時也對亞洲的競爭格局發表了一些評論。能否簡單介紹一下您目前在亞洲市場觀察到的競爭格局？

Sure. In regards to your first, the answer is no change in the way we do guidance. Regarding the competitors and what I meant by that, let me give a little more color to that. So while I think many of you recognize that Asia is a great opportunity in the travel industry because a lot of people are becoming first-time travelers. As GDP per capita goes up and people become wealthy enough to travel, they want to travel right away. So that's great. Lots of growth there, and you see it in many different ways (inaudible). But one thing that we have seen, and this is over the 2 decades almost that I've been looking at the Internet, is that when you have very strong growth opportunities, you have a lot of players come in. And the players come in with a lot of capital.

當然。關於你的第一個問題，我們的指導方式沒有任何改變。關於競爭對手以及我的意思，讓我再詳細解釋一下。所以，雖然我認為你們中的許多人都意識到，亞洲是旅遊業的巨大機遇，因為很多人都成為了第一次出國旅行的人。隨著人均GDP的成長，人們變得足夠富裕，可以去旅行，他們就想立刻去旅行。那太好了。那裡發展迅猛，而且從很多方面都能看出這一點（聽不清楚）。但有一點我們看到，在我近二十年的網路觀察生涯中，那就是當出現非常強勁的成長機會時，就會有很多參與者湧入。而這些球員都帶著大量資金。

And it's very much a type of trying to grab -- it's a land grab. People trying to get share as quickly as possible, build up brand awareness, build up their name and try and get customers. And one of the ways they do this is raising capital and giving it away to customers, essentially discounting or other practices to try and build that business as quickly as they can. That's the competitiveness in there. If you look at prices for accommodations in Asia, it is one of the most competitive places in the world. That makes it more difficult for public companies that have certain desires to hit profitability levels versus a private company, perhaps, that isn't constrained the same way and goes out and raise capital and then gives it away in the marketplace to the consumer with discounting, in fact, at a loss-type accommodations. That makes it more difficult.

這完全是一種掠奪行為——這是一場土地掠奪。人們試圖盡快獲得市場份額，建立品牌知名度，提升品牌影響力，並努力獲取客戶。他們實現這一目標的方法之一是籌集資金並將其贈送給客戶，本質上是透過折扣或其他手段來盡可能快速地發展業務。這就是其中的競爭所在。如果你看一下亞洲的住宿價格，你會發現它是世界上競爭最激烈的地區之一。這使得那些有特定獲利目標的上市公司比私人公司更難達到獲利水平，因為私人公司可能不受同樣的限制，它們可以籌集資金，然後以折扣價（實際上是虧本）的方式在市場上出售給消費者。這就更難了。

That's why I'm so happy with the guys at Agoda, who are using all their technology and machine learning and pricing and doing it appropriately to compete effectively, to continue to grow, even though -- I won't say that they're competing with one hand tied behind their back, but I'll say they have a more difficult challenge. And that's what I was referring to.

這就是為什麼我非常欣賞 Agoda 的團隊，他們運用所有技術、機器學習和定價策略，並採取適當的方式進行有效競爭，從而持續發展壯大。雖然——我不會說他們是在束手束腳的情況下競爭，但我確實認為他們面臨著更嚴峻的挑戰。我指的就是這個。

Our next question comes from the line of Perry Gold of MoffettNathanson.

我們的下一個問題來自 MoffettNathanson 的 Perry Gold 家族。

Can you please discuss how the inclusion of flights in Booking.com has fared and whether it's helped to sell other travel products or overall site conversion?

請問Booking.com加入航班資訊後的效果如何？是否促進了其他旅遊產品的銷售或提高了網站整體轉換率？

So I will say one of the great things about this company, this Group, and one of the things that helped make it to this level of success it has, is willingness to experiment. And we experiment in many, many different ways, including bringing in different products onto different company websites and see how they perform. And when they become successful, we will then do more of that. And if it's not successful, we'll just get it away. Some of you may have seen some experimentation we're doing at Booking.com regarding some flight things with KAYAK, and we'll continue to experiment. Beyond that, there's not much to add, except the fact that if it is very successful, we'll do more of it. If it's not successful, we'll stop.

所以我想說，這家公司、這個集團最棒的一點，也是它如此成功的原因之一，就是它願意嘗試。我們以多種不同的方式進行試驗，包括將不同的產品引入不同的公司網站，看看它們的表現如何。當他們取得成功時，我們就會加強推廣這種做法。如果失敗了，我們就把它弄走。你們中的一些人可能已經看到我們在 Booking.com 上與 KAYAK 合作進行的一些關於航班方面的實驗，我們將繼續進行實驗。除此之外，也沒什麼好補充的了，只是如果它非常成功，我們會做更多類似的活動。如果失敗，我們就停止。

Our next question comes from the line of Lloyd Walmsley of Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的勞埃德·沃爾姆斯利。

A couple, if I can. First, can you guys just give us an update on how booking windows are continuing to change? Are you still seeing kind of more come early in the year and then again kind of late in 3Q from mobile? And do you think that's continuing to shift? And then just second one. You talked, I think, a little bit more in your prepared remarks about spending more on non-advertising OpEx. Can you elaborate a bit on if there's anything specific you're investing in and what kind of magnitude we should be thinking about, perhaps, relative to the BookingSuite investments in '15?

如果可以的話，希望能有幾個。首先，你們能否為我們更新一下預訂窗口的後續變更？你是否仍然看到行動端在年初和第三季末分別出現較多成長？你認為這種趨勢還在持續變化嗎？然後就是第二個。我認為，你在事先準備好的演講稿中更多地談到了增加非廣告營運支出。您能否詳細說明您正在投資的具體項目，以及相對於 2015 年 BookingSuite 的投資，我們應該考慮的投資規模？

Lloyd, so as it relates to booking window, we're seeing steady expansion in the booking window, so that trend continues. And we are also seeing more bookings coming at last minute because of mobile, so that trend has continued. I wouldn't call it just bookings coming in the early part of the year and then late in summer over mobile. But I'd just say in general, we're seeing that trend. In terms of non-advertising OpEx, in the prepared remarks, I said more than half of the deleverage forecasted for Q3 is attributable to non-advertising OpEx, so that will give you a sense for the sizing. And I said also that it's likely we would have a similar level of deleverage from non-advertising OpEx in Q4 as those investments flow through the pipeline. We still feel good that over the long term, based on the growth of our business and the past track record, where we have been able to deliver leverage in non-advertising OpEx, that we can make investments in the business, generally speaking, in the long term, without having deleverage in that line item. But in the short term here, we talked about the type of areas where we're reinvesting. We are investing for future growth.

勞埃德，就預訂窗口而言，我們看到預訂窗口正在穩步擴大，這種趨勢仍在繼續。而且由於行動裝置的普及，我們也看到越來越多的預訂是在最後一刻進行的，這種趨勢仍在繼續。我不認為這只是年初和夏末透過手機管道獲得的預訂。但總的來說，我們看到了這種趨勢。關於非廣告營運支出，我在準備好的發言稿中提到，預計第三季去槓桿化的一半以上是由於非廣告營運支出造成的，這應該能讓你們對規模有所了解。我還說過，隨著這些投資逐步落實，第四季非廣告營運支出可能會出現類似的去槓桿化。我們仍然感到樂觀，基於我們業務的成長和過去的業績記錄，以及我們在非廣告營運支出方面取得的槓桿作用，從長遠來看，我們可以對業務進行投資，一般來說，從長遠來看，不會在該支出上出現去槓桿化。但就短期而言，我們討論的是我們正在重新投資的領域類型。我們正在為未來的成長進行投資。

Our next question comes from the line of Ross Sandler of Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的羅斯·桑德勒。

Glenn, just following up on the topic of building a direct relationship. Expedia stated a year ago that hotel.com has about 2/3 of its bookings from loyalty members. So just wondering what the merits of cheaper prices and service levels are versus having a garden-variety loyalty program. I know you experimented with that for business customers in the past. What are your thoughts on just using price versus a traditional loyalty program?

Glenn，我只是想跟進一下關於建立直接關係的話題。Expedia 一年前曾表示，hotels.com 約有三分之二的預訂量來自會員忠誠度計畫。所以我想知道，相較於普通的會員忠誠計劃，較低的價格和服務水準有哪些優勢。我知道你過去曾針對企業客戶做過這方面的試驗。您如何看待僅使用價格而非傳統會員積分計劃這種做法？

So it's true. Booking.com has its Genius program, which I believe you're familiar with, and Agoda has a different program to get theirs, and OpenTable does loyalty program a different way than all of them. End of the day, though, more than anything in terms of loyalty is providing a great experience and the best price overall. One of the things that -- we have a mission. The mission is to help experience the world. And to enable people to help experience the world, that means giving them a great experience. And part of that starts right when you start exploring what you're going to do, where you're going to do it, how much it's going to cost. And we've been perfecting the way people are able to book their travel needs for many, many years, and we think that, overall, that's more important than anything.

沒錯，是真的。Booking.com 有其 Genius 會員計劃，我相信您對此有所了解；Agoda 則有不同的會員計劃；而 OpenTable 的會員忠誠度計劃也與其他所有公司都不同。但歸根結底，就客戶忠誠度而言，最重要的還是提供良好的體驗和最優惠的價格。其中一件事──我們肩負著使命。我們的使命是幫助人們體驗世界。為了讓人們能夠體驗世界，就意味著要帶給他們美好的體驗。而這一切的一部分，正是從你開始探索你要做什麼、在哪裡做、要花多少錢的時候開始的。多年來，我們一直在不斷改進人們預訂旅行服務的方式，我們認為，總的來說，這比任何事情都重要。

Yes, you have to have the best price. And yes, some people, for example, frequent flyers who are known as points junkies who only fly one airline, for example, to get their points. Yes, there's a niche for that. And we have a small company in the group called Rocketmiles that does something like that. But for the big picture, for us, is making sure that we have the absolute best product out there, providing it day in, day out, with the best customer service. And I will point to some people who aren't competitors, but companies that I admire and look to them as a reference, and one right off the bat would be Amazon. And Amazon, through things that they have done, has produced great loyalty. Why? Because it's an absolute great experience. It's a great way to get products you need at a great price. And we have no shame in saying we'd like to do things like they do, which is doing things the right way all the time as opposed to trying to buy loyalty by just giving away product.

是的，你必須提供最優惠價格。是的，例如，有些人，例如那些被稱為積分狂的常旅客，他們只搭乘一家航空公司的航班來獲取積分。是的，這方面確實有市場需求。我們集團旗下有一家名為 Rocketmiles 的小公司，專門做類似的事。但從大局來看，對我們來說，最重要的是確保我們擁有市面上最好的產品，日復一日地提供最好的客戶服務。我還要提到一些我非常欣賞並視之為標竿的公司，它們並非競爭對手，而是一家值得我們學習的公司，其中之一就是亞馬遜。亞馬遜透過所做的一切，贏得了極高的忠誠。為什麼？因為這是一次非常棒的體驗。這是以優惠價格購買所需產品的好方法。我們毫不羞愧地說，我們想效仿他們的做法，那就是始終以正確的方式做事，而不是透過贈送產品來試圖收買忠誠度。

And I'd just add to that, Glenn. The track record for Booking.com over the years has been very good that we bring customers in -- new customers through paid channels, and we win them over as loyal customers over time by giving them a great experience. The downside of these loyalty point programs is that you end up paying for your direct customers a fairly significant amount of money, in addition to having to pay to acquire new customers. And so there's a balance there. Even if you do get a higher percentage of direct, it's still -- it's not direct that you're not paying for.

我還要補充一點，格倫。Booking.com 多年來的表現一直非常好，我們透過付費管道吸引新客戶，並透過提供優質的體驗，隨著時間的推移，將他們贏得為忠實客戶。這些積分獎勵計畫的缺點是，除了要花錢獲取新客戶之外，你最終還要為你的直接客戶支付相當可觀的費用。所以這其中存在著一種平衡。即使你獲得了更高的直接佣金比例，但你仍然沒有為這些直接佣金付費。

Our next question comes from the line of Peter Stabler of Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的彼得·斯塔布勒。

Two, if I could. First, on vacation rentals. You've noted repeatedly over the years that, philosophically, you believe traveler fees work against consumer expectations and that harmonizing vacation rentals with hotel inventory from a consumer perspective is an advantage. Just wondering, on the supply side, do you think having a higher homeowner commission structure impacts your ability to build additional supply? Does that set up a pricing challenge for owners? Or are they just going to look at the volume that Booking has and say we're willing to pay a higher price? And then secondly, very quickly on Asian marketing, just wondering, is that exclusively performance marketing? Or is there a brand element over there? Any color you could provide.

如果可以的話，我希望有兩個。首先，關於度假租賃。多年來，您曾多次指出，從理念上講，您認為旅行者費用與消費者的期望相悖，而從消費者的角度來看，將度假租賃與酒店庫存協調起來是一種優勢。我想問一下，從供應方面來說，您認為提高業主佣金結構是否會影響您增加房屋供應的能力？這是否會為業主帶來定價方面的挑戰？或者他們只是會看看 Booking 的交易量，然後說我們願意支付更高的價格？其次，關於亞洲行銷，我想快速問一下，亞洲行銷是否完全是效果行銷？或者說，那邊有品牌元素嗎？任何顏色都可以。

Sure. And we've been asked that question before in different ways. And the way I look at this is say that we are continuing to have good success in adding properties around the world in our vacation homes area. And we haven't seen any slowdown in that in terms of people protesting what they're being asked to pay in terms of that commission. So I think we're okay there. If, at some point, there was a problem in that area, then we'd have to address it, but I see nothing in the near term that is going to slow that down. And the fact that we accelerated the growth of vacation rental properties, I think, is a data point that says it's okay. What was your second question about marketing?

當然。我們之前也曾以不同的方式被問過這個問題。我的看法是，我們在度假屋領域不斷取得良好進展，在全球新增房產。而且，我們還沒有看到人們抗議繳納佣金的現象減少。所以我覺得我們在這方面沒問題。如果將來某個時候這方面出現問題，我們就必須解決它，但我認為近期內沒有任何因素會減緩這種情況的發生。我認為，我們加速了度假租賃房產的成長這一事實，就是一個數據點，說明這樣做是沒問題的。你關於行銷的第二個問題是什麼？

Just curious about the mix over in Asia. Is it exclusively performance? Or is there brand marketing over there, too?

只是好奇亞洲那邊的混血狀況。僅僅是績效考核嗎？或者說，那邊也有品牌行銷嗎？

Yes. Again, we don't want to divide up how we're going to split up the money in different geographies in terms of where is brand, how much paid, et cetera. But I think it's important to repeat again. We look at all of our marketing spend holistically. We're always looking for the best return, and we don't care what form it comes from, right? We just want to get that best result. So yes, we do it in the numbers for you, and when Dan prepares everything, you see a line item that has your performance stuff. But the marketing people, they're looking at everything holistically. And they're not told, oh, you can only spend this amount on brand and this amount on performance at all.

是的。再次強調，我們不想討論如何在不同地區分配資金，例如品牌在哪裡、支付多少費用等等。但我認為有必要再次重申。我們會對所有行銷支出進行整體評估。我們總是追求最佳回報，至於回報的形式是什麼，我們並不在意，對吧？我們只想取得最好的結果。是的，我們會用數字來幫你計算，當 Dan 準備好所有東西時，你會看到一個包含你績效相關內容的條目。但行銷人員會從整體來看問題。而且他們根本不知道，哦，你只能把這筆錢花在品牌上，把這筆錢花在性能上。

Our next question comes from the line of Brian Fitzgerald of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的布萊恩·菲茨傑拉德。

Glenn, you mentioned machine learning going on around pricing at Agoda, and then I think Christa has been out recently talking about using AI to drive OpenTable search results and personalization. Are there common back ends there that you guys are using? Are the data stores common to be leveraged there? And then maybe kind of a follow-on, I know a very broad question. Are your efforts there around machine learning, around AI, are they primarily kind of early innings, focused on optimizing marketing? Or do you feel like it's broad-based, we're attacking marketing, we're attacking personalized results, ultimately, we're driving conversion?

Glenn，你提到了 Agoda 在定價方面運用機器學習，然後我認為 Christa 最近一直在談論使用人工智慧來驅動 OpenTable 的搜尋結果和個人化服務。你們都在使用哪些通用的後端？這些資料儲存是可以普遍利用的嗎？然後，也許可以追問一個比較廣泛的問題。你們在機器學習和人工智慧方面的努力，目前是否還處於早期階段，主要集中在優化行銷方面？或者你覺得這是一場廣泛的變革，我們正在攻擊行銷，我們正在攻擊個人化結果，最終，我們是為了提高轉換率？

Right. So I'll go in a little reverse order here. Everything regarding any form of AI, be it neural networks, machine learning, any form you want, very early innings in that area for everybody. I think 10 years from now, things are -- we're going to wonder, gee, it really wasn't early innings. It's sort of like we're just warming up in the ballpark. That's a great opportunity down the road. Second thing, regarding our companies, we do give everybody a lot of independence, and that includes their data stores and the data warehouses. They are not merged in any way, shape or form. But one of the successes of our company has been the sharing of knowledge, and that's allowing these data scientists to be able to get together at times, and actually, all forms of our company in different areas get together from the different companies and talk about what works, what doesn't work. And in that way, we've been able, I think, to accelerate the Group's achievements that no single company would possibly have been able to achieve on its own.

正確的。所以我接下來會稍微顛倒一下順序。無論是神經網路、機器學習，或是任何形式的人工智慧，對所有人來說，這都還處於非常早期的階段。我認為 10 年後，我們會想，哎呀，這真的不是比賽的早期階段。這就像我們只是在棒球場上熱身一樣。那將是一個絕佳的未來機會。第二點，關於我們公司，我們給予每個人很大的自主權，包括他們的資料儲存和資料倉儲。它們之間沒有任何形式的融合。但我們公司取得的成功之一就是知識共享，這使得這些資料科學家能夠不時地聚在一起，實際上，我們公司不同領域的各種形式的員工都會聚在一起，討論哪些方法有效，哪些無效。我認為，透過這種方式，我們得以加速實現集團的成就，而這些成就是任何一家公司單憑自身力量都不可能實現的。

Got it. And maybe I could ask one more just around the same question. Do you see -- as the booking process is moving more mobile, would you call out any differentiation between the quality or the volume of data you get from the mobile side versus desktop?

知道了。或許我還可以再問一個類似的問題。您認為隨著預訂流程越來越依賴行動設備，行動端和桌面端在資料品質或資料量方面是否存在差異？

I have not seen anything at this time that will be any sort of signaling that is material. That being said, I have to admit, I am not in the trenches with the people looking at what signals they're gathering up. So I have to plead a little bit of ignorance in that. But I think we're okay in saying that there's nothing coming out yet that we need to announce a material improvement.

目前為止，我還沒有看到任何實質的訊號。話雖如此，我必須承認，我並沒有和那些人一起身處一線，觀察他們收集到的訊號。所以，在這方面我只能說我有點無知了。但我認為我們可以說，目前還沒有任何跡象表明情況有實質的改善，因此我們無需宣布。

Our next question comes from the line of Kevin Kopelman of Cowen and Co.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen and Co. 的 Kevin Kopelman。

I had a follow-up on your comments on discounting. Could you talk about what you saw in the couponing environment, specifically in Q2, from competitors in emerging markets? Is it fair to assume that it was worse in the second quarter compared to the first quarter rather than stable? And then when you talk about very modest pressure on underlying take rates, what are the key drivers there of that modest pressure?

我還有一些關於您之前關於折​​扣的評論需要跟進。您能否談談您在優惠券市場，特別是第二季新興市場競爭對手的優惠券策略方面觀察到的情況？假設第二季的情況比第一季更糟而不是保持穩定，這種說法是否合理？那麼，當您談到對基礎成交率的輕微壓力時，造成這種輕微壓力的關鍵因素是什麼？

Well, I think -- I don't have any data in front of me that would compare the average discounting in Q2 versus Q1 or nail it down there. I would just say that we do see it, and it is a competitive issue that we have to deal with. And take rates, Dan?

嗯，我想——我手邊沒有任何數據可以比較第二季和第一季的平均折扣，或者說可以確定這一點。我只想說，我們確實看到了這個問題，這是我們必須面對的競爭問題。丹，你接受什麼費率？

So that pressure on pricing and Agoda doing some discounting is one of the things that's driving that modest pressure on take rate. And then besides that, we've called out in the past, the level to which chains participate in preferred placement programs at Booking.com can also have a modest impact. Those would be the 2 principal drivers.

因此，價格壓力和 Agoda 的一些折扣措施是導致成交率略微承壓的原因之一。此外，正如我們先前指出的，連鎖飯店參與 Booking.com 優先排名計畫的程度也會產生一定的影響。這是兩個主要驅動因素。

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Olson of Piper Jaffray.

我們的下一個問題來自 Piper Jaffray 公司的 Mike Olson。

I have 2 quick ones. First, looking at competition from Hotel Direct, would you say it's more or less significant than it was 6 to 12 months ago? And then second, if you excluded Europe, which market would you say you want to be most aggressive in over the next few years? You just made some kind of mixed comments on Asia-Pac and the tough competitive environment. So is it there? Or is it the U.S. or elsewhere?

我有兩個簡短的問題。首先，從 Hotel Direct 的競爭來看，您認為它與 6 到 12 個月前相比，是更重要還是更不那麼重要了？其次，如果排除歐洲市場，您認為未來幾年您希望在哪個市場投入最大的精力？你剛剛對亞太地區及其激烈的競爭環境發表了一些褒貶不一的評論。它真的在那裡嗎？或者，是美國還是其他地方？

Let me go with the second one first. And we have said several times, and we will still say it, that China is, by far, the most important region for us to continue to develop our business there because that's where the greatest growth is going to be and the fact that it's competitive. And as I said at the very beginning, the reason it's competitive is because it's so attractive to everybody. So we're absolutely going to continue to do that there, and we're doing it in 3 different ways. We're always concentrating on our inbound because we have so many customers around the world who are going to China, so we have a little bit of an advantage in that one. China outbound, because of the number of properties we have around the world and all the other things we have that go with that, that gives us a good edge there going on the outbound from China, which is growing very, very rapidly.

我先來說第二個。我們已經多次說過，我們還會繼續說，中國是我們繼續發展業務最重要的地區，因為那裡將是成長最快的地區，而且競爭也很激烈。正如我一開始所說，它之所以競爭激烈，是因為它對每個人都很有吸引力。所以我們肯定會繼續在那裡這樣做，而且我們將以 3 種不同的方式進行。我們一直專注於入境業務，因為我們有很多來自世界各地的客戶要去中國，所以我們在這方面略佔優勢。由於我們在世界各地擁有大量的房產以及與之相關的其他資源，這使我們在從中國出境旅遊方面具有良好的優勢，而中國出境旅遊正在快速增長。

The last part, that domestic Chinese business, the people in China who are traveling to China, is tougher for a non-Chinese company. We're doing a lot of thinking, what's the right way to approach it. We're investing. And of course, you know that we have an over $2 billion investment in the #1 online travel company in China, which is Ctrip, so a good partnership there, too. So we're approaching it in all different ways because we know it is a very, very important market for a very, very long time in the future. Regarding your other question about direct, Dan?

最後一部分，即中國國內業務，以及在中國境內旅行的人，對非中國公司來說更加困難。我們正在認真思考，怎麼做才是正確的。我們正在投資。當然，您也知道我們對中國排名第一的線上旅遊公司攜程投資了超過 20 億美元，所以我們與攜程的合作關係也很好。所以我們採取了各種不同的方法來應對它，因為我們知道在未來很長一段時間內，這將是一個非常非常重要的市場。關於你提出的另一個關於直接聯繫的問題，丹？

No, no real change in that. I think we -- our relations with the big chains is very strong. They're great partners for us. I think we're a great partner for them. We bring them a lot of demand. We're one of the lower-cost distribution channels out there. So we continue to work well with the chains, and their business with us continues to grow nicely.

不，這方面沒有實質改變。我認為我們與大型連鎖店的關係非常牢固。他們是我們非常棒的合作夥伴。我認為我們是他們的絕佳合作夥伴。我們為他們帶來了很大的需求。我們是成本較低的通路之一。因此，我們與各連鎖店的合作依然良好，他們與我們的業務也持續穩定成長。

(Operator Instructions) And I'm showing no further questions in queue. I'd like to turn the call back to Glenn Fogel for closing remarks.

（操作員指示）佇列中沒有其他問題了。現在我把電話轉回給格倫·福格爾，請他作總結發言。

Well, I just want to thank everybody for participating, and thank you very much.

最後，我要感謝大家的參與，非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. This does conclude the call. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，感謝各位參加今天的會議。通話到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。祝大家今天過得愉快。