Booking Holdings Inc (BKNG) 2017 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to The Priceline Group's Third Quarter 2017 Conference Call.

歡迎參加 Priceline 集團 2017 年第三季電話會議。

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.

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 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 statement, please refer to the safe harbor statement 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.

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向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新文件。

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.

除非法律另有規定，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 For Investors section of the Priceline Group's website, www.pricelinegroup.com.

該集團的獲利新聞稿副本以及隨附的財務和統計補充文件可在 Priceline 集團網站 www.pricelinegroup.com 的「投資者」部分查閱。

And now I'd like to introduce 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 Group 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 third quarter conference call. I am joined this afternoon by our Priceline Group's CFO, Dan Finnegan.

謝謝，歡迎參加Priceline集團第三季​​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 178 million room nights, which is up 19% year-over-year and exceeded the high end of our guidance range. Consolidated gross bookings were up about 18% year-over-year in U.S. dollars or about 16% on a constant currency basis. Gross profit was up about 22% year-over-year in U.S. dollars or about 19% on a constant currency basis. Adjusted EBITDA increased 18% year-over-year to $2.2 billion.

該集團本季業績穩健，全球住宿預訂 1.78 億間夜，年增 19%，超過了我們預期範圍的上限。以美元計算，綜合總預訂額較去年同期成長約 18%；以固定匯率計算，較去年同期成長約 16%。以美元計，毛利年增約 22%；以固定匯率計算，毛利年增約 19%。調整後的 EBITDA 年增 18% 至 22 億美元。

Our room night growth was healthy considering a difficult year-over-year comparable. I believe this growth reflects strong execution by our brands in all of our key global markets.

考慮到去年同期基數較高，我們的客房夜數成長情況良好。我認為這一成長反映了我們旗下品牌在所有主要全球市場中的強勁表現。

During the third quarter, we continued to develop and implement our performance and brand advertising strategies and made other investments in the business. Our results and our outlook for growth and operating margins are reflective of these steps. And going forward, these investments will enable us to further build on our foundation for the future.

第三季度，我們繼續制定和實施績效和品牌廣告策略，並對業務進行了其他投資。我們的業績以及對成長和營業利潤率的展望都反映了這些舉措。展望未來，這些投資將使我們能夠進一步夯實未來發展的基礎。

As you know, Booking.com has been building its investment in brand advertising over the past several years. Our results to date and developments in the marketplace have encouraged us to continue this investment to further build this channel as a material source of direct traffic and as a way to bolster the effectiveness of our performance-based advertising. We believe these media investments will also help us build awareness of our vacation rental business, where we've been adding scale rapidly.

如您所知，Booking.com 在過去幾年中一直在加大對品牌廣告的投入。我們迄今為止所取得的成果和市場的發展鼓勵我們繼續這項投資，以進一步將該管道打造成為直接流量的重要來源，並以此來增強我們基於效果的廣告的有效性。我們相信這些媒體投入也將有助於提高人們對我們度假租賃業務的認知度，我們一直在快速擴大業務的規模。

By the end of the year, we expect to be advertising Booking.com on TV in approximately 30 countries compared to 12 in 2016. This continued spend, as we build campaigns in additional geographies and increased media support in markets where we're already advertising, will put pressure on margins. However, we believe this spend represents an important long-term investment in the franchise and is the right thing to do at this time.

今年底，我們預計將在約 30 個國家透過電視廣告宣傳 Booking.com，而 2016 年這一數字為 12 個國家。隨著我們在更多地區開展廣告活動，並在我們已經投放廣告的市場加大媒體投入，持續的支出將對利潤率帶來壓力。但是，我們認為這筆支出代表著對該特許經營權的一項重要的長期投資，也是目前應該做的正確事情。

In performance-based channels, competition for top placement has reduced ROIs over the years and been a source of margin pressure, with an increasing share of the unit economics accruing to the benefit of our advertising partners. This has been a concern to us since some of these partners use our advertising dollars to compete with us in the advertising funnel and represent themselves as places to not only research travel, but also book it.

在以效果為導向的管道中，對最佳位置的競爭多年來降低了投資回報率，並造成了利潤壓力，越來越多的單位經濟效益歸於我們的廣告合作夥伴。我們一直很擔心這一點，因為其中一些合作夥伴利用我們的廣告預算在廣告管道中與我們競爭，並將自己標榜為不僅可以搜尋旅遊訊息，還可以預訂旅行的地方。

We are looking at each channel and managing them to ensure that we are supporting channels which deliver appropriate ROIs, treat our conversion-friendly product displays fairly and offer a superior consumer experience with the overall goal of building our direct traffic over time. These actions may create modest headwinds for top line growth in future quarters but we believe are essential to building an effective and sustainable program.

我們正在審視並管理每個管道，以確保我們支援的管道能夠帶來適當的投資回報率，公平對待我們易於轉化的產品展示，並提供卓越的消費者體驗，最終目標是隨著時間的推移增加我們的直接流量。這些措施可能會在未來幾季對營收成長造成一些不利影響，但我們認為這些措施對於建立一個有效且可持續的專案至關重要。

This year, we have experienced continued pressure on nonadvertising operating expenses, and I want to outline some of the areas where we are investing. As our businesses have scaled, we have grown our IT development resources at a faster rate than gross profit growth in order to innovate on the product side. We are working to capture the promise of new technologies and platforms, including investments in machine learning and other areas of artificial intelligence.

今年，非廣告營運費用持續面臨壓力，我想概述我們正在投資的一些領域。隨著業務規模的擴大，為了在產品方面進行創新，我們的 IT 開發資源成長速度超過了毛利成長速度。我們正努力掌握新技術和平台的潛力，包括對機器學習和其他人工智慧領域的投資。

In addition, we have added resources to support global customer and partner services functions.

此外，我們還增加了資源，以支援全球客戶和合作夥伴服務職能。

One of the most promising areas is offering accommodations beyond the traditional hotel. The number of these types of properties Booking.com now supports has grown rapidly over the last 12 months. This type of supply has a lower average number of bookable rooms per property, and the partners often require more services to maintain their listings.

最有發展前景的領域之一是提供傳統酒店以外的住宿選擇。在過去 12 個月裡，Booking.com 支援的這類房源數量成長迅速。這種類型的房源平均每個可預訂房間數較少，合作夥伴通常需要更多服務來維護其房源資訊。

In addition, this type of product has a higher level of customer contacts due to its unique nature. As a result, we must add staff in both partner and customer services to support this business as well as add additional IT support. As we further develop this business segment for long-term success, we expect that some of these investments will continue to put pressure on operating margins in coming quarters.

此外，由於其獨特性，這類產品擁有更高的客戶接觸率。因此，我們必須在合作夥伴服務和客戶服務方面增加人手來支援這項業務，並增加額外的 IT 支援。隨著我們進一步發展這一業務板塊以實現長期成功，我們預計其中一些投資將在未來幾季繼續對營業利潤率造成壓力。

And aggressively expanding our vacation rental business is a key part of our growth strategy. As consumers increasingly desire to explore more unique places to stay, including homes and apartments, we want Booking.com to remain to be the leading platform to search and book all types of accommodations.

積極拓展度假租賃業務是我們成長策略的關鍵組成部分。隨著消費者越來越渴望探索更多獨特的住宿地點，包括民宿和公寓，我們希望 Booking.com 繼續保持其作為搜尋和預訂各類住宿的領先平台的地位。

As of September 30, Booking.com had over 816,000 vacation rental properties, which was a 58% year-over-year growth rate. These listings are fully integrated into our marketplace with the same booking path and the same great customer service. The addition of these nontraditional listings produces conversion benefits across our entire marketplace.

截至9月30日，Booking.com擁有超過81.6萬套度假租賃房產，較去年同期成長58%。這些房源已完全整合到我們的市場平台中，擁有相同的預訂流程和同樣優質的客戶服務。這些非傳統商品資訊的加入，為我們整個市場帶來了轉換率提升。

And we note the investment in our vacation rental business has delivered rapid growth in listings and room night reservations that exceeds our consolidated growth rates. In total, Booking.com had 1.5 million instantly bookable properties on its platform as of September 30, which was a 41% year-over-year growth rate and represented approximately 26.9 million potentially bookable rooms.

我們注意到，度假租賃業務的投資帶來了房源數量和客房預訂量的快速成長，超過了我們整體的成長率。截至 9 月 30 日，Booking.com 平台上共有 150 萬個可立即預訂的房源，年增 41%，相當於約 2,690 萬間潛在可預訂客房。

In closing, I am pleased with our third quarter performance, and we will continue to make the smart investments needed to push the pace of innovation across our brands and maximize the long-term value of our business. I would like to thank our employees around the world for their hard work and dedication, especially during the busy third quarter travel season that recently ended.

最後，我對我們第三季的業績感到滿意，我們將繼續進行必要的明智投資，以加快我們旗下各品牌的創新步伐，並最大限度地提高我們業務的長期價值。我要感謝我們世界各地的員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，尤其是在剛結束的繁忙的第三季度旅遊旺季期間。

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 fourth 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 年第四季進行展望。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 forecasts include stock-based compensation and do not reflect a 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，並且沒有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 Q3 grew by 19%. We were pleased to exceed the top end of our guidance range and experienced relatively modest sequential deceleration in growth despite a very difficult prior year comp and taking steps midway through the quarter to improve the efficiency of our performance marketing channels.

第三季客房預訂量增加了 19%。我們很高興超過了預期範圍的上限，儘管去年同期基數非常低，並且在本季度中期採取措施提高效果營銷渠道的效率，但增長仍出現了相對溫和的環比放緩。

Rental car day reservations grew by 5% compared to 12% growth in Q2. Average daily rates for accommodations, or ADRs, were down about 1% for Q3 versus prior year on a constant currency basis for the consolidated group, which was consistent with our forecast.

與第二季 12% 的增幅相比，租車日預訂量增加了 5%。集團第三季​​住宿平均每日價格（ADR）以固定匯率計算比上年同期下降約 1%，與我們的預測一致。

Foreign exchange rates favorably impacted growth rates expressed in U.S. dollars for our Q3 results as compared to prior year.

與上年同期相比，外匯匯率對我們以美元計價的第三季業績成長率產生了有利影響。

Q3 gross bookings grew by 18%, expressed in U.S. dollars, and grew by about 16% on a constant currency basis compared to prior year. Gross profit for the quarter for Priceline Group was $4.4 billion and grew by 22% in U.S. dollars and by about 19% on a constant currency basis compared to prior year. Gross profit includes $33 million from our acquisition of the Momondo Group, which we closed on July 24.

第三季總預訂量以美元計成長了 18%，以固定匯率計算，與去年同期相比成長了約 16%。Priceline集團本季毛利為44億美元，以美元計算成長22%，以固定匯率計算成長約19%，與去年同期相比。毛利包括我們於 7 月 24 日完成的對 Momondo 集團的收購所得的 3,300 萬美元。

Our international operations generated gross profit of approximately $4 billion, which grew by 23% in U.S. dollars and by about 20% on a constant currency basis compared to prior year. Gross profit for our U.S. operations amounted to $372 million, which grew about 11% compared to the prior year. Advertising and other revenue, which is mainly comprised of nonintercompany revenues for KAYAK and OpenTable, grew by 27% in Q3 compared to the prior year, including revenue from Momondo.

我們的國際業務創造了約 40 億美元的毛利，以美元計算增長了 23%，以固定匯率計算增長了約 20%。我們美國業務的毛利達到 3.72 億美元，比上年成長約 11%。廣告和其他收入（主要包括 KAYAK 和 OpenTable 的非公司間收入）在第三季比去年同期成長了 27%，其中包括 Momondo 的營收。

GAAP operating income grew by 152% and GAAP operating margins increased by 2,483 bps compared to Q3 last year. Our Q3 2016 GAAP results include a $941 million noncash goodwill impairment charge.

與去年第三季相比，GAAP 營業收入成長了 152%，GAAP 營業利潤率提高了 2483 個基點。我們 2016 年第三季 GAAP 業績包括 9.41 億美元的非現金商譽減損支出。

Operating margin performance was better than our forecast due mainly to gross profit growth and performance marketing efficiency that exceeded forecast.

營業利益率表現優於預期，主要原因是毛利成長和績效行銷效率超乎預期。

We increased our investment in brand advertising by 55% in Q3 to build brand awareness and drive traffic directly to our websites. Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 amounted to $2.19 billion, which exceeded the top end of our guidance range of $2.13 billion and grew by 18% versus prior year.

第三季度，我們將品牌廣告投入增加了 55%，以提升品牌知名度並直接為我們的網站引流。第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 21.9 億美元，超過了我們先前 21.3 億美元的預期上限，比去年同期成長了 18%。

GAAP net income and fully diluted EPS both increased by 240%, with growth impacted by the goodwill impairment charge in Q3 2016. Non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share was $35.22, up 19% versus the prior year, exceeding our guidance for the quarter and FactSet consensus of $34.26.

GAAP 淨利和完全稀釋每股盈餘均成長了 240%，但成長受到 2016 年第三季商譽減損支出的影響。非GAAP完全稀釋後每股淨收益為35.22美元，比上年同期成長19%，超過了我們對本季的預期以及FactSet的普遍預期34.26美元。

In terms of cash flow, we generated $1.9 billion of cash from operations during third quarter 2017, which is an increase of about 24%. In July, we paid about $556 million of our international cash to close the Momondo acquisition. During the third quarter, we returned $586 million to our stockholders through share buybacks. Since September 30 through Friday, we have spent an additional $166 million to purchase 87,000 shares.

就現金流而言，我們在 2017 年第三季透過經營活動產生了 19 億美元的現金，成長了約 24%。7 月，我們動用了約 5.56 億美元的國際現金完成了對 Momondo 的收購。第三季度，我們透過股票回購向股東返還了 5.86 億美元。自 9 月 30 日以來，截至上週五，我們已額外花費 1.66 億美元購買了 87,000 股股票。

Year-to-date free cash flow amounted to almost $3.3 billion, growing by 20% compared to the prior year. About 34% of our gross profit converts to free cash flow, which is a function of attractive profit margins and capital efficiency for our business. Our cash and investments amounted to $18.4 billion at quarter close, with about $2.5 billion of that balance in the U.S.

今年迄今的自由現金流接近 33 億美元，比上年增長 20%。我們約 34% 的毛利轉化為自由現金流，這得益於我們業務具有吸引力的利潤率和資本效率。截至季末，我們的現金和投資總額為 184 億美元，其中約 25 億美元在美國。

Now for Q4 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 an exceptionally difficult prior year comparable because our 31% room night growth in the fourth quarter last year was the highest we had achieved in several years.

接下來是第四季業績展望。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異常艱難，因為去年第四季我們客房夜數成長了 31%，這是我們近年來取得的最高成長率。

Glenn just discussed steps we are taking to optimize the efficiency of our performance advertising spend, which we forecast will have a modestly negative impact on top line growth for the coming quarters. Our Q4 forecast is based upon recent foreign exchange rates, which favorably impact our growth rates expressed in U.S. dollars.

Glenn 剛剛討論了我們正在採取的措施，以優化效果廣告支出的效率，我們預測這將對未來幾季的營收成長產生輕微的負面影響。我們的第四季預測是基於近期的外匯匯率，這對以美元計價的成長率產生了有利影響。

We have hedge contracts in place to substantially shield our fourth quarter EBITDA and net earnings from any further fluctuation in 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.

我們已簽訂對沖合約，以大幅保護我們的第四季度 EBITDA 和淨利潤免受從現在到本季度末貨幣對美元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、毛利潤或營業利潤免受外匯波動的影響。

We are forecasting booked room nights to grow by 8% to 13% and total gross bookings to grow by 9.5% to 14.5% in U.S. dollars and by 5.5% to 10.5% on a constant currency basis. Our Q4 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 Q4 gross profit to grow by 10.5% to 15.5% in U.S. dollars and by 6% to 11% on a constant currency basis.

我們預測，以美元計算，預訂客房夜數將增長 8% 至 13%，總預訂額將增長 9.5% 至 14.5%；以固定匯率計算，總預訂額將增長 5.5% 至 10.5%。我們第四季的預測假設，以固定匯率計算，合併集團的 ADR 將比去年同期下降約 1%。我們預測第四季毛利將以美元計價成長 10.5% 至 15.5%，以固定匯率計算成長 6% 至 11%。

GAAP operating margins, expressed as operating income as a percentage of gross profit, are expected to be about 340 bps lower than prior year Q4. Q4 adjusted EBITDA is expected to range between $870 million and $910 million, which at the midpoint is up about 2% versus prior year. We forecast that adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of gross profit will be about 350 bps lower than prior year Q4.

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四季下降約 340 個基點。預計第四季度調整後 EBITDA 將在 8.7 億美元至 9.1 億美元之間，其中值比上年同期增長約 2%。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 350 個基點。

Our Q4 forecast reflects an assumed improvement in year-over-year performance marketing efficiency. The deleverage assumed in our forecast reflects the investments in brand advertising and nonadvertising operating expenses that Glenn just spoke about. The investments in brand advertising and nonadvertising operating expenses have a more significant margin impact in Q4 and Q1, which are quarters in which we earn a smaller share of our annual profits due to the normal seasonality of our business.

我們第四季的預測反映了預期中績效行銷效率將比上年有所提高。我們在預測中假設的去槓桿化反映了格倫剛才提到的品牌廣告和非廣告營運費用的投資。品牌廣告和非廣告營運費用的投資在第四季度和第一季對利潤率的影響更為顯著，因為由於我們業務的正常季節性，這兩個季度我們獲得的年度利潤份額較小。

We forecast GAAP EPS between $12.60 to $13.20 per share for Q4, which at the midpoint is down by about 4% versus prior year. Our EPS guidance assumes a fully diluted share count of about 49.7 million shares, which reflects the beneficial impact of 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.

我們預測第四季度 GAAP 每股收益在 12.60 美元至 13.20 美元之間，其中數值比去年同期下降約 4%。我們的每股盈餘預期假設完全稀釋後的股份數量約為 4,970 萬股，這反映了我們迄今為止進行的普通股回購的有利影響，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。

Our GAAP EPS guidance assumes a tax rate of 17% compared to the prior year tax rate of 12%, which was beneficially impacted by nonrecurring discrete items. We are forecasting Q4 non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share of approximately $13.40 to $14 per share, which at the midpoint is down by about 4% versus prior year.

我們的 GAAP 每股盈餘預期假設稅率為 17%，而前一年的稅率為 12%，這得益於非經常性離散專案帶來的有利影響。我們預測第四季非GAAP完全稀釋後每股淨收益約為13.40美元至14美元，其中數值較上年同期下降約4%。

Our non-GAAP EPS forecast includes an estimated income tax rate of approximately 18%, which is higher than the prior year rate for the same reasons I just discussed for the GAAP tax rate.

我們的非GAAP每股盈餘預測包括約18%的預計所得稅率，這比上一年的稅率更高，原因與我剛才討論的GAAP稅率的原因相同。

Our forecast does not assume any significant change in macroeconomic conditions in general or in the travel market in particular.

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) And our first question will come from the line of Perry Gold with MoffettNathanson.

（操作說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Perry Gold 與 MoffettNathanson 的合作。

Given the lighter results from some of your competitors this quarter and your lighter guide for 4Q, is there any reason to believe there are structural issues with the broader online travel market or that rates of growth will be significantly less attractive over the next 3 to 5 years?

鑑於本季度部分競爭對手的業績表現疲軟，以及您對第四季度業績的預期也較為疲軟，是否有任何理由認為更廣泛的在線旅遊市場存在結構性問題，或者未來 3 到 5 年的增長率將明顯降低？

Well, I'll take that, Dan, to start and please add with your own comments. So asking a question about what we think 3 to 5 years is a difficult thing to answer. I will say right now, I don't see anything in the near horizon that would indicate there's any major structural change to travel or the way we're doing our businesses. Travel is a function of in the broader sense and in terms of global growth. That's the overall business.

好的，丹，我先接受這個觀點，請你也補充一些自己的看法。所以，問我們對於未來 3 到 5 年的看法，這是一個很難回答的問題。我現在要說的是，我認為近期內沒有任何跡象表明旅遊業或我們的經營方式會發生重大的結構性變化。從廣義上講，旅遊業是全球成長的一個組成部分。這就是整體業務情況。

And then within us, we have the shift from offline to online and all of the different ways people are able to travel, whether it be desktop, be it mobile and now as people are seeing the whole idea of doing a transaction using social commerce or messenger commerce.

然後，在我們內部，我們看到了從線下到線上的轉變，以及人們出行方式的多樣化，無論是桌上型電腦、行動設備，現在人們也開始接受使用社交商務或即時通訊商務進行交易的理念。

So I think, in the end, I think this is still such a great opportunity for everybody. We are a single-digit share of this incredibly big and growing business industry. So I don't see anything. Dan, do you see anything?

所以我覺得，歸根結底，這對每個人來說仍然是一個絕佳的機會。我們在這個規模龐大且不斷成長的產業中只佔個位數的份額。所以我什麼也沒看到。丹，你看到什麼了嗎？

The couple of things that I called out in the prepared remarks, Perry, were, in particular, the comp that we have to prior year, where we had really high growth rates and the steps that we're taking in performance marketing to optimize ROIs. So I think that, that will be with us for the coming quarters until we lap it, but I wouldn't call that structural.

佩里，我在準備好的發言稿中特別提到了兩點：一是我們與前一年相比的業績，上一年我們的增長率非常高；二是我們在效果營銷方面採取的措施，以優化投資回報率。所以我認為，這種情況會在接下來的幾季裡一直存在，直到我們克服它，但我不會稱之為結構性問題。

And fundamentally, the travel market feels healthy. You see the results reported by the big hotel chains and our competitors. It feels pretty strong to us. The things that have driven our growth in the past, rapidly adding properties to the platform, that continues.

從根本上講，旅遊市場感覺很健康。您可以看看大型連鎖飯店和我們競爭對手公佈的業績報告。我們感覺它相當強勁。過去推動我們發展的因素，例如快速增加平台上的房源，現在依然如此。

And I'm confident that our teams will continue to execute very effectively in adding properties going forward, continuing to improve the experience for our customers on our platforms, which drives better conversion and loyalty over time, and then also continue to effectively advertise our brands to bring new customers to the franchise going forward. So nothing structural from our perspective.

我相信我們的團隊將繼續有效率地增加房產，不斷改善我們平台上的客戶體驗，從而隨著時間的推移提高轉換率和忠誠度，並繼續有效地宣傳我們的品牌，為加盟店帶來新客戶。所以從我們的角度來看，這並非結構性問題。

Our next question will come from the line of Brian Nowak with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題將來自摩根士丹利的布萊恩·諾瓦克。

I have 2. The first one is on the new branded ad campaign and that strategy. Could you just talk about why now is the time to really push so much harder on branded? Are you seeing some limits in your growth potential in your core performance marketing? You're so good at performance, so why push brand so hard right now?

我有兩個問題。第一個問題是關於新的品牌廣告宣傳活動及其策略。您能否談談為什麼現在是大力推進品牌建立的時候了？您是否發現核心效果行銷的成長潛力有一些限制？你們的業績這麼好，為什麼現在要這麼賣力地推廣品牌呢？

And the second one is on Meituan. Can you talk about importance of the Meituan partnership? And how is that different in how you're viewing it versus Ctrip, Agoda and Booking.com and your other Asia verticals?

第二個是在美團上。能談談美團合作的重要性嗎？那麼，你對它的看法與攜程、Agoda、Booking.com 以及你在其他亞洲垂直平台上的看法有何不同？

Brian, it's Glenn. So let me take the branded campaign. So I think, you may recall, back in July at the last earnings call, we talked a bit about why to increase our direct business for the long run. And we said it was a strategic objective for us. And one way we do this is by increasing brand advertising. That's what we're doing.

布萊恩，我是格倫。那麼，讓我來談談品牌推廣活動。所以我想，你可能還記得，在7月的上次財報電話會議上，我們討論為什麼要從長遠角度增加我們的直接業務。我們說這是我們的一項策略目標。我們實現這目標的方法之一就是加大品牌廣告投入。這就是我們正在做的。

We continue to look at performance marketing. We judge, is that helping or hurting, supporting or hindering the goal of increasing that direct bookings in the long run. So one of the things that we recognize in looking at all the other companies in our space and other industries and such is how important it is to get that 1:1 direct relationship. And that's what brand advertising can really do. So that's why we're pushing it.

我們將持續專注於效果行銷。我們判斷，從長遠來看，這究竟是幫助還是損害，是支持還是阻礙了增加直接預訂量的目標。因此，我們在觀察我們所在領域和其他行業的所有其他公司時，認識到的一點是，建立一對一的直接關係是多麼重要。這就是品牌廣告的真正作用。所以這就是我們大力推進的原因。

Regarding Meituan, China is a large and important market for us. Our Asia-based subsidiary, Agoda, had a commercial relationship with Meituan for some time, and we were asked to participate in the $4 billion financing round. And that was led by Tencent. Tencent is a major backer of Meituan. And as you know, it's one of the premier digital companies in the world.

對美團而言，中國是一個對我們來說規模龐大且非常重要的市場。我們位於亞洲的子公司 Agoda 與美團有一段時間的商業合作關係，我們受邀參與了 40 億美元的融資輪。而這一切都是由騰訊引領的。騰訊是美團的主要投資方之一。正如您所知，它是世界頂尖的數位公司之一。

And along with Tencent, it was a list of super blue chip financial investors, some of whom are investors in us in the Priceline Group. So when we were asked to participate in that, we thought that was a good use of our $450 million investment and it's appropriate use for shareholders' offshore cash, so we went and did it. I think it's going to be a good investment for our company.

除了騰訊之外，名單上還有一些超級藍籌金融投資者，其中一些也是 Priceline 集團的投資者。所以當有人邀請我們參與時，我們認為這是對我們 4.5 億美元投資的合理利用，也是股東海外現金的適當用途，所以我們就參與了。我認為這對我們公司來說將是一項不錯的投資。

Our next question will come from the line of Mark May with Citi.

我們的下一個問題將來自花旗銀行的馬克·梅。

Just wanted to ask you what sort of changed relative to your expectations when you first gave Q3 guidance. And then maybe a subset of that, I think you referenced that midway through Q3 you made some changes to your performance marketing strategy or mix. Did that end up helping or hurting room night growth and overall bookings in the quarter?

我只是想問一下，與您最初給出的第三季業績預期相比，實際情況發生了哪些變化。然後，或許還有一部分，我想你提到過，在第三季中期，你對效果行銷策略或組合進行了一些調整。這最終對本季的客房夜數增長和整體預訂量是起到了促進作用還是產生了不利影響？

Okay. Mark, this is Dan. I'll take that one. So yes, we said that as we proceeded through the quarter, we experimented with ways to better optimize our performance marketing spend. And I'd say relative to our guidance, that probably had a modest negative impact on top line growth and had a favorable impact on our performance marketing efficiency and bottom line profitability.

好的。馬克，這是丹。我選那個。是的，我們說過，隨著本季的推進，我們嘗試了各種方法來更好地優化我們的效果行銷支出。我認為，相對於我們的預期，這可能對營收成長產生了輕微的負面影響，但對我們的效果行銷效率和最終獲利能力產生了有利影響。

That said, we're still pretty pleased with the growth that our teams were able to deliver with the marketing mix that they employed, and so we like the results that we saw in Q3.

儘管如此，我們仍然對團隊透過他們所採用的行銷組合所取得的成長感到非常滿意，因此我們對第三季的業績感到滿意。

Our next question will come from the line of Eric Sheridan with UBS.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞銀集團的艾瑞克·謝裡丹。

Maybe 2, if I can. First, in terms of the rate we're seeing properties be added to your websites, that's always been normally a pretty good leading indicator for where growth is going to go. What's the message to investors about the rate you're seeing properties be added versus some of the decel we're seeing second half of this year? That's number one.

如果可以的話，也許2個。首先，就我們看到的房產添加到您網站的速度而言，這通常一直是衡量成長方向的相當不錯的領先指標。對於投資者而言，您目前看到的房產新增速度與今年下半年出現的一些放緩趨勢有何關聯？這是第一點。

And number two, I tried this last quarter, but maybe I'll try again just because you're talking more about branded. But with the mix to branded versus performance, how do you think longer term about what that might mean for the ROI you get overall on your marketing budget? Is there something where you're pushing it more now because you see the potential for ROI to improve long term?

第二，我上個季度試過這個，但也許我會再試一次，因為你談到了品牌更多。但是，在品牌行銷與效果行銷相結合的情況下，從長遠來看，您會如何看待這會對您的整體行銷預算投資報酬率產生怎樣的影響？是否有某些方面，你現在加大投入是因為你看到了長期投資報酬率提升的潛力？

So it's Glenn. One of the things that I made a point in my prepared remarks about, as we push out more and more of the vacation rental properties, they have a lower number of bookable rooms in each.

原來是格倫。我在事先準備好的發言稿中強調了一點，隨著我們推出越來越多的度假租賃房產，每套房產的可預訂房間數量卻越來越少。

So as we continue to add more properties -- I understand where it can become more difficult to figure out, well, what does that really mean in terms of growth because you don't know how many rooms are being added. I understand that problem, but I can't really help you in telling you except you have to recognize that is a trend and that will probably continue.

因此，隨著我們不斷增加房產——我理解這可能會變得更加困難，因為你不知道增加了多少房間，所以很難弄清楚這在成長方面究竟意味著什麼。我理解這個問題，但我能給你的幫助不多，你只能意識到這是一種趨勢，而且很可能會繼續下去。

Regarding the branded versus PPC, I think one of the things very important to recognize is the dynamic nature of how the performance marketing works. So while we can make changes in terms of how much money we want to spend and where we want to spend it, our partners are also making changes all the time and other people in auctions are making changes. So this is dynamic and interactive. So it's difficult to project long term what's going to happen.

關於品牌推廣與付費搜尋推廣，我認為需要認識到的非常重要的一點是，效果行銷的運作方式具有動態性。因此，雖然我們可以改變我們想花多少錢以及想在哪裡花這些錢，但我們的合作夥伴也在不斷做出改變，拍賣中的其他人也在做出改變。所以它是動態的、互動的。因此，很難預測未來會發生什麼。

Under the current situation, as I mentioned again in my prepared remarks, we're evaluating all the time holistically on what the impact is when we're advertising in performance marketing channels, what is the benefit we're going to get out of it, what's the near term and what do we think we're going to get long term on this. Is this a good customer experience that we're getting? Is this something we're getting the appropriate ROI?

正如我在準備好的發言稿中再次提到的，在當前情況下，我們一直在全面評估在效果行銷管道投放廣告的影響，我們將從中獲得什麼好處，近期效果如何，以及我們認為從長遠來看我們將獲得什麼。這樣的客戶體驗算好嗎？我們這樣做是否獲得了合適的投資報酬率？

Do we believe the way our display is being done is the right way -- the way it's going to optimize for us for the long run or not? And again, all these factors are always changing. So it's very hard to predict for the future what it's going to be. Dan, do you want to add anything to that?

我們是否相信我們目前的展示方式是正確的——這種方式是否能從長遠來看為我們帶來最佳效益？而且，所有這些因素都在不斷變化。所以很難預測未來會怎樣。丹，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Just say that, over time, driving customers to come to us directly should have a nice beneficial impact on overall advertising efficiency. We'll reach some point in time where we're in the markets we want to be with brand advertising and we're spending the level of spend we think that's right to get the reach and frequency that we want. And so we should be able to have good leverage in the longer term once we get to that optimal level of spend.

可以說，隨著時間的推移，引導客戶直接聯繫我們應該會對整體廣告效率產生良好的正面影響。我們會達到這樣一個階段：我們進入了我們想要進入的市場，透過品牌廣告，我們投入了我們認為合適的資金水平，以獲得我們想要的覆蓋率和頻率。因此，一旦我們達到最佳支出水平，從長遠來看，我們應該能夠擁有良好的槓桿作用。

Our next question will come from the line of Mark Mahaney with RBC.

我們的下一個問題將來自加拿大皇家銀行的馬克·馬哈尼。

Okay. You didn't call out hurricanes at all, the unusual hurricane season. Does that mean it just was not material to your business? Secondly, in terms of marketing channels, what about social media? Is -- how do you consider that in -- does that follow in the branded category? Any learnings from there?

好的。你完全沒有預測颶風的到來，也沒有預測今年異常的颶風季。那是否意味著它對你的生意來說無關緊要？其次，就行銷管道而言，社群媒體如何？你如何看待這一點？這是否屬於品牌類別？從中吸取了什麼教訓？

And then just broadly, when you think about brand advertising campaigns, this is something that I think Priceline, as a company, has been not just experimenting with, but really has been relying on. It's smaller than performance, but it's been using more and more over the years. Can you just step back and talk about the learnings that you've got from that?

總的來說，當你想到品牌廣告活動時，我認為 Priceline 這家公司不僅一直在嘗試，而且一直在真正依賴這種做法。雖然它的性能不如其他產品，但這些年來它的使用量卻越來越大。您能否退後一步，談談您從中獲得了哪些經驗教訓？

And is it that you're seeing something that's a lot -- that's giving you the confidence to expand from 12 to 30 markets or whatever those numbers are? Whereas -- so forget about performance, just focus on brand and what you've seen there that makes you want to spend more in that channel.

是因為你看到了某種非常大的趨勢——這讓你有信心從 12 個市場擴展到 30 個市場，或其他任何數字？所以——別管效果了，只專注於品牌，以及你在那裡看到的讓你想在該管道投入更多資金的原因。

Mark, it's Glenn. So hurricanes, I think we really didn't see a material impact on hurricanes that we could determine. Of course, it's very hard to prove the counterfactual. If there had been no storms, what would the numbers have been? I don't know. But we don't see anything that's obvious.

馬克，我是格倫。所以，就颶風而言，我認為我們並沒有看到任何可以確定的實質影響。當然，反事實很難證明。如果沒有風暴，這些數字會是多少？我不知道。但我們沒看到任何明顯的東西。

Two, regarding the social marketing. That's -- certainly is something that is very, very important for us to get our handle on going forward because the other parts of the world -- when I say other parts of the world, I don't mean -- non-U. S., particularly Asia, the social marketing is becoming more and more important.

第二，關於社會行銷。當然，這對我們今後要掌握的事情來說非常非常重要，因為世界其他地區——當我說世界其他地區時，我指的不是——非美國地區。在南亞，尤其是在亞洲，社會行銷變得越來越重要。

And we recognize that it's while nascent, we need to be on top of it, which is why we're making investments so that we can learn and be able to do things there. But it is a relatively small -- very small portion of our advertising right now. But we recognize, in the future, it could become much bigger, particularly in the Asian markets.

我們認識到，雖然它還處於起步階段，但我們需要密切關注它，這就是為什麼我們正在進行投資，以便我們可以學習並在那裡開展工作。但這在我們目前的廣告支出中所佔比例相對較小——非常小。但我們認識到，未來它可能會變得更大，尤其是在亞洲市場。

And the last thing was about advertising as such. So a couple of things on that. One, certainly, we don't want to be giving away the playbook to our competitors on what's going on. But I'll speak generically that, over the last few years, the ability to measure the impact of marketing has increased substantially, particularly as you test things digitally and see is this something that's working or something that's not working, being able to modify quickly and come out with a new spot and is that better or worse.

最後一點是關於廣告本身的。關於這一點，有幾點需要說明。首先，我們當然不想把我們的策略洩漏給競爭對手，讓他們知道我們正在做什麼。但總的來說，在過去的幾年裡，衡量行銷成效的能力大幅提升，尤其是在進行數位化測試時，可以快速調整並推出新的廣告，看看效果是好是壞。

So given that improvement, we are feeling more confidence in being able to put money to work in those channels and be more hopeful that we'll be able to know whether or not that money is working quickly or not.

鑑於這種改善，我們更有信心將資金投入這些管道中，也更有希望知道這些資金是否能迅速發揮作用。

It's a very old, old saying, a tribute to Wanamaker about "I know half my advertising is wasted, but I just don't know which half." Well, certainly, still, there is no doubt still some truth to that, but we're getting more science than there used to be. So that's helpful.

這是一句非常古老的諺語，是對瓦納梅克的致敬，意思是「我知道我一半的廣告都浪費了，但我不知道是哪一半。」 當然，這句話仍然有一定道理，但我們現在掌握的科學依據比以前多了。那很有幫助。

And our next question will come from the line of Justin Post with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

接下來，我們將向美國銀行美林證券的賈斯汀波斯特提出一個問題。

A couple of questions. It seems like both you and Expedia are shifting your ad spend around, and maybe room night growth has been below expectations in Q4. Who would you think is getting those incremental room nights in those ad channels? Do you think it's the hotels themselves? Or any thoughts on that?

幾個問題。看來你和 Expedia 都在調整廣告支出方向，或許第四季的客房入住率成長低於預期。你認為這些廣告管道中新增的客房入住晚數會流向誰？你認為問題出在飯店本身嗎？您對此有什麼想法嗎？

And the second thing is, clearly, you believe the branded spend will drive some bookings or you wouldn't be doing it. When would you expect to start seeing a real positive benefit? Would that be next summer travel season? Or could it be earlier in the first half next year?

第二點是，很顯然，你相信品牌推廣支出會帶來一些預訂量，否則你就不會這麼做了。您預計何時開始看到真正的正面效果？是指下一個夏季旅遊旺季嗎？或者會不會是明年上半年更早？

Well, I can't really comment on Expedia. Well, I'll simply talk about us. And I think Dan mentioned a bunch of the reasons when we look at Q4 versus Q4 last year about what our growth rate is and he gave those factors.

嗯，我不太了解 Expedia，所以無法置評。好吧，我就簡單說說我們自己吧。我認為丹提到了很多原因，當我們把第四季與去年同期進行比較時，就會發現我們的成長率是多少，他列舉了這些因素。

I won't repeat them. In terms of projections beyond this quarter, again, we think that what we're doing is the right thing for the value of the franchise long term, and that's why we're doing it.

我不會重複這些話。至於本季以後的預測，我們仍然認為，我們所做的一切對特許經營權的長期價值來說都是正確的，這就是我們這樣做的原因。

And our next question will come from the line of Doug Anmuth with JPMorgan.

接下來，我們將提出摩根大通的道格安穆斯提出的問題。

I just wanted to stick with the marketing and advertising theme. But Glenn, as you talked about evaluating the holistic impact of performance in both the near and long term, could you just talk about what that means for your own properties, KAYAK and Momondo, and how that may open up opportunities for them?

我只是想堅持行銷和廣告的主題。但是格倫，既然你談到了評估業績在近期和長期內的整體影響，你能否談談這對你自己的平台 KAYAK 和 Momondo 意味著什麼，以及這可能會如何為它們帶來機會？

And then secondly, with the push from 12 to 30 markets, clearly -- you've spent on Booking.com in the U.S. in the past. But just curious if that overall push includes bigger efforts in the U.S. for Booking.

其次，隨著市場從 12 個增加到 30 個，顯然——你過去曾在美國的 Booking.com 上消費過。但我很好奇，這項整體推進計畫是否包括Booking在美國加大投入。

I'll take the second one first because it's an easy one. Again, I don't want to give away to the competitors where we're going to spend, how much we're going to spend, et cetera. So I'm not going to talk about that in any detail. Regarding the first question, repeat it, please.

我先做第二個，因為它比較簡單。再次聲明，我不想向競爭對手透露我們將在哪裡花錢、要花多少錢等等。所以我不會詳細談論這件事。關於第一個問題，請重複一遍。

Just KAYAK and Momondo strategy there and what perhaps dialing back from some of the other performance channels might mean for your -- for how you're doing with KAYAK and Momondo and does it create opportunities for them.

僅就 KAYAK 和 Momondo 的策略而言，或許減少對其他一些效果行銷管道的投入，對你而言意味著什麼——你與 KAYAK 和 Momondo 的合作情況如何，以及這是否會為它們創造機會。

Well, KAYAK and Momondo, I think, are great, great franchise right now. Primarily, right now, they're spending a lot of time on the air side. That's where they're doing a lot more of the focus. They have great technologies that are enabling customers to get great product, a great decision on how to achieve their air tickets going down.

我認為 KAYAK 和 Momondo 目前都是非常非常棒的品牌。目前，他們主要把大量時間花在了空中方面。他們把更多精力放在那方面了。他們擁有先進的技術，能夠幫助客戶獲得優質的產品，並做出明智的決定，從而降低機票價格。

And I think that one of the things I think that -- Steve Hafner who runs it, he really understands the concept of being a partner with the advertiser.

我認為，經營這家公司的史蒂夫·哈夫納真正理解與廣告商建立夥伴關係的概念。

He's working with them to do what's best for both sides. So I think that there could be some more opportunity. Other people aren't linked to do that. I think that working with your people or paying them money is a great way to help develop a win-win partnership. And I think Steve understands that greatly.

他正在與他們合作，以求達到雙方的最佳利益。所以我認為可能還有些機會。其他人沒有參與其中。我認為，與員工一起工作或給他們報酬是建立雙贏夥伴關係的好方法。我認為史蒂夫對此非常清楚。

And our next question will come from the line of Lloyd Walmsley with Deutsche Bank.

接下來，我們將向德意志銀行的勞埃德‧沃姆斯利提出一個問題。

Two, if I can. First, do you feel like your marketing attribution models regarding brand spend have improved really to a point where you can deploy more brand spend with more measurable return on ad spend than you've been able to historically, kind of given both the direct impact and secondary benefit from your search quality scores? Or is it more strategic?

如果可以的話，我會選兩個。首先，您是否覺得您在品牌支出方面的行銷歸因模型已經真正改進到可以投入更多品牌支出並獲得比以往更可衡量的廣告支出回報的程度，同時考慮到搜尋品質得分的直接影響和間接收益？或者，這更多的是一種戰略考量？

And then I guess, stepping back, sticking with the marketing theme, there was a lot of hope a few years ago that mobile apps would help lower marketing intensity in online travel, but it seems like users continue to do a ton of research and visit a lot of websites before booking, and it's very episodic in nature.

然後我想，退一步講，繼續以營銷為主題，幾年前人們曾寄予厚望，認為移動應用程序可以幫助降低在線旅遊的營銷強度，但現在看來，用戶在預訂之前仍然會進行大量的研究並訪問很多網站，而且這種行為本質上是非常零散的。

So do you really feel like TV spend can drive more loyalty and stop users from shopping around? Or is this just kind of the nature of the beast?

你真的認為電視廣告支出可以提高用戶忠誠度，阻止用戶貨比三家嗎？或者，這大概就是事物的本質吧？

It's Glenn speaking. So in terms of measurements, we do believe, over the years, measurement capability has increased. And we've seen the tools that have been developed, and we've seen the results. And we're not saying any of this is perfect by any measure.

我是格倫。因此，就測量而言，我們相信，多年來，測量能力已經提高。我們已經看到了已經開發的工具，也看到了結果。我們並不是說這一切在任何方面都是完美的。

And there is debate among how effective are these tools or not, but we think it's better than it used to be, which is one of the things that's giving us more confidence to spend more money in this area, one. Two, we also believe that there is a symbiotic relationship between your spend on brand and your spend on performance.

關於這些工具的有效性還有爭議，但我們認為它比以前好多了，這也是我們更有信心在這個領域投入更多資金的原因之一。第二，我們也認為，您在品牌方面的投入和您在業績方面的投入之間存在著共生關係。

People become more aware of your product. People know who you are. And you do any sort of awareness testing of a brand and when people recognize it, they may be more likely to actually book with you. Even if they clicked on a PPC ad, they'll be more likely to go with us than to go back and check someone else.

人們對你的產品有了更多了解。人們都知道你是誰。當你對品牌進行任何形式的認知度測試時，當人們認出某個品牌時，他們就更有可能實際預訂你的服務。即使他們點擊了付費廣告，他們也更有可能選擇我們，而不是回去查看其他人的資訊。

So we think there is value. And on terms of the mobile, yes, we -- I'm not one of those who ever thought that because of mobile that there'd be less clicking around, so to speak.

所以我們認為它是有價值的。至於行動裝置方面，是的，我們——我並不是那種認為行動裝置的出現會減少點擊操作的人。

Our next question will come from the line of Paul Bieber with Crédit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題將來自保羅·比伯與瑞士信貸的合作系列。

I was hoping you could provide a quick update on the Asia competitive landscape ex China. I think you spent some time on that on last quarter's call. I was just wondering to what extent that discounting outside of China is actually impacting room night growth for Booking.com or Agoda.

我希望您能簡要介紹一下中國以外的亞洲競爭格局。我認為你在上個季度的電話會議上花了一些時間討論這個問題。我只是想知道，在中國以外地區提供的折扣究竟在多大程度上影響了Booking.com或Agoda的客房夜數增長。

Okay. It's Glenn speaking again. I haven't seen much of a change from the last time we talked about this. There is still discounting. It is still prevalent. It is still a very, very competitive market in Asia, ex China or in China. It's one of the most competitive markets in the world. And we have to continue to be mindful that if we don't get the best price, we may not get the booking.

好的。又是格倫在說話。我覺得和上次我們討論這個問題時相比，情況並沒有太大變化。仍有折扣。這種現象仍然很普遍。亞洲市場，無論是在中國境內或境外，競爭依然非常激烈。這是世界上競爭最激烈的市場之一。我們必須隨時謹記，如果我們拿不到最優惠的價格，就可能拿不到訂單。

Our next question will come from the line of Deepak Mathivanan with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題將來自巴克萊銀行的迪帕克·馬蒂瓦南。

Two questions for me. So first, can you discuss about the recent trends in the U.S. for Booking.com? Do you think, based on some of your analysis of the market data, you're seeing accelerated share gains in the U.S. over the last 4 quarters?

我有兩個問題。首先，能否談談Booking.com在美國的最新發展趨勢？根據您對市場數據的分析，您是否認為過去四個季度美國市場佔有率成長加速？

And then second one, again on the brand marketing. Given the difficulty in forecasting near-term trends and how room nights gross profit might shape out from the brand marketing campaigns, have you considered contribution from incremental brand spend in the 4Q room night variance?

其次，第二部分仍然是關於品牌行銷的。鑑於預測近期趨勢的難度以及品牌行銷活動對客房夜數毛利的影響，您是否考慮過品牌增量支出對第四季度客房夜數差異的貢獻？

Deepak, in terms of the U.S. trend over the last several quarters, we're very pleased with the performance of Booking.com in the U.S. We believe Booking is growing its share in the U.S., posting very healthy growth rates over the last several quarters.

Deepak，就過去幾季的美國市場趨勢而言，我們對Booking.com在美國的表現非常滿意。我們相信Booking在美國的市佔率正在不斷擴大，並且在過去幾季都保持了非常健康的成長率。

So that's for the U.S. We've seen improving performance for the priceline.com business, which is a nice plus, too, as that's a U.S.-centric brand.

以上是針對美國市場的情況。我們看到 priceline.com 的業務表現有所改善，這也是一個不錯的利好，因為這是一個以美國為中心的品牌。

And then in terms of brand trends, I mean, our forecast is done the way we do it every quarter, which is look at the actual results we've seen thus far in the quarter and trend off of that, generally assuming that we'll see some deceleration as we proceed through the remainder of the quarter given the size of the business and the long-term trends.

至於品牌趨勢方面，我的意思是，我們的預測方式與每個季度一樣，即查看本季度迄今為止的實際結果，並以此為依據進行趨勢預測，通常假設考慮到業務規模和長期趨勢，隨著本季度剩餘時間的推進，我們將看到一些放緩。

So we didn't build in anything specific related to the advertising spend that's planned for the quarter. Our experience has been, as we've done many years of TV advertising for Priceline and for KAYAK, and we've been active in TV advertising for Booking.com since 2013, it's a slower build -- slower return on investment typically for that spend.

因此，我們沒有在計劃於本季進行的廣告支出中納入任何具體內容。我們多年來一直為 Priceline 和 KAYAK 做電視廣告，自 2013 年以來也一直積極為 Booking.com 做電視廣告，我們的經驗是，電視廣告的推廣速度較慢，投資回報率通常也較慢。

We are doing a better job and improving our capability to measure effectiveness of the advertising, but that doesn't mean it's positive ROI day 1.

我們正在努力改進衡量廣告效果的能力，但這並不代表第一天就能獲得正的投資報酬率。

So we think it's going to be the right thing to do for the long term. But in the short term, it's probably going to pressure margins and not deliver the same kind of pop to top line growth the way [intense-based] advertising would.

所以我們認為從長遠來看，這是正確的做法。但短期來看，這可能會對利潤率造成壓力，並且不會像（密集型）廣告那樣帶來相同的營收成長。

And our next question will come from the line of Peter Stabler with Wells Fargo Securities.

接下來，我們將向富國證券的彼得‧斯塔布勒提出一個問題。

This is Rob on the call for Peter. Just quickly wanted to go back to the performance channel. Just wondering if there were specific recent changes in conversion that you're responding to there in the quarter or if this is more of a strategic decision as some of those traffic sources have changed their position in relation to the consumer.

這是羅佈在幫彼得打電話。只是想快速返回效能頻道。我想知道，本季度您是否針對轉換率方面的具體變化做出了應對，還是說這是一個策略決策，因為某些流量來源相對於消費者的地位發生了變化。

And then finally, is there anything that you could see from those channels that you -- might make you more constructive on those again in the future?

最後，您能否從這些管道中看到一些訊息，讓您在未來能夠更積極地參與其中？

As Glenn said in the prepared remarks, it's more just -- it's been an ongoing trend for us that we've seen pressure on ROIs, deteriorating margins in our performance marketing spend. And so it was reevaluating that and looking for ways to start to arrest that trend and even move starting in a more positive direction.

正如格倫在準備好的演講稿中所說，更確切地說，我們一直面臨著投資報酬率壓力、效果行銷支出利潤率下降的趨勢。因此，我們重新評估了這一趨勢，並尋找方法來遏制這種趨勢，甚至朝著更積極的方向發展。

So I'd say nothing specific. Our conversion continues to generally improve on our websites as our teams experiment to continuously improve the experience for our users, and so nothing there that really drove it. And I'm sorry. Was there a second question?

所以我不會說些具體的話。隨著團隊不斷嘗試改善使用者體驗，我們網站的轉換率整體持續提高，因此並沒有任何因素真正推動了轉換率的提高。我很抱歉。還有第二個問題嗎？

No, that was it.

不，就是這樣。

And our next question will come from the line of Brian Fitzgerald with Jefferies.

接下來，我們將向傑富瑞集團的布萊恩·菲茨傑拉德提出一個問題。

Glenn, I want to know at a high level how you feel about your vacation rental inventory, the breadth and depth there. And then with 1.5 million instant bookable properties, how do you feel about the penetration or how do you think about the penetration of instantly bookable vacation rentals?

格倫，我想大致了解你對你的度假租賃房源的看法，包括它們的廣度和深度。那麼，目前已有 150 萬套可即時預訂的房源，您如何看待這種滲透率？或者您如何看待可即時預訂度假租賃的滲透率？

Brian, so just to make sure we're on the same page here, that 1.5 million, that's our entire inventory. That's everything. It's both our core and our [inventory]. So how do I feel about it? I feel that we will continue to invest to make it better and broader. And I -- look, I'm not naïve. I recognize we are not the leader in this space right now.

Brian，為了確保我們理解一致，這 150 萬，是我們全部的庫存。就這些了。它既是我們的核心，也是我們的[庫存]。那我對此有何感想呢？我認為我們會繼續投資，使其變得更好、更廣泛。而且──聽著，我並不天真。我承認我們目前在這個領域還不是領先者。

We are the leader overall for accommodations of all types of properties, but there is a competitor who is a little bit bigger and doing a little bit better, I suspect, than we are in this area.

我們在各類住宿方面整體領先，但在這個領域，我懷疑有一個競爭對手規模更大、做得更好。

And that's why we're going to invest money because we believe that we have the technology, we believe we have the people and we believe that we will be able to create the experience that makes people want to come to our site and be able to get the best accommodation that fits what they need.

這就是為什麼我們要投資的原因，因為我們相信我們擁有技術，我們相信我們擁有人才，我們相信我們能夠創造出讓人們想要來到我們網站並獲得最符合他們需求的住宿體驗。

And I'll give you the perfect example is what I did over the summer, which is I was going to Iceland with my family. I went to our site. I saw that we had some vacation rentals in Iceland and we had core regular hotel stuff on the same page. It was great for me.

我舉個完美的例子，就是我夏天和家人一起去冰島的經驗。我造訪了我們的網站。我看到我們在冰島有一些度假租賃房源，而且我們的常規飯店服務也在同一頁上。這對我來說太好了。

But the thing I didn't like is it wasn't enough properties. I wanted more properties, the vacation rental type and I want to have a breadth of different kinds of properties.

但我不太滿意的是，房產數量不夠多。我想要更多類型的房產，尤其是度假租賃房產，而且我希望擁有各種不同類型的房產。

So that's something that we're spending money on. That's part of the reason that we've got a little bit of pressure on the OpEx. I talked about that and Dan talked about it, and that's what we're going to do because we think, in the long run, because there's just such an incredible opportunity there that it would be foolish for us not to put money to work right now to get that advantage.

所以這是我們花錢的地方。這也是我們在營運支出方面面臨一些壓力的部分原因。我談過這件事，丹也談過這件事，所以我們決定這麼做，因為我們認為，從長遠來看，這是一個絕佳的機會，如果我們現在不投入資金來獲得這種優勢，那就太愚蠢了。

And in terms of penetration, Brian, we've made the comment before that we've got a mid-single-digit share of the properties that are available on our website. That's a broad statement of all the properties.

至於滲透率，布萊恩，我們之前也說過，我們在網站上提供的房產中只佔個位數的中等份額。這是對所有屬性的概括性描述。

But we've been very pleased with our vacation rental business. It's been a fast-growing business for us, growing faster than our consolidated growth rate. So you can assume that the performance there is good and that the penetration opportunity also exists there.

但我們對我們的度假租賃業務非常滿意。對我們來說，這項業務發展迅速，其成長速度超過了我們整體的成長率。所以你可以認為那裡的市場表現良好，也存在市場滲透的機會。

Our next question will come from the line of Kevin Kopelman with Cowen.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Kevin Kopelman 與 Cowen 的對話。

I think that's me. So I wanted to ask about vacation rental also. Just given some of the additional costs associated with onboarding and maintaining vacation rentals, it makes sense to charge a higher commission rate for a vacation rental properties that have fewer bookable rooms. A.

我覺得那就是我。所以我還想問問關於度假租賃的問題。考慮到度假租賃房產的上線和維護會產生一些額外的成本，對於可預訂房間較少的度假租賃房產，收取更高的佣金率是合理的。一個。

And then I apologize if it's been asked, but can you give us an update on where vacation rental is approximately as a percentage of room nights and as a percentage of bookable rooms?

如果這個問題之前有人問過，我先道個歉，但您能否提供一下度假租賃房晚數佔總房晚數的百分比以及佔可預訂房間數的百分比的最新數據？

So I'll take the first part about that in terms of what should we charge in terms of -- for the service that we're delivering to the host or the owners of these properties. And the fact is that, that's a market decision. You don't -- you can go and tell all what you want to charge.

所以，關於這一點，我先來談談我們應該如何收費——也就是我們向房東或這些房產的所有者提供的服務應該如何收費。事實上，這是一個市場決定。你不用——你可以隨便告訴大家你想收多少錢。

But if you don't have the right price, you're not going to have a lot of inventory. So that is market driven. And sometimes, in order to build business, you may even underprice something in order to build a breadth of inventory. This is something that we're going to continue to evaluate as we build out the business.

但如果沒有合適的價格，你的庫存就不會很多。所以這是市場驅動的。有時，為了拓展業務，你甚至可能會以低價出售某些商品，以擴大庫存範圍。這是我們在拓展業務的過程中會持續評估的問題。

But one of the other things we're investing in is technology to be able to make that bringing on properties, the listings, all those elements that are costly, try to reduce the cost using technology. And then also, as I mentioned about the higher customer contacts that were that type of property, again, technology can help us in that area, too.

但我們正在投資的另一個領域是技術，以便能夠降低房產引進、房源發布等所有成本高昂的環節的成本，並嘗試利用技術來實現這一目標。而且，正如我之前提到的，這類房產的客戶接觸度更高，科技也可以在這方面幫助我們。

So these are investments we're making now that hopefully down the road will reduce the overall cost per unit and help us get some more of that leveraging versus the deleveraging that we're experiencing right now. And Dan, regarding the question...

所以，我們現在正在進行這些投資，希望未來能降低單位總成本，並幫助我們獲得更多槓桿效應，而不是像現在這樣面對去槓桿化。丹，關於這個問題…

Regarding the size of the vacation rental business, we haven't disclosed those stats. You can see the growth in the property count, and you can assume that we wouldn't be doing that if it wasn't growing fast for us.

關於度假租賃業務的規模，我們尚未公佈相關統計數據。你可以看到房產數量的成長，你可以推斷，如果房產成長不快，我們也不會這樣做。

We've said that it's growing faster than the consolidated growth rate. So it's an important -- it's a meaningful part of our business, but we aren't going to disclose exactly how big it is today.

我們說過，它的成長速度比整體成長率更快。所以，這是我們業務中一個重要且有意義的部分，但我們今天不會透露它的具體規模。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question will come from the line of Jed Kelly with Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將來自傑德·凱利和奧本海默的對話。

Great. The year-over-year decrease in merchant commissions seem to dissipate versus the prior 6 quarters. Is there anything you can call out that supported the last pronounced decline in merchant commissions?

偉大的。與前六個季度相比，商家佣金年減的趨勢似乎已經消失。您認為有哪些因素促成了最近一次商家佣金的顯著下降？

And then how do you think of -- as you start to try to bring more of the single unit, whole home-type vacation rental inventory and potentially charging a traveler fee?

那麼，當您開始嘗試引進更多單間、整套房屋類型的度假租賃房源，並可能向旅客收取費用時，您會如何考慮呢？

Let me take the second one and will let Dan talk about the merchant thing. One of the things I don't want to be doing is talking about what our strategy would be going forward and how we're going to charge and how much of it is going to be charged to the customer, how much is going to be charged to the host, what the different ways to do it is.

讓我來回答第二個問題，讓丹來談談商人的事。我不想談論我們未來的策略是什麼，我們將如何收費，其中多少費用將向客戶收取，多少費用將向房東收取，以及有哪些不同的收費方式。

That's really a competitive thing that we're going to evaluate as we go through our different markets and different types of properties. But it, without a doubt, is an important thing to factor in as you try and develop a leading position there. Dan?

這確實是一個競爭性問題，我們將在考察不同市場和不同類型房產時進行評估。但毫無疑問，當你試圖在那裡建立領先地位時，這是一個需要考慮的重要因素。擔？

And when you talk merchant commissions, Jed, I assume that you're just looking merchant gross profit divided by merchant gross booking?

傑德，你說到商家佣金的時候，我猜你指的是商家毛利除以商家毛訂單額吧？

Yes.

是的。

That's a function of timing, really. The fundamental take rates are stable. But we've got decelerating top line growth, meaning gross bookings growth and we had the benefit of checkout still occurring from prior faster-growing quarters. And so that's what you're seeing there.

這其實取決於時機。基本收益率保持穩定。但是我們的營收成長放緩，這意味著總預訂量成長放緩，而且我們之前幾個成長較快的季度累積的結帳訂單仍然在持續。所以，這就是你現在看到的。

Our next question will come from the line of Mike Olson with Piper Jaffray.

我們的下一個問題將來自麥克·奧爾森和派珀·傑弗裡。

Maybe a follow-up from an earlier question. I'll ask it a slightly different way because this is a question we've been getting from investors recently. If OTAs are seeing slower growth and metasearch is seeing slower growth, but, as you mentioned, underlying travel trends are solid, where is the booking travel share going?

或許是對之前某個問題的後續。我換個方式問，因為這是我們最近常從投資者收到的問題。如果線上旅行社 (OTA) 和元搜尋的成長速度放緩，但正如您所提到的，潛在的旅遊趨勢依然強勁，那麼預訂旅遊的份額將流向何處？

Is it brand direct bookings like aka hotel websites? Or is the online travel market growth rates slowing because of more saturation and the transition from offline to online?

是像飯店官網那樣的品牌直訂嗎？或者，線上旅遊市場成長速度放緩是因為市場飽和以及從線下向線上轉型所致？

Yes. It's Glenn, and I'll let Dan fill in his thoughts on this. One thing, I think, that's very important to recognize is that while we are a single-digit percentage share of the market, we're a big business now. And as one finds in large numbers, that growth rates naturally slow down, decline.

是的。我是格倫，接下來讓丹來補充他的看法。我認為非常重要的一點是，雖然我們目前只佔市場份額的個位數百分比，但我們現在是一家大公司。而且，正如人們在大量數據中看到的那樣，成長率自然會放緩，甚至下降。

Compared to the overall growth of the travel business, we are still growing a much bigger number than the overall travel growth rates, so we are still growing relatively much faster. So I don't see any [issue] like where did it go type -- that's not even occurring to me. Dan, do you want to take...

與旅遊業的整體成長相比，我們的成長幅度仍然遠高於旅遊業的整體成長率，因此我們的成長速度仍然相對較快。所以我沒看到任何類似「它去哪裡了」之類的問題——我什至都沒想過這個問題。丹，你想帶…

I agree. There's nothing that was called out in the chain reports for the quarters -- for the quarter that would lead me to believe that anything has changed significantly there. And I'm with Glenn, I think the growth that we posted and the growth that we're guiding to is spectacular relative to the fundamental growth of the market.

我同意。季度連鎖報告中沒有任何內容讓我覺得那裡發生了重大變化。我同意格倫的看法，我認為我們取得的成長以及我們預期實現的成長相對於市場的基本成長而言是驚人的。

Our next question will come from the line of Justin Patterson with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題將來自賈斯汀·帕特森和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Great. Glenn and Dan, could you help us frame the alternative accommodations investments today versus past supply investments in fragmented categories like B&B? How should we think about the ramp and profitability of that supply base? And any exclusivity around that inventory?

偉大的。Glenn 和 Dan，你們能否幫我們分析一下，如今的替代住宿投資與過去在 B&B 等分散類別中的供應投資相比有何不同？我們該如何看待該供應基地的產能提升和獲利能力？那批庫存有任何獨家銷售權嗎？

And then secondarily, on IT investments, how should we think about the benefits of AI and machine learning on your business? I think everyone on this call acknowledges you've done a great job with testing and learning. Is AI, ML more like pumping steroids into that particular muscle? Or are there some other benefits in there?

其次，在IT投資方面，我們該如何看待人工智慧和機器學習對貴公司的好處？我認為在座各位都認可你在測驗和學習方面做得非常出色。人工智慧和機器學習更像是給特定肌肉注射類固醇嗎？或是有其他好處嗎？

I'll do the IT, and Dan can talk about the alternative accommodation thing. So it's interesting because, in our business, technology really has been the key from the very beginning. And so it's different levels of technology and what new types of IT, what new types of technology are coming into play.

我負責IT方面的事情，丹可以談談其他住宿安排的事情。所以這很有意思，因為在我們的產業裡，科技從一開始就一直是關鍵。因此，技術水平各不相同，而且出現了各種新型資訊技術，各種新型技術正在發揮作用。

So will these new things of artificial intelligence be, a, incredible quantum leap, so to speak or is it incremental innovation? And it's hard to say right now. But what we do know is that if you don't try, you won't have it. And if it does become that, let's call it, a quantum leap in the way things are done, then you will completely miss out.

那麼，這些人工智慧的新事物會是一次令人難以置信的量子飛躍，還是漸進式的創新呢？現在很難說。但我們知道的是，如果你不去嘗試，就永遠不會得到。如果它真的發展成那種，我們姑且稱之為，做事方式的量子飛躍，那麼你將會徹底錯過。

And that's the importance of investing in it now. And we're seeing some of it -- look, we know some of it that we're going to get incremental innovation right off the bat. Customer service is one of the first areas we're applying this right now because we hope to be able to lower that customer service cost per unit transaction. Right away, there's benefit there.

這就是現在投資它的重要性。我們已經看到了一些這樣的例子──你看，我們知道，一開始就會有一些漸進的創新。客戶服務是我們目前最先應用這項技術的領域之一，因為我們希望能夠降低每筆交易的客戶服務成本。這樣做立刻就能帶來好處。

And as I think I mentioned, the booking assist product, which is in beta right now, but is enabling customer to be able to much more efficiently do a self-service-type customer service issue than in the past when you had to use a human being. So I think we're looking for both.

正如我之前提到的，預訂輔助產品目前處於測試階段，但它能夠讓客戶比以前更有效率地處理自助式客戶​​服務問題，而無需像以前那樣依賴人工客服。所以我覺得我們兩個都在找。

At the worst [test], we end up with just lower cost per unit. At the top end, we come out with something that is much more effective. And as I pointed out, we have the scale and the capital and the people to be able to do these type of things, so it may give us a great competitive edge down the road. And Dan, do you want to talk about alternative...

最糟糕的情況是，我們最終只會得到更低的單位成本。在高端產品方面，我們能研發出更有效的產品。正如我指出的那樣，我們擁有做這些事情的規模、資金和人才，因此這可能會在未來為我們帶來巨大的競爭優勢。丹，你想談談其他方案嗎？

Listen, the alternative accommodation business is somewhat less profitable from a partner services perspective. So there are less rooms per property, there are a lot of properties to go and gather and then typically requiring a little bit more help in working with our service because they're less sophisticated than the hotel properties that we had initially worked with.

聽著，從合作夥伴服務的角度來看，替代住宿業務的利潤相對較低。因此，每家酒店的房間數量較少，需要收集的酒店數量也很多，而且由於這些酒店的設施不如我們最初合作的酒店完善，因此通常需要更多的幫助才能與我們的服務配合使用。

From a customer service perspective, too, a little bit more hands-on touch with customers given the unique nature of these properties. That said, the profitability of our vacation rental business is still very impressive, growing fast. We're making investments now, partly in the teams that are facing properties and facing our customers to make sure we can stay up with the growth.

從客戶服務的角度來看，考慮到這些房產的特殊性質，也需要與客戶進行更多實際的接觸。儘管如此，我們度假租賃業務的獲利能力仍然非常可觀，並且成長迅速。我們現在正在進行投資，部分投資於負責物業和客戶服務的團隊，以確保我們能夠跟上業務成長的步伐。

But we're also making significant investments on the IT side. So we're adding teams of people under our booking home umbrella, and they're focused on improving the experience with property owners, including individual property owners that are putting their apartment or home up for rent to make it a more intuitive experience, easier for them to self-sign-up and improve efficiency that way.

但我們也在IT方面進行了大量投資。因此，我們正在「預訂房屋」平台下增加團隊，他們專注於改善房東的體驗，包括為出租公寓或房屋的個人房東提供更直觀的體驗，讓他們更容易自助註冊，從而提高效率。

And then also on the customer service side, just to improve the experience on the website. There's a number of reasons why people contact our customer service teams asking questions. And as we see what's driving those contacts, looking to improve the amount of information that's available for the customer to serve themself on the website, answer that question before they ask it.

此外，在客戶服務方面，我們也致力於改善網站體驗。人們聯絡我們的客服團隊諮詢問題的原因有很多。當我們了解這些聯繫背後的驅動因素後，為了提高客戶在網站上自助服務所需的資訊量，在他們提出問題之前就給出答案。

Glenn talked about the use of machine learning. Hopefully, we can bring that to bear also to just automate some of these processes. So I don't know that it will ever be as profitable as our core hotel business from the perspective of partner services or customer service, but I think there is the opportunity to improve the profitability there and to see better trends over time as the business scales.

Glenn談到了機器學習的應用。希望我們也能運用這種方法來實現其中一些流程的自動化。因此，我不知道從合作夥伴服務或客戶服務的角度來看，它是否能像我們的核心酒店業務一樣盈利，但我認為隨著業務規模的擴大，盈利能力有機會提高，並且隨著時間的推移，會看到更好的發展趨勢。

In terms of exclusivity, that's not something we typically strive for. We want to win our partners' loyalty by bringing them demand at a reasonable price rather than through some sort of contractual lock-out of other demand platforms.

就獨特性而言，那並不是我們通常追求的目標。我們希望透過以合理的價格為合作夥伴帶來需求，而不是透過某種合約手段將其他需求平台拒之門外，來贏得合作夥伴的忠誠。

Our next question will come from the line of Michael Millman with Millman Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Millman Research 的 Michael Millman。

I want to follow up on a previous question on AI, and that's you've talked about in some of your literature where you're able to sort of predict vacations for people based upon their history. To what extent are you actually using that now, employing that? And to what extent do you see that in the future, but maybe sooner than later, offsetting the need for all the marketing that you're doing?

我想就之前關於人工智慧的一個問題繼續討論，您在一些文獻中也談到過，您可以根據人們的歷史記錄來預測他們的假期。你現在實際運用這項技術的程度有多大？你認為在未來，或許在不久的將來，這種情況會在多大程度上抵消你目前所做的所有行銷工作的需求？

And then unrelated, some of the metasearch -- trivago, for example, have talked about all the competition that's hurt them. And you've mentioned I think the revenues growth in KAYAK, but can you tell us what you're seeing on the bottom line there?

另外，一些元搜尋公司——例如 trivago——也談到了所有對他們造成損害的競爭。您剛才提到了KAYAK的營收成長，但您能告訴我們一下貴公司最終的獲利情況嗎？

So Michael, I'll just talk a little bit about technologies here, not just AI, because I think that it's -- I think it's a better sense to see just technology in general. So using technology, and whether it be AI or any other facet of technology, the idea is to provide a better experience for the customer and for our partners, too, because we're using it both ways.

所以邁克爾，我在這裡簡單談談技術，不僅僅是人工智慧，因為我認為——我認為從整體來看技術會更有意義。因此，運用科技，無論是人工智慧或其他任何科技，其目的都是為了給客戶和我們的合作夥伴提供更好的體驗，因為我們是雙向運用科技的。

Because at the end of the day is to produce a loyal customer who's willing to -- who wants to come back to us because we're giving them the best experience. So using all this technology, if we can come up and provide a search result for them that is more personalized and exactly what they need or, for example, we provide better photos, the ones that actually help them make a decision better, all different facets of the process, from the time you first come to our site to the time you're actually at your hotel and do everything possible to make it better.

因為歸根究底，我們的目標是培養忠實的客戶，讓他們願意──想要再次光顧我們，因為我們能給他們最好的體驗。因此，利用所有這些技術，如果我們能夠為他們提供更個性化、更符合他們需求的搜尋結果，或者例如，提供更好的照片，真正幫助他們做出更好的決定，從您第一次訪問我們的網站到您實際入住酒店，流程的各個方面，我們都會盡一切可能讓體驗變得更好。

That's what we're driving for. And I'm not going to get into details on which things or what -- or what we're going to spend the most money on, et cetera. I'll just make the point that scale matters, and having some great technologies is something that gives us a competitive advantage.

這就是我們努力的目標。我不會透露具體細節，例如我們會把錢花在哪些方面等等。我只想強調一點，規模很重要，擁有一些優秀的技術能為我們帶來競爭優勢。

And we feel fairly confident that we'll be able to continue to develop all areas of our business to make it a better experience for the customers and make it easier for people to come to us. And Dan, the...

我們相當有信心能夠繼續發展我們業務的各個領域，從而為客戶帶來更好的體驗，並讓人們更容易找到我們。還有丹，那個…

And then in metasearch, Michael, we're really pleased with the performance of our KAYAK business. It's growing nicely. It's one of the bigger players out there on the meta side. And I'd say it's -- if you want to talk market share of profits, it's right near the top of the list.

邁克爾，在元搜尋方面，我們對 KAYAK 業務的表現非常滿意。它長得很好。它是遊戲版本中比較重要的玩家之一。如果要談利潤市場份額，我認為它絕對名列前茅。

So very profitable business, growing. I think run very responsibly by Steve Hafner and his team. And we're excited about the prospects of bringing Momondo and KAYAK together and sharing best practices from brand to brand and having the teams work together to make both brands stronger in the future.

這是一家獲利能力很強、發展迅速的企業。我認為史蒂夫·哈夫納和他的團隊運作得非常負責。我們很高興看到 Momondo 和 KAYAK 走到一起，分享品牌間的最佳實踐，並讓兩個團隊攜手合作，使兩個品牌在未來更加強大。

Our next question will come from the line of Naved Khan with SunTrust.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Naved Khan 與 SunTrust 的關係。

Can you just sort of lay out the landscape for TV advertising outside the U.S.? Is it less crowded? More crowded? How should we perceive it sitting here? And then I had a quick follow-up on trivago.

能否簡單介紹一下美國以外地區的電視廣告市場概況？人是不是少一些？更擁擠了嗎？我們坐在這裡該如何看待它？然後我又快速地在 trivago 上進行了一次跟進。

It's Glenn. Since I'm not telling you which countries we're going to be going to, it's not very helpful to say which countries have more or less competition and how effective they are or not.

是格倫。既然我沒有告訴你們我們要去哪些國家，那麼說哪些國家的競爭更激烈或更激烈，以及它們的效率如何，都沒有什麼幫助。

I will simply say that, as we talked about before, is that we are glad that we developed tools over the last few years that we think will give us a better measurement, so we'll know whether or not we're making the right decision in terms of how we're investing in those channels. And Dan, the second part.

我只想說，正如我們之前討論過的，我們很高興在過去幾年裡開發了一些工具，我們認為這些工具將為我們提供更好的衡量標準，這樣我們就能知道我們在投資這些渠道方面是否做出了正確的決定。還有丹，第二部。

Well, you didn't ask the second question about trivago. What's your question?

嗯，你沒有問關於 trivago 的第二個問題。你的問題是什麼？

Just curious on what were the impacts on your business from the product changes that trivago made. How should we think about that?

我很好奇trivago的產品變更對您的業務產生了哪些影響。我們該如何看待這個問題？

We don't talk -- we don't call out any individual partner or advertising platform at all, so I'm not going to speak specifically about trivago. I think what I said earlier is really the way to look at this is that we are always looking and evaluating in a holistic way where we're going to spend our marketing money and what's it going to do for us in the near term, what's it going to do for us in the long run.

我們不會談論——我們根本不會點名批評任何合作夥伴或廣告平台，所以我不會具體談論 trivago。我認為我之前所說的才是看待這個問題的真正方式，那就是我們始終要以整體的視角來審視和評估我們將把行銷資金花在哪裡，以及它在短期內會給我們帶來什麼，從長遠來看又會給我們帶來什麼。

And that's how we make a decision on how much money we're going to spend, what kind of bids we're going to make, where we're going to make bids, where we're not going to make bids.

這就是我們決定要花多少錢、要進行什麼樣的投標、在哪裡投標以及不在哪裡投標的方式。

And as I mentioned earlier, and this is so important, it's a dynamic market because we have other players in there, other bidders in the space, on top of the advertising platform that's making changes, putting in all different things there.

正如我之前提到的，這一點非常重要，這是一個動態的市場，因為除了廣告平台之外，還有其他參與者、其他競標者，他們不斷做出改變，引入各種不同的東西。

So again, very hard to say the impact of all these different movements. And even more so, is trying to predict what the changes will be down the road.

所以，很難說所有這些不同運動的影響到底有多大。更重要的是，也要試著預測未來會發生哪些變化。

Our next question is coming from the line of Brad Erickson, Pacific Crest.

下一個問題來自太平洋山脊的布拉德·埃里克森。

Just 2 follow-ups, and a lot of these have been asked already. But I'll try at it one more way. In terms of the pullback in performance marketing spend, just curious if you'd said or meant to imply that this is broadly across most of those channels or if it was just a pullback on a smaller, more focused group.

只有兩個後續問題，而且其中許多問題之前都已經有人問過了。但我會再嘗試一種方法。關於效果行銷支出的縮減，我只是好奇您是否說過或暗示過，這在大多數管道中普遍存在，還是僅僅針對較小、更集中的群體。

And then secondarily, just on that pullback in performance marketing spending from certain channels, just wanted to get a deeper assessment of what's going on there. You've ruled out overall softer demand. That basically leaves kind of 2 real possibility, either seems like those channels are driving less productive traffic, so that's the real issue; or you're having less -- or you're having issues converting that traffic for whatever reason.

其次，針對某些管道的效果行銷支出縮減，我想更深入地評估那裡發生了什麼。你已經排除了整體需求疲軟的可能性。這基本上只剩下兩種可能性，要么是這些渠道帶來的有效流量較少，這才是真正的問題所在；要么是你獲得的流量較少——或者由於某種原因，你在轉換這些流量方面遇到了問題。

I feel like there's suddenly new opportunities to sort of leg up your conversion improvements. Which of those 2 is kind of the bigger driver of this deliberate pullback that you're talking about in the performance marketing spending?

我覺得突然出現了一些新的機會，可以大大提升轉換率。你提到的這種在效果行銷支出上刻意縮減的趨勢，這兩個因素中哪一個才是更重要的驅動因素？

So I'm not going to actually speak specifically again, saying is it broad, is it narrow because we don't want to start calling out individual platforms. I think we said earlier about how in the third -- in the previous earnings call, we made the point how important it is to build our business based on improving the direct relationship.

所以我不會再具體談論這個問題是寬泛的還是狹窄的，因為我們不想開始點名批評個別平台。我認為我們之前說過，在第三次——在上一次財報電話會議上，我們強調了透過改善直接關係來發展業務的重要性。

And we believe that it's important to evaluate all of our channels. Is that driving us towards that goal? Or is that hurting our goal? And that's the basic why we make those decisions, and that's it. It's nothing more complicated than that.

我們認為評估所有管道非常重要。這是否在推動我們朝著那個目標前進？或者這樣做反而會損害我們的目標？這就是我們做出這些決定的基本原因，僅此而已。事情就是這麼簡單。

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. It is now my pleasure to hand the conference back over to Mr. Glenn Fogel for closing comments or remarks. Sir?

我目前不再提出其他問題。現在我很高興將會議交還給格倫·福格爾先生，請他作閉幕致詞或總結發言。先生？

So I want to thank everyone for participating, and we'll see you for the next call. Bye-bye.

所以，我要感謝大家的參與，我們下次通話再見。再見。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation on today's conference. This does conclude the program, and we may all disconnect. Everybody, have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，感謝各位參加今天的會議。節目到此結束，我們可以斷開連線了。祝大家今天過得愉快。