Booking Holdings Inc (BKNG) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Booking Holdings Third Quarter 2021 Conference Call.

您好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加 Booking Holdings 2021 年第三季電話會議。

Booking Holdings 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 guaranteed 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.

Booking Holdings 特此提醒各位，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。這些前瞻性陳述並不保證未來的業績，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 Booking Holdings' actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the safe harbor statements at the end of Booking Holdings' earnings press release as well as Booking Holdings' most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unless required by law, Booking Holdings 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 Booking Holdings 的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 Booking Holdings 盈利新聞稿末尾的安全港聲明以及 Booking Holdings 向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新文件。除非法律另有規定，Booking Holdings 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 Booking Holdings' earnings press release, together with accompanying financial and statistical supplement, is available in the For Investors section of Booking Holdings' website at www.bookingholdings.com.

Booking Holdings 的獲利新聞稿及其財務和統計補充資料可在 Booking Holdings 網站 www.bookingholdings.com 的「投資者」部分查閱。

And now I'd like to introduce Booking Holdings' speakers for this afternoon, Glenn Fogel and David Goulden. And I'll turn the call over to Glenn Fogel, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我謹介紹今天下午 Booking Holdings 的演講嘉賓，Glenn Fogel 和 David Goulden。接下來我將把電話轉給執行長格倫·福格爾。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and welcome to Booking Holdings' third quarter conference call. I'm joined this afternoon by our CFO, David Goulden.

謝謝，歡迎參加 Booking Holdings 第三季電話會議。今天下午，我們的財務長大衛古爾登也來到了現場。

I am pleased to be reporting strong results today for our peak travel season. Compared with 2019, Q3 room nights were down 18%, which was an improvement from the 22% decline we previously reported for the month of July and the 26% decline in Q2. The improvement since July was primarily driven by stronger room night trends in Europe. In the United States, room night growth in Q3 was strong but lower than Q2. These room night declines in Q3 were about in line with Q2 and remained down significantly versus 2019.

我很高興地向大家匯報，我們今天的旅遊旺季業績表現強勁。與 2019 年相比，第三季客房入住夜數下降了 18%，這比我們之前報導的 7 月份 22% 的降幅和第二季度 26% 的降幅有所改善。自7月以來的改善主要得益於歐洲客房夜數成長趨勢的增強。在美國，第三季客房入住率成長強勁，但低於第二季。第三季客房入住率的下降幅度與第二季基本持平，但與 2019 年相比仍有顯著下降。

International travel, which is important to our business, drove the overall sequential improvement in room night trends from Q2 to Q3. Nevertheless, our international room night remains significantly depressed versus 2019.

國際旅行對我們的業務至關重要，推動了客房入住率從第二季到第三季的整體環比成長。然而，與 2019 年相比，我們的國際客房入住率仍然顯著下降。

Q3 consolidated revenue of $4.7 billion was more than double the amount of revenue in Q2. The third quarter was also our most profitable quarter since Q3 2019, with $2.1 billion of adjusted EBITDA and a 45% adjusted EBITDA margin.

第三季合併營收為 47 億美元，是第二季營收的兩倍多。第三季也是自 2019 年第三季以來獲利最高的季度，調整後 EBITDA 為 21 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 45%。

Moving into the fourth quarter. We have seen a further improvement in our room night trends in October, including early signs of a pickup in room night trends in Asia. However, recently rising COVID case counts in many countries, including several important European countries, adds to the uncertainty around how November and December trends will progress. David will provide additional details on our third quarter results and what we are seeing so far in the fourth quarter in his remarks.

進入第四節。10 月我們的客房入住率趨勢進一步改善，包括亞洲客房入住率趨勢出現回升的早期跡象。然而，近期包括幾個重要的歐洲國家在內的許多國家新冠病例數量不斷上升，這加劇了人們對11月和12月疫情發展趨勢的不確定性。David 將在演講中提供更多關於我們第三季業績以及第四季目前情況的細節。

The improvement in trends we saw in the third quarter and so far in the fourth quarter following the negative -- following a negative impact from the Delta variant in July and August once again demonstrates the resilience of leisure travelers who are looking to travel when it is safe to do so and restrictions are lifted. We are confident that we are on the path to the eventual strong recovery in travel demand globally.

在經歷了7月和8月達美航空航班的負面影響之後，我們在第三季和第四季看到的趨勢有所改善，這再次證明了休閒旅客的韌性，他們希望在安全且限制解除後出行。我們有信心，全球旅遊需求最終將強勁復甦。

As the global recovery continues, we are making progress strengthening our core accommodation business to support its long-term growth. As I said before, the strength of our core business comes from driving benefits to our traveler customers and our supply partners alike.

隨著全球經濟持續復甦，我們正在加強核心住宿業務，以支持其長期成長。正如我之前所說，我們核心業務的優勢在於能夠同時為我們的旅客客戶和供應商合作夥伴帶來利益。

For our customers, we are aiming to create a superior booking experience and build stronger relationships, which we believe is accomplished by addressing our customers' critical needs of value, choice and ease of use. We continue to see Booking.com's pre-pandemic customers coming back and booking with us while we're also attracting new customers. Importantly, we see our top customers from before the pandemic returning to us at a meaningfully higher frequency than other customers.

對於我們的客戶而言，我們的目標是創造更優質的預訂體驗並建立更牢固的關係，我們相信，透過滿足客戶對價值、選擇和易用性的關鍵需求，就能實現這一目標。我們看到 Booking.com 疫情前的老客戶不斷回歸並預訂我們的服務，同時我們也吸引了新的客戶。值得注意的是，我們發現疫情前的頂級客戶再次光顧的頻率明顯高於其他客戶。

Providing attractive prices on accommodations is a key component of offering value for our customers. We work closely with our supply partners to increase participation in our targeted rate programs to ensure that compelling prices are available to our customers. Our Genius loyalty program at Booking.com is a great example of a program where hundreds of thousands of our property partners are participating to offer lower rates and other benefits such as complementary practice, room upgrades and discounted airport taxis to our large customer base.

提供價格優惠的住宿是我們為客戶提供價值的關鍵組成部分。我們與供應商夥伴密切合作，提高他們參與我們定向定價計畫的積極性，以確保我們的客戶能夠獲得極具競爭力的價格。Booking.com 的 Genius 忠誠度計劃就是一個很好的例子，數十萬家酒店合作夥伴參與其中，為我們龐大的客戶群提供更低的價格和其他福利，例如免費練習、房間升級和機場出租車折扣。

In addition to offering lower rates on accommodations, we have recently extended lower rates on rental cars to our Genius customers. This is just one example of the way we continue to innovate and add value for our Genius members.

除了提供更低的住宿價格外，我們最近還為 Genius 客戶提供了更低的租車價格。這只是我們不斷創新並為 Genius 會員創造價值的一個例子。

With about 2/3 of our room nights booked on mobile devices and the majority of those booked through the app, it's critical that we provide our customers with a positive bookings experience on our app. The app is an important platform as it allows us more opportunities to engage directly with travelers. And ultimately, we see it as the center of our connected trip experience.

我們約有 2/3 的客房預訂是透過行動裝置完成的，其中大部分是透過應用程式預訂的，因此，為我們的客戶提供積極的應用程式預訂體驗至關重要。該應用程式是一個重要的平台，因為它讓我們有更多機會直接與旅行者互動。最終，我們將其視為我們互聯旅行體驗的核心。

In the third quarter, Booking.com was once again the #1 downloaded OTA app globally according to a third-party research firm. Also in the third quarter, we surpassed 100 million monthly active app users for the first time. The recent growth of Booking.com's app is encouraging, and we are working hard to continue to build on this success.

根據第三方研究公司的調查，Booking.com 在第三季再次成為全球下載量排名第一的線上旅行社應用程式。第三季度，我們的每月活躍應用用戶數首次突破 1 億。Booking.com應用程式近期的成長令人鼓舞，我們正在努力鞏固這一成功。

In the third quarter, we saw a higher mix of our customers booking directly with us than in the third quarter of 2019. Our direct mix improved even as we leaned into performance marketing channels during our peak travel season. While we will continue to invest in performance marketing, we will also look to expand the diversity of our marketing and customer acquisition channels as we aim to drive incremental traffic to our platform and increase consumer awareness of our brands.

第三季度，我們發現直接透過我們預訂的客戶比例高於 2019 年第三季。即使在旅遊旺季，我們大力發展成效行銷管道，我們的直接行銷組合也得到了改善。我們將繼續投資於效果行銷，同時也將尋求擴大行銷和客戶獲取管道的多樣性，以期為我們的平台帶來更多流量，並提高消費者對我們品牌的認知度。

For example, with our ambition to acquire more customers in the medium intent space, we've made progress in strengthening our foundations for digital marketing, including in social channels, though our spend so far has been small. However, we're increasingly confident in the potential for these channels. And as we see positive results, we expect to raise our level of participation there.

例如，為了在中等意向市場獲得更多客戶，我們在加強數位行銷基礎方面取得了進展，包括社交管道，儘管到目前為止我們的支出還很小。然而，我們對這些管道的潛力越來越有信心。隨著我們看到積極的成果，我們預計會提高我們在該地區的參與度。

Remaining active and investing effectively across marketing channels is made even more important by the opportunity to acquire bookers who are new to online booking channels. Travel, like many industries during pandemic, has seen a meaningful shift from offline to online according to third-party data, and this has increased our addressable market.

對於有機會獲取線上預訂管道的新用戶而言，保持活躍並在各個行銷管道進行有效投資顯得尤為重要。根據第三方數據，在疫情期間，旅遊業和許多其他行業一樣，經歷了從線下到線上的重大轉變，這擴大了我們的潛在市場。

For our supply partners, we are focused on bringing incremental demand to their properties from the broad audience of potentianl customers on our platform. In a survey of 600 small and medium hoteliers in Europe conducted earlier this year, 85% of response agreed that online platforms are a cost-efficient way to increase the reach of their hotel and source more diverse guests.

對於我們的供應商合作夥伴，我們致力於透過我們平台上的廣大潛在客戶群，為他們的房產帶來增量需求。今年稍早對歐洲 600 家中小旅館經營者進行的一項調查顯示，85% 的受訪者認為線上平台是提高飯店知名度、吸引更多不同類型客人的經濟有效的方式。

We agree with this statement and believe it applies more broadly. Whether we are working with a small and medium hotel in Europe for an alternative accommodation or a large global hotel chain, we strive to be a valuable partner to all accommodation types on our platform.

我們同意這一說法，並認為它具有更廣泛的適用性。無論我們是與歐洲的中小型飯店合作提供替代住宿方案，還是與大型全球連鎖飯店合作，我們都力求成為我們平台上所有住宿類型的寶貴合作夥伴。

With our chain hotel partners, we are continuing to see increased engagement relative to 2019 levels, which shows up in higher levels of participation in our programs that enable them to differentiate and promote themselves on our platform.

與我們的連鎖飯店合作夥伴相比，我們持續看到參與度較 2019 年有所提高，這體現在我們各項計劃的參與度更高，這些計劃使他們能夠在我們的平台上脫穎而出並進行推廣。

For our alternative accommodations, the global mix of room nights in Q3 of about 30% was up slightly from Q3 2019. This increase in alternative combination share of our business in the quarter was less than it was in Q2 as we saw a greater sequential improvement in demand for hotel room nights in Europe from Q2 to Q3. Our property count of about 2.4 million and reported listings of over 28 million on Booking.com remained stable relative to the prior quarter.

對於我們的替代住宿，第三季全球客房夜數佔比約為 30%，比 2019 年第三季略有上升。本季我們業務中替代組合份額的成長低於第二季度，因為我們看到歐洲酒店客房夜數的需求從第二季度到第三季度出現了更大的環比改善。我們的房源數量約為 240 萬套，在 Booking.com 上發布的房源資訊超過 2,800 萬條，與上一季相比保持穩定。

Let me talk more about some of our key strategic priorities, payments and the connected trip, both of which we believe will further enhance the strength of our core accommodations business and support its continued growth.

讓我再詳細談談我們的一些關鍵策略重點、支付和互聯旅行，我們相信這兩項都將進一步增強我們核心住宿業務的實力，並支持其持續成長。

Turning to payments at Booking.com. Last quarter, we spoke about the organization of all of our payments initiatives and efforts within a new fintech unit at Booking.com. The recently established fintech unit enables Booking.com to have a dedicated focus on enhancing payments in our core business for both customers and partners as well as monetizing our overall transaction flows via new payments-related products and services.

接下來我們來看看Booking.com的付款方式。上個季度，我們討論了Booking.com新成立的金融科技部門如何整合我們所有的支付計畫和工作。新成立的金融科技部門使 Booking.com 能夠專注於提升核心業務中客戶和合作夥伴的支付體驗，並透過新的支付相關產品和服務實現整體交易流程的獲利。

Adoption of our payment solutions by our supply partners in both the U.S. and Europe continues to grow. Adoption in the U.S. has seen significant increases recently, driven by the additions of some major hotel chains in the second and third quarters, which we will look to build on in the fourth quarter.

我們在美國和歐洲的供應商合作夥伴對我們支付解決方案的採用率持續成長。最近，美國的採用率顯著提高，這主要得益於第二季和第三季一些大型連鎖飯店的加入，我們將在第四季繼續保持這一成長動能。

In Europe, more customers are choosing to pay using Booking.com's payment platform when finalizing their booking as attractive and localized options are provided. This is a result in nearly 1/3 of Booking.com's total gross bookings in Q3 being processed through our payment platform, which is up from about 22% for the full year 2020.

在歐洲，越來越多的顧客在完成預訂時選擇使用 Booking.com 的支付平台進行支付，因為該平台提供了極具吸引力且在地化的支付選項。這是因為 Booking.com 第三季近三分之一的總預訂量是透過我們的支付平台處理的，而 2020 年全年這一比例約為 22%。

The fintech unit is also driving continued payments innovation to ensure that growth is sustained into the future. This includes offering low-cost payout choices to our suppliers as well as partnering with third parties to provide payment solutions to our bookers, such as Buy Now, Pay Later. We believe these efforts help position Booking.com as an attractive and trusted payment intermediary for all parties on our platform.

該金融科技部門也不斷推動支付領域的創新，以確保未來的持續成長。這包括為我們的供應商提供低成本的付款選擇，以及與第三方合作，為我們的預訂者提供支付解決方案，例如先買後付。我們相信，這些努力有助於將 Booking.com 定位為我們平台上所有參與者都信賴且有吸引力的支付中介機構。

On our connected trip vision, we have been focused this year on enabling travelers to book the major elements of their trip in one place on Booking.com. We continue to work on scaling up a robust flight platform on Booking.com, which will give us the ability to engage with flight bookers early in their travel journey and allow us an opportunity to cross-sell our accommodation and other services to these bookers. Booking.com's product is now live in 27 countries.

今年，我們致力於打造互聯旅行願景，重點是讓旅客能夠在 Booking.com 上一站式預訂旅行的主要組成部分。我們正繼續努力在 Booking.com 上擴展強大的航班平台，這將使我們能夠在旅客旅行的早期階段與他們互動，並讓我們有機會向這些旅客交叉銷售我們的住宿和其他服務。Booking.com的產品目前已在27個國家/地區上架。

Total company air tickets in the third quarter was up 131% versus Q3 2019, primarily driven by strength at Priceline, but also helped by Booking.com's life offering, which continues to meaningfully exceed our expectations. While it remains early days for Booking's flight product, we are seeing that over 25% of Booking's flight bookers are entirely new customers. With these new customers, we are seeing an encouraging attach rate of accommodation bookings.

第三季公司機票總額較 2019 年第三季成長 131%，主要得益於 Priceline 的強勁表​​現，但也得益於 Booking.com 的人壽保險產品，該產品繼續顯著超出我們的預期。雖然 Booking 的航班產品仍處於早期階段，但我們發現 Booking 超過 25% 的航班預訂者都是全新的客戶。我們看到，隨著這些新客戶的到來，住宿預訂的附加率也令人鼓舞。

However, there is more work to be done to further optimize the cross-sell opportunity. The early signals help demonstrate though that a flight offering can drive incremental new customers to the platform to which we can cross-sell our accommodation product.

然而，要進一步優化交叉銷售機會，還有更多工作要做。早期跡象表明，航班服務可以為平台帶來更多新客戶，我們可以向這些客戶交叉銷售我們的住宿產品。

We are beginning to test initiatives targeting these new flight customers, including, for example, encouraging account creation to activate Genius status and in some cases, offering additional incentives for them to book accommodations. We remain focused on continuing to test and innovate in order to build on the early successes we are seeing with flights at Booking.com. We're also continuing to run tests using offerings from our verticals like rental cars and taxis.

我們開始測試針對這些新航班客戶的舉措，例如鼓勵他們建立帳戶以啟動 Genius 會員資格，並在某些情況下提供額外的獎勵來鼓勵他們預訂住宿。我們將繼續專注於測試和創新，以鞏固我們在 Booking.com 航班業務方面的早期成功。我們也在繼續利用我們垂直領域的產品和服務（例如租車和計程車）進行測試。

Now before closing, I do want to note that as world leaders assembled this week in Glasgow for the COP26 Summit, discussing the urgency of tackling the global climate crisis, I cannot overstate the importance for our industry to come together to work for the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Decarbonization is a major challenge for the entire industry and solving this challenge requires the commitment of all stakeholders.

在結束之前，我想指出，本周世界各國領導人齊聚格拉斯哥參加 COP26 峰會，討論應對全球氣候危機的緊迫性，我再怎麼強調我們行業團結起來，為到 2050 年實現碳中和目標而努力的重要性都不為過。脫碳是整個產業面臨的重大挑戰，解決這項挑戰需要所有利害關係人的共同努力。

I am proud to say that our company, Booking Holdings, is committed to addressing this challenge. We recently released a report that we commissioned with EY Parthenon that looks into what will it take to get the accommodations industry specifically to a carbon-neutral future. While a big task, data shows it is achievable. At Booking.com, we are working on making it easier for travelers to find and choose sustainable accommodation options when booking their travel.

我很自豪地說，我們公司 Booking Holdings 致力於應對這項挑戰。我們最近發布了一份由安永帕特農委託撰寫的報告，探討如何才能使住宿業實現碳中和的未來。雖然任務艱鉅，但數據顯示這是可以實現的。Booking.com 致力於讓旅客更容易在預訂行程時找到並選擇永續的住宿選擇。

In addition, we're working with our accommodation supply partners by sharing guidance, insights and best practices to enhance sustainability initiatives at the property level. Of course, there is much more that must be done. But we believe that we are taking important steps to contribute to a more sustainable future for our industry. And finally, we plan on publishing a Booking Holdings climate transition plan in early 2022, which we'll speak more about at that time.

此外，我們還與住宿供應合作夥伴合作，分享指導、見解和最佳實踐，以加強飯店層面的永續發展措施。當然，還有很多工作要做。但我們相信，我們正在採取重要措施，為我們行業的更永續的未來做出貢獻。最後，我們計劃在 2022 年初發布 Booking Holdings 的氣候轉型計劃，屆時我們將對此進行更詳細的討論。

In conclusion, we executed well and produced strong results in our peak travel season, which is a credit to the hard work and support provided by the many teams across our company. I'm encouraged by the signs of recovery we are seeing in many parts of the world, and I'm confident that we are on the path to an eventual strong recovery in travel demand globally.

總之，我們在旅遊旺季表現出色，取得了優異的成績，這要歸功於公司各團隊的辛勤工作和鼎力支持。我對世界許多地區出現的復甦跡象感到鼓舞，我相信，我們正走在通往全球旅遊需求最終強勁復甦的道路上。

We continue with our important work to strengthen our company's position and execute against our strategic priorities. As I've said before, we were thinking about our business beyond just getting back to 2019 levels of demand and we are focused on building a larger and faster-growing business that generates more earnings after the full recovery and for the long run.

我們將繼續進行重要工作，以鞏固公司地位並落實我們的策略重點。正如我之前所說，我們考慮的不僅僅是恢復到 2019 年的需求水平，而是要打造一個規模更大、增長更快的企業，以便在全面復甦後以及長期內創造更多收益。

I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, David Goulden. David? David, is dialing back in, I think.

現在我將把電話交給我們的財務長大衛古爾登。大衛？我想，大衛正在重新接通電話。

Yes, I'm back in, Glenn. Sorry, have you just finished?

是的，我回來了，格倫。不好意思，你剛好結束嗎？

Yes, I just finished.

是的，我剛做完。

All right. Perfect timing. Thank you, I was cut off and I'm back in again. So thank you, Glenn, and good afternoon. I'll review our results for the third quarter to provide some color on the trends we've seen so far in the fourth quarter. To avoid the comparison to the pandemic-impacted periods in 2020, all growth rates are relative to comparable periods in 2019, unless otherwise indicated. Information regarding reconciliation of non-GAAP results to GAAP results can be found in our earnings release.

好的。時機恰到好處。謝謝，我剛才斷線了，現在又連上了。謝謝你，格倫，下午好。我將回顧第三季的業績，以便更好地說明我們在第四季度迄今為止所看到的趨勢。為避免與 2020 年受疫情影響的時期進行比較，除非另有說明，所有增長率均相對於 2019 年的相應時期。有關非GAAP績效與GAAP績效的調節訊息，請參閱我們的獲利報告。

Now on to our results for the third quarter. On our last earnings call, we discussed the improvement in trends that we saw throughout the second quarter driven by the U.S. and Europe, followed by a mass pullback in July. After our earnings call, we saw our overall trends improve in August and continue to get better in September, which resulted in Q3 reported room nights declining 18% versus Q3 2019, which was ahead of the 26% decline in Q2 and the 22% decline in July. September was the strongest month in the third quarter, with room nights declining 14%, about the same level as June.

接下來公佈我們第三季的業績。在上次財報電話會議上，我們討論了第二季度在美國和歐洲的推動下出現的趨勢改善，隨後在7月份出現了大幅回調。在財報電話會議之後，我們看到 8 月的整體趨勢有所改善，9 月繼續好轉，導致第三季報告的客房夜數比 2019 年第三季下降了 18%，好於第二季的 26% 降幅和 7 月的 22% 降幅。9 月是第三季表現最好的一個月，但客房入住夜數下降了 14%，與 6 月的水平大致相同。

The improvements in the Q3 room night decline versus Q2 were driven primarily by Europe, which benefited from strong cross-border travel within the region. In Q3, room nights in Europe were down mid-single digits versus 2019, with room nights trends improving in August versus July. September was similar to August. You will recall the room night growth pulled back from June to July in Europe due to concerns over the Delta variant.

第三季客房夜數下降幅度較第二季有所改善，主要得益於歐洲市場，該地區跨境旅遊強勁成長。第三季度，歐洲客房入住夜數與 2019 年相比下降了個位數百分比，但 8 月的客房入住夜數趨勢較 7 月有所改善。九月的情況與八月類似。您可能還記得，由於對 Delta 變體的擔憂，歐洲 6 月至 7 月的客房夜數增長放緩。

Rest of world also improved from Q2 to Q3. In the U.S., we -- Q2 to Q3. However, the U.S. still had strong growth in the quarter and remained our strongest performing major country in Q3. Within the U.S., we saw a meaningful slowdown in August from the very strong growth we experienced in July, followed by a recovery to strong growth in September. The slowdown in the U.S. in August was due to concerns about the Delta variants. Asian room night declines in Q3 were about in line with Q2. Room nights in Asia was still down significantly from 2019 levels.

世界其他地區的經濟狀況也從第二季到第三季有所改善。在美國，我們－第二季到第三季。然而，美國在本季度仍然實現了強勁成長，並且仍然是我們第三季表現最強勁的主要國家。在美國，8 月經濟成長較 7 月的強勁成長放緩，隨後 9 月經濟又恢復強勁成長。8 月美國經濟放緩是由於對 Delta 系列飛機的擔憂造成的。第三季亞洲地區客房夜降幅度與第二季基本持平。亞洲地區的飯店客房入住夜數仍比 2019 年的水準大幅下降。

Mobile bookings, primarily through our apps, represented about 2/3 of our total room nights. Our apps continue to represent an increasing percentage of our mobile bookings. In Q3, as Glenn mentioned, we achieved an important milestone in the use of our app Booking.com, surpassing 100 million monthly active users.

行動端預訂（主要透過我們的應用程式）約占我們總客房夜數的 2/3。我們的應用程式在行動裝置預訂中所佔的比例持續成長。正如 Glenn 所提到的，在第三季度，我們的應用程式 Booking.com 的使用方面取得了重要的里程碑，每月活躍用戶超過 1 億。

We're also pleased to see the number of unique customers booking via our app in the quarter grew strongly compared with Q3 2019. Our direct channel as a percentage of our room nights year-on-year and relative to Q3 2019 increased.

我們也欣喜地看到，本季透過我們的應用程式預訂的獨立客戶數量與 2019 年第三季相比大幅成長。我們的直接通路客房夜數佔總客房夜數的百分比年比以及與 2019 年第三季相比均有所成長。

While international room nights remain downwards in 2019, we saw another sequential improvement in our international trends, with the international mix of our room nights increasing to about 33% in Q3 from about 25% in Q2 and about 15% in Q1. Most of this improvement in international room nights came from bookings for travel within Europe. We continue to see double-digit growth in domestic room nights in Q3 but at a slightly lower level than in Q2.

儘管 2019 年國際客房夜數持續下降，但我們的國際趨勢又出現了一個連續的改善，國際客房夜數佔比從第二季度的約 25% 和第一季的約 15% 增加到第三季的約 33%。國際飯店客房預訂量的大幅增加主要來自歐洲境內的旅遊預訂。第三季國內客房夜數持續維持兩位數成長，但略低於第二季的水準。

The pickup in international travel in the quarter was a driver of the improvements in overall room night trends from Q2 to Q3. However, international room nights were down almost 50% compared with Q3 2019 levels.

本季國際旅行的回升是推動客房夜數整體趨勢從第二季到第三季改善的主要因素。然而，與 2019 年第三季相比，國際客房夜數下降了近 50%。

Our Q3 cancellation rate was slightly above Q3 2019 levels. However, cancellation rates improved in the quarter, and September was slightly better than 2019 for the month. Percentage of our -- of our Q3 2021 bookings made with flexible cancellation policies remained significantly higher than in Q3 2019.

我們第三季的取消率略高於 2019 年第三季的水準。然而，本季的取消率有所改善，9 月的情況比 2019 年同期略好。2021 年第三季度，我們採用彈性取消政策的預訂比例仍顯著高於 2019 年第三季。

The booking window of Booking.com remain shorter than it was in the third quarter of 2019 and contracted more than it did in Q2 as we saw a high mix of near-term bookings during our peak summer season. All regions had a shorter booking window in Q3 than in Q3 2019.

Booking.com 的預訂窗口仍然比 2019 年第三季短，並且比第二季縮減更多，因為我們在夏季旺季期間看到了大量近期預訂。所有地區的第三季預訂窗口期均比 2019 年第三季短。

For our alternative accommodations, the global mix of room nights in Q3 of about 30% was up slightly from Q3 2019. The increase in mixed alternative accommodations in the quarter was less than it was in Q2 as we saw a great -- a greater sequential improvement in demand for hotel room nights in Europe from Q2 to Q3. Our alternative accommodation room nights in Europe grew slightly in August and September versus 2019 and for the quarter were about in line with Q3 2019. We believe we benefited from the strength of our portfolio in Europe, where we can respond to solid demand for alternative accommodations and an improving demand for hotels.

對於我們的替代住宿，第三季全球客房夜數佔比約為 30%，比 2019 年第三季略有上升。本季的混合替代住宿成長低於第二季度，因為我們看到歐洲飯店客房夜數的需求從第二季到第三季出現了更大的環比成長。與 2019 年 8 月和 9 月相比，我們在歐洲的替代住宿房間晚數略有增長，而該季度與 2019 年第三季度基本持平。我們相信，我們在歐洲強大的投資組合使我們受益匪淺，我們能夠滿足市場對替代住宿的強勁需求以及不斷增長的酒店需求。

Gross bookings declined 6% in Q3, which is less than the decline in room nights due to the increase in average day rates for accommodations of about 10% versus 2019 on a constant currency basis and also due to a couple of points of benefit from changes in FX rates and strong performance in our flight business.

第三季總預訂量下降了 6%，低於客房夜數的降幅，這是因為以固定匯率計算，住宿平均日價格比 2019 年上漲了約 10%，此外，匯率變化帶來的一些利好因素以及我們航班業務的強勁表現也起到了積極作用。

Our accommodation constant currency ADR benefited by just over 5 percentage points from an increased mix of business in North America, which is a high ADR region and a decrease of mix in Asia, which is a low ADR region. Excluding regional mix effects, constant currency ADRs were up just over 4%, driven mainly by rate increases in Europe and North America across many destination types with notable strength in beach-oriented leisure destinations.

由於北美（高平均房價地區）業務佔比增加，以及亞洲（低平均房價地區）業務佔比減少，我們的住宿固定匯率平均房價上漲了 5 個百分點以上。剔除區域組合效應，以固定匯率計算的平均房價上漲了 4% 以上，主要原因是歐洲和北美許多目的地類型的房價上漲，其中以海灘休閒目的地的漲幅尤為顯著。

Airline tickets booked in the third quarter were up 131% versus 2019, driven by very strong growth of Priceline and by flight bookings at Booking.com. We're encouraged to see another quarter of triple-digit growth from our flights business, which is a key component of our multiproduct connected trip strategy.

第三季機票預訂量比 2019 年成長了 131%，這主要得益於 Priceline 的強勁成長以及 Booking.com 的航班預訂量。我們很高興看到航班業務連續第二個季度實現了三位數的成長，這是我們多產品互聯旅遊策略的關鍵組成部分。

Consolidated revenue for the third quarter was $4.7 billion, which was 7% below Q3 2019 and was more than double the amount of revenue in Q2 2021, a far greater sequential improvement than in 2019. Our Q3 revenue as a percentage of gross bookings was about in line with Q3 2019, which was in line with our expectations. We experienced even more revenue seasonality in Q3 2021 than normal due to the concentration of stays in Q3 from bookings made in the quarter and also from bookings (inaudible) when customers could book at combinations but could not stay due to restrictions and other COVID-related concerns.

第三季綜合營收為 47 億美元，比 2019 年第三季下降了 7%，是 2021 年第二季營收的兩倍多，季成長幅度遠大於 2019 年。第三季營收佔總預訂量的百分比與 2019 年第三季基本持平，符合我們的預期。由於 2021 年第三季的住宿預訂集中於當季，以及（聽不清楚）客戶可以預訂組合套餐但由於限制和其他與新冠疫情相關的擔憂而無法入住，因此我們經歷了比往常更嚴重的收入季節性波動。

The strong top line performance resulted in adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 billion in the third quarter, which was 15% below Q3 2019. Marketing expense, which is a highly variable expense item, decreased 3% versus Q3 2019. Marketing expense declined by a few points less than gross bookings due to slightly lower ROIs in paid channels as we invested into capturing demand during the peak travel season.

強勁的營收表現使得第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 21 億美元，比 2019 年第三季下降了 15%。行銷費用是一項波動性很大的費用項目，與 2019 年第三季相比下降了 3%。由於我們在旅遊旺季期間加大了對市場需求的投入，付費管道的投資回報率略低，因此行銷費用下降幅度比總預訂量下降幅度略小。

Sales -- our expenses in Q3 were significantly higher than they were in Q2 on a dollar basis due to higher volume of merchant gross bookings, which increased as a percentage of total gross bookings in the third quarter. At Booking.com, the amount of gross bookings processed through our payment platform in Q3 was over $6 billion, which was almost 1/3 of Booking.com's business, up from about 1/4 in Q2.

銷售－由於商家總預訂量增加，第三季商家總預訂量佔總預訂量的百分比上升，因此我們第三季的支出（以美元計算）明顯高於第二季。Booking.com 第三季透過我們的支付平台處理的總預訂金額超過 60 億美元，幾乎佔 Booking.com 業務的三分之一，高於第二季的約四分之一。

Our more fixed expense categories in Q3 in aggregate came in 3% lower than Q2, as the $136 million of personnel expense in the second quarter related to our decision to repay the government aid was mostly offset by an increase from Q2 to Q3 in our bonus accruals and digital service tax expense, both of which are accrued proportional to revenue.

第三季我們較為固定的支出類別總額比第二季下降了 3%，因為第二季與我們決定償還政府援助相關的 1.36 億美元的人員​​支出，大部分被第二季到第三季獎金提列和數位服務稅支出的增加所抵消，這兩項支出均與收入成正比。

Our non-GAAP EPS was $37.70, down 17% versus Q3 2019. Non-GAAP net income of $1.6 billion reflects a non-GAAP tax rate of 21%, which is higher than the 19% in Q3 2019 due to a higher proportion of nontax expenses in relation to lower pretax income versus 2019.

我們的非GAAP每股收益為37.70美元，比2019年第三季下降17%。非GAAP淨收入為16億美元，反映出非GAAP稅率為21%，高於2019年第三季的19%，這是由於非稅支出佔比較高，而稅前收入低於2019年同期。

On a GAAP basis, we had operating income of $2 billion in Q3. We recorded GAAP net income of $769 million in the quarter, which includes a $1 billion pretax unrealized loss on our equity investments, primarily related to our investment in Meituan as well as income tax expense of $199 million.

以美國通用會計準則計算，我們第三季的營業收入為 20 億美元。本季我們錄得 GAAP 淨收入 7.69 億美元，其中包括 10 億美元的稅前未實現股權投資損失（主要與我們對美團的投資有關）以及 1.99 億美元的所得稅費用。

Now on to our cash and liquidity position. Our Q3 ending cash investment balance of $15.4 billion was down versus our Q2 ending balance of $16.1 billion as the $1.5 billion of free cash flow was more than offset by the repayment of a $1 billion convertible note maturing in Q3 and the $1 billion unrealized loss on our equity investments.

接下來我們來看看我們的現金和流動性狀況。由於15億美元的自由現金流被3月到期的10億美元可轉換票據的償還以及10億美元的股權投資未實現損失所抵消，我們第三季末的現金投資餘額為154億美元，低於第二季末的161億美元。

The return of capital to shareholders has and will be an important component of our value creation strategy. Throughout the COVID pandemic, we said that we restart returning capital to shareholders when we saw that our 3 largest regions were no longer at meaningful risk of a major reversal due to COVID and has also become more predictable. Assuming that travel recovery continues, we plan to restart returning capital in early 2022 under our remaining authorization. Assuming continued recovery, we'd expect to complete this organization within 3 years from restarting.

向股東返還資本一直是並將繼續是我們價值創造策略的重要組成部分。在整個 COVID-19 疫情期間，我們表示，當我們看到我們最大的 3 個地區不再面臨因 COVID-19 而導致的重大逆轉的重大風險，並且情況也變得更加可預測時，我們將重新開始向股東返還資本。假設旅遊業持續復甦，我們計劃在剩餘授權範圍內於 2022 年初重新開始返還資本。假設復甦勢頭持續，我們預計從重新啟動到完成這項組織工作將在 3 年內完成。

Now on to our thoughts for the fourth quarter. October room nights declined 10% versus 2019, which is better than the 14% decline in September. The improvement in October was driven mainly by Asia, although the region remains down considerably versus 2019. The improvement in Asia was led by domestic travel within many countries and was driven by improving vaccination progress and governments easing restrictions on travel.

接下來我們來談談對第四季的展望。10 月客房入住夜數比 2019 年下降了 10%，優於 9 月 14% 的降幅。10 月的成長主要得益於亞洲地區的推動，儘管該地區與 2019 年相比仍有相當大的下降。亞洲地區的改善主要得益於許多國家國內旅行的增加，而這又得益於疫苗接種工作的推進和各國政府放寬旅行限制。

Room night growth in the U.S. improved a little from September to October and remained strong in October. Rest of World also improved a little in October and was back close to 2019 levels. Room night declines in Europe were about the same in October as they were in September, but weakened towards the end of the month. This resulted in overall room night declines being higher in the last week of October than the average for the month. The slowdown at the end of October in Europe was driven by a number of countries that have seen recent increases in COVID infections, including Germany, Russia and Italy.

美國客房入住率從 9 月到 10 月略有改善，並在 10 月保持強勁成長。世界其他地區在 10 月也有所改善，已接近 2019 年的水準。10 月歐洲客房入住率的下降幅度與 9 月大致相同，但到月底下降幅度有所減弱。這導致 10 月最後一週的客房入住夜數總降幅高於該月平均值。10 月底歐洲經濟放緩的原因是包括德國、俄羅斯和義大利在內的一些國家近期新冠感染病例增加。

Given the ongoing uncertainty around COVID, it's difficult to predict how room nights in November, December will compare with the 10% reduction you saw in October. Looking forward to November and December, the rising case counts across many important Western European countries and across much of Eastern Europe as well at the start of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere, which in 2020 contributed to an increase in COVID cases, creates unpredictability. Also pre-pandemic, the contribution of Asia to total room nights were highest in November and December, and Asia is still our least recovered region.

鑑於新冠疫情持續存在不確定性，很難預測 11 月和 12 月的客房入住率與 10 月 10% 的降幅相比會如何。展望 11 月和 12 月，西歐許多重要國家以及東歐大部分地區的病例數不斷上升，同時北半球也進入了冬季，這在 2020 年導致了新冠病例的增加，造成了不確定性。此外，在疫情爆發前，亞洲對總客房夜數的貢獻在 11 月和 12 月最高，而亞洲仍然是我們復甦最慢的地區。

On a more positive note, since the U.S. announced in late September plans to ease travel restrictions in November for international travelers who are vaccinated, we've seen a significant improvement in room nights booked by Europeans that travel to the U.S. as well as the reverse. Also, we're pleased to see more gross bookings on the books for the Christmas, New Year period than we saw at this time in 2019 in the U.S. and Western Europe.

從積極的方面來看，自從美國在 9 月下旬宣布計劃在 11 月放寬對已接種疫苗的國際旅客的旅行限制以來，我們看到前往美國的歐洲人預訂的酒店房間數量以及反之亦然的數量都出現了顯著改善。此外，我們很高興地看到，聖誕節和新年期間的預訂總量比 2019 年同期美國和西歐的預訂總量要多。

Turning to the income statement. We expect Q4 gross bookings to decline by a few points less than room nights, driven by higher reported ADRs and flight bookings versus 2019. We expect less of an increase in our ADRs in Q4 than Q3 due to less of a benefit from regional mix as the Asia region continues to recover but also due to lower occupancy rates after the peak travel season.

接下來來看損益表。我們預計第四季總預訂量將比客房夜數下降幾個百分點，主要原因是報告的平均房價和航班預訂量較 2019 年有所增加。由於亞洲地區持續復甦，區域組合帶來的收益減少，加上旅遊旺季過後入住率下降，我們預計第四季平均房價的成長幅度將小於第三季。

We expect Q4 revenue to decline more than gross bookings due to a couple of factors. The first is that due to short booking window in Q3, a lower percentage of Q3 bookings than normal will stay in Q4. The second is due to our expectation that the booking window will contract less in Q4 than it did in Q3, resulting in more bookings made in the quarter that are expected to check in, in future quarters. As a result, we expect our revenue as a percentage of gross bookings to be more than 1% below Q4 2019. This also means we expect Q4 revenue to have a greater sequential decrease from Q3 than we saw in 2019, and we expect Q4 revenue to decline more than it did in Q3.

由於以下幾個因素，我們預期第四季營收降幅將大於總預訂量降幅。首先，由於第三季的預訂窗口期較短，因此第三季預訂的房間在第四季的入住率會低於正常水準。第二點是，我們預計第四季度的預訂窗口收縮幅度將小於第三季度，因此本季預訂的更多房間預計將在未來幾季入住。因此，我們預計營收佔總預訂量的百分比將比 2019 年第四季下降 1% 以上。這也意味著我們預計第四季營收將比 2019 年第三季出現更大的環比下降，並且我們預計第四季營收的下降幅度將超過第三季。

We expect Q4 marketing expense as a percentage of gross bookings to increase slightly versus 2019 as we expect to invest in capturing demand and increasing awareness during the continued global recovery of travel demand. We expect Q4 sales and other expenses to be lower than they were in Q3 due to lower merchant transaction volumes. However, we expect sales and other expenses in the fourth quarter to be higher than in Q4 2019 due to higher merchant volumes and mix.

我們預計，隨著全球旅遊需求的持續復甦，我們將加大投入，以獲得需求並提高品牌知名度，因此第四季度行銷費用佔總預訂額的比例將比 2019 年略有上升。由於商家交易量下降，我們預期第四季銷售額和其他費用將低於第三季。然而，由於商家數量和產品組合的增加，我們預計第四季度的銷售額和其他費用將高於 2019 年第四季。

We expect our more fixed expense carries in Q4 in aggregate to be about in line with Q3 on a dollar basis. We expect Q4 EBITDA to be positive driven largely by the higher -- but driven largely by the higher-than-normal seasonal decrease in revenue, we expect a much greater seasonal sequential decrease in EBITDA from Q3 to Q4 than normal.

我們預計第四季固定支出總額將與第三季基本持平（以美元計）。我們預計第四季度 EBITDA 將為正，這主要得益於收入季節性下降幅度高於正常水平，但我們預計 EBITDA 從第三季到第四季的季節性環比下降幅度將遠大於正常水平。

In conclusion, we are pleased with our recovery in the top line in Q3, which led to strong financial results for the quarter. The financial strength we saw in Q3 was helped by the concentration of stays in the quarter, which will lead to some differences in the comparison of Q4 to Q3 relative to what we've seen in prior years.

總之，我們對第三季營收的復甦感到滿意，這為該季度帶來了強勁的財務業績。第三季財務實力的增強得益於該季度住宿量的集中，這將導致第四季度與第三季度的比較與往年有所不同。

October room night trends improved relative to September driven by some encouraging trends in Asia. However, recently, the rising case counts across Europe increases the uncertainty about how trends will progress in November and December.

受亞洲一些令人鼓舞的趨勢推動，10月份的客房過夜量趨勢較9月有所改善。然而，最近歐洲各地病例數的上升，增加了人們對11月和12月趨勢走向的不確定性。

In closing, we're confident in our ability to capture demand as the global recovery continues and to execute against our strategic priorities.

最後，我們對在全球經濟持續復甦之際抓住市場需求並實現戰略重點充滿信心。

With that, I'll now take your questions. And Eli, I turn it over to you to open the line for questions.

接下來，我將回答你們的問題。Eli，現在交給你來回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from the line of Justin Post of Bank of America.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自美國銀行的賈斯汀·波斯特。

Great. Great to see Europe recovering. With room nights down 10% versus '19, Glenn, maybe you could go through what needs to happen from here to get above '19? What areas still need to come back strong? I imagine it's Asia, but your thoughts on that. And then -- and David, maybe you could talk about core business margins versus '19. Let's ignore payments and connected trip for now. But how are you thinking of the puts and takes on the core business versus '19?

偉大的。很高興看到歐洲正在復甦。與 2019 年相比，客房入住夜數下降了 10%，格倫，或許你可以分析一下從現在開始需要做些什麼才能超過 2019 年的水平？哪些領域仍需強勁復甦？我猜是亞洲，但你對此有什麼看法？然後——大衛，或許你可以談談核心業務利潤率與 2019 年相比的情況。我們暫且忽略支付和聯程行程。但您如何看待核心業務與 2019 年相比的買賣情況？

Justin, so I don't think it's a very hard answer really what we need. What we need is obviously more of a recovery against this pandemic because that's clearly what's driving the problem in many industries, ours particularly. For us, we've talked about this a few times. We talked about our business has done well with international. And international generally has been hard hit, albeit we are seeing some better things, but that the long haul is still a problem.

賈斯汀，所以我覺得這不是一個很難回答的問題，我們到底需要什麼。顯然，我們需要的是從這場疫情中恢復過來，因為這顯然是許多產業（尤其是我們所在的產業）出現問題的根源。我們已經討論過幾次這個問題了。我們談到了我們的業務在國際市場上發展良好。國際市場總體上受到了嚴重衝擊，儘管我們看到了一些好轉的跡象，但從長遠來看，這仍然是一個問題。

Yes, we're seeing some numbers coming up in Asia. Great. I love it. The fact that people are getting more vaccinated in Asia, that's great. The fact that vaccines are being distributed more broadly and getting around, that's great. The fact that the pharmaceutical companies are coming out with new ways to combat against this terrible virus with pills now that can help people who have caught it end up being hopefully healthier quicker.

是的，我們看到亞洲的一些數據正在上升。偉大的。我喜歡它。亞洲地區疫苗接種率的提高是件好事。疫苗分發範圍更廣、普及程度更高，這是一件好事。製藥公司正在研發對抗這種可怕病毒的新方法，現在推出的藥丸可以幫助感染者更快恢復健康。

All the things, but what we need really is for everyone who can get a vaccine to please go out and get that vaccine if you're medically able to and you're capable of getting it, please get it. That will help hasten the recovery for not only the travel industry, but the entire world. And that's what we hope will happen. Obviously, we're doing everything we can. So we're prepared when that day comes, which it will. We can't say when, but we know it will come.

所有這些，但我們真正需要的是，所有能夠接種疫苗的人，如果你身體狀況允許並且有能力接種疫苗，請去接種疫苗。這將有助於加快旅遊業乃至整個世界的復甦。而這正是我們希望發生的事。顯然，我們正在盡一切努力。所以我們已經做好準備，迎接那一天的到來，而那一天終會到來。我們無法確定具體時間，但我們知道它終會到來。

And we're preparing by doing all the things that Dave and I have been talking about, preparing with our partners and getting our marketing prepared and doing all the steps that you know we've been doing to make sure that when travel comes back to above 2019, we're getting the share we want to be getting. And David, do you want to add -- you can answer the second question and add to mine too.

我們正在做我和戴夫一直在討論的所有準備工作，與我們的合作夥伴一起做好準備，做好行銷準備，並採取我們一直在採取的所有步驟，以確保當旅遊業恢復到 2019 年以上的水平時，我們能夠獲得我們想要的市場份額。大衛，你想補充什麼嗎？你可以回答第二個問題，也可以補充我的問題。

Yes. So no, I won't add to yours, which I think was great. Justin, we've actually beat this before, so I'll be relatively quick on the puts and takes in the core accommodation business. Our underlying take rates have been solid. And obviously, the reported take rates are a function of timing. So that continues to go well for us. As we get to -- back to 2019 levels, there will be some inflationary pressure on the personnel line. Everybody knows there's a war for tech talent out there, and we've had 2, 3 years worth of merit increases and other expenses -- and other increases in our cost base. Of course, we did take expenses out, but there are variable expenses. So they will come back with some efficiency over time, but there will be some pressure on the personnel line.

是的。所以，我不會再補充你的觀點了，我覺得你的觀點已經很棒了。賈斯汀，我們之前其實已經成功過一次了，所以我會在核心住宿業務的買賣方面比較迅速地做出決定。我們的基礎成交率一直很穩定。顯然，報道的成交率與成交時間有關。所以這方面我們進展順利。隨著我們恢復到 2019 年的水平，人員配置方面將面臨一定的通膨壓力。大家都知道現在科技人才爭奪戰很激烈，我們已經投入了 2、3 年的績效薪資成長和其他開支，成本基礎也隨之增加。當然，我們已經扣除了各項開支，但仍有一些可變開支。所以隨著時間的推移，他們的效率會提高，但人員方面會面臨一些壓力。

But there are other things that aren't in the model that we can use to offset that pressure. We can get extra economies of scale as the business grows beyond 2019 levels on both the fixed costs and on the variable cost side as well. There are opportunities in our direct mix, which, of course, is very important. And of course, a key element of this all happens to our overall ROI on the performance marketing side where we saw some increases in the first half of the year. We saw some small compression in the second half of this year, but those markets are very variable and very dynamic, and we're pleased with how we're doing in those markets.

但模型中沒有包含的其他因素可以用來抵銷這種壓力。隨著業務成長超過 2019 年的水平，無論是在固定成本還是可變成本方面，我們都可以獲得額外的規模經濟效益。我們的直接投資組合中存在著機會，當然非常重要。當然，這一切的關鍵因素在於我們整體在效果行銷方面的投資報酬率，我們在今年上半年看到了一些成長。今年下半年我們看到了一些小幅壓縮，但這些市場非常多變且充滿活力，我們對在這些市場中的表現感到滿意。

The last thing I want to leave you with on that topic is that within our core business, there's always a trade-off between growth, market share and profitability. So to the extent we see opportunities, we're leaning in. We want to try and drive market share increases where we think that we can. That will pressure the business in the short term as we lean into making that investment, and also the investment in marketing and other areas will basically be a leading indicator relative to revenue.

關於這個主題，我最後想和大家分享的是，在我們核心業務中，成長、市場佔有率和獲利能力之間總是存在著權衡取捨。所以，只要我們看到機會，我們就會全力以赴。我們希望在我們認為可以提高市場份額的地方努力提高市場份額。短期內，由於我們需要加強投資力度，這將給公司帶來壓力；同時，在行銷和其他領域的投資基本上將成為收入的領先指標。

So there will -- and we do believe that there are opportunity for us to gain share in accommodations through this recovery and beyond. So that would be an additional factor in the mix of how we think about the long-term business margins in accommodations.

所以，我們相信，透過這次復甦以及之後的發展，我們有機會在住宿領域獲得份額。因此，這將是我們考慮住宿業長期業務利潤率時需要考慮的另一個因素。

Your next question is from Kevin Kopelman of Cowen and Company.

下一個問題來自 Cowen and Company 的 Kevin Kopelman。

Great. Hoping to dig into ad spend trends a little bit. So spend is going up a little. How much of that is booking and getting more aggressive as demand picks up versus a more competitive overall ad environment? And then compared to 2019, has the distribution name brand and performance changed meaningfully? And lastly, can you give us an update on the kind of merchandising and promotion -- some of the merchandising promotion tests that you've done over the past couple of quarters?

偉大的。希望能稍微深入研究一下廣告支出趨勢。所以支出略有上升。其中有多少是因為需求回升導致的預訂量增加和廣告投放力度加大，又有多少是由於整體廣告環境競爭加劇所致？那麼與 2019 年相比，分銷商的名稱、品牌和業績是否發生了顯著變化？最後，您能否向我們介紹一下商品銷售和促銷方面的一些最新情況—例如您在過去幾季進行的一些商品銷售促銷測試？

So David, why don't you take the first 2 about the ad competitiveness and I think some brand question, and I will talk a little bit about some of the merchandising.

大衛，不如你先回答前兩個關於廣告競爭力和品牌方面的問題，我再簡單談談商品銷售方面的問題。

Exactly. Thank you. Let's do that. So Kevin, if you remember, we -- on the last call, we said that we expect to see some reduction in ROIs in Q3 versus 2019. And actually, the ROIs came out very much where we expected them to. Actually, our direct mix was slightly better than we expected in Q3, and that's why there was less of a compression in the difference between gross bookings and marketing than we actually expected in Q3. So that's positive. It really -- something that we -- I'd say that was more what we did because we expected that to be the outcome.

確切地。謝謝。那就這麼做吧。所以凱文，如果你還記得的話，我們在上次電話會議上說過，我們預計第三季的投資報酬率將比 2019 年下降。事實上，投資報酬率與我們的預期非常吻合。事實上，第三季我們的直接銷售組合略優於預期，因此第三季總預訂量與行銷收入之間的差距縮小幅度小於預期。這是個好消息。實際上──我想說，我們之所以那樣做，是因為我們預料到了那樣的結果。

Of course, these markets are dynamic and as recovery continues, more and more players will come back into the marketplace. But basically what happened in Q3 was very much in line with what we told you a quarter ago would happen. The mix in between brands and the performance has not materially changed. If you recall back in 2019, we were over 90% -- or around 90% of our marketing spend was in performance marketing. We are looking to move up -- to move the brand spend up a little bit over time. But of course, brand has been very much shut down in 2020 is now coming back on in 2021.

當然，這些市場是動態的，隨著復甦的持續，越來越多的參與者將重返市場。但基本上，第三季發生的事情與我們一個季度前告訴你們的情況非常吻合。品牌組合和業績表現並未發生實質變化。如果你還記得 2019 年的情況，我們超過 90% 的行銷支出都投入了效果行銷。我們希望逐步提升品牌投入－隨著時間的推移，逐步提高品牌投入。當然，該品牌在 2020 年幾乎完全停擺，現在正在 2021 年重新啟動。

So we're not in a very different position than where we were in 2019, but we do see the opportunity to continue to trend a little bit more towards brands, some of which might go at the mid-funnel market opportunities that Glenn talked about. And then Glenn, I'll hand over to you to talk about the third one.

所以我們現在的處境與 2019 年並沒有太大不同，但我們確實看到了繼續向品牌發展一些趨勢的機會，其中一些品牌可能會抓住 Glenn 所談到的中漏斗市場機會。接下來，格倫，我把麥克風交給你來談第三個問題。

Yes. So Kevin, obviously, merchandising is very important. The reason why we built out and are continuing to build out our payments platform at Booking.com is making sure that we're able to compete and provide great value to our customers. And what's really important is not doing just out of our own pocket, but working with our partners, coming up with the right time to the right consumer, the right offer and helping them, our supply partners, also provide some of that, let's say, added value.

是的。所以凱文，很顯然，商品銷售非常重要。我們在 Booking.com 建立並持續建立支付平台的原因是為了確保我們能夠參與競爭，並為我們的客戶提供巨大的價值。真正重要的是，不僅要自掏腰包，還要與合作夥伴共同努力，在合適的時間向合適的消費者提供合適的產品，並幫助我們的供應商合作夥伴也提供一些附加價值。

So for example, we may do flash sales. You may -- hopefully you've seen some, hopefully you caught some, you actually book some of them. That's an example. One of the things, for example, when somebody is getting an accommodation and we're able to offer them either lower cost or even free sometimes ride from the airport to the hotel. And there are real different variations that we can do with the different verticals and coming up with the best combination, trying to do as much as we can with our suppliers' money but sometimes using our own, too, to come up what really is an attractive offer, so the consumer knows that when they come to our site, they're getting the best value because value really is one of the key strategic objectives for us, always to be providing that.

例如，我們可能會進行限時搶購。你可能——希望你已經看過一些，希望你已經看過一些，甚至可能預訂了一些。這是一個例子。例如，當有人預訂住宿時，我們可以為他們提供價格更低甚至有時免費的機場到飯店的接送服務。我們可以根據不同的垂直領域採取不同的策略，找到最佳組合，盡可能利用供應商的資金，有時也會動用我們自己的資金，以推出真正有吸引力的產品，讓消費者知道，當他們訪問我們的網站時，他們能獲得最大的價值，因為價值是我們最重要的戰略目標之一，我們始終致力於提供價值。

Your next question is from Deepak Mathivanan from Wolfe Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Deepak Mathivanan。

This is Zach on for Deepak. First on pent-up demand. Obviously, it's been a nice tailwind to your business over just general travel demand over the last few quarters. But just curious how you're thinking about whether there's another leg to run on the level of pent-up demand. Asia is still kind of depressed, as you noted, and cross-border restrictions are kind of easing. So as we look into next year, how are you guys thinking about the level of pent-up demand?

這裡是紮克替迪帕克報道。首先是應積壓的需求。顯然，在過去幾個季度裡，這為您的業務帶來了不錯的順風，遠遠超出一般的旅行需求。我只是好奇，您認為在目前這種被壓抑的需求水準下，是否還有進一步成長的空間。正如你所指出的，亞洲經濟仍然有些低迷，跨國限制也正在逐步放鬆。展望明年，你們如何看待被壓抑的需求水準？

And then second, when we kind of dig a little further into the current trends, is there any kind of reversal in terms of urban versus suburban or shorter versus longer-term stays that you can call out?

其次，當我們更深入研究當前的趨勢時，在城市與郊區或短期與長期居住方面，是否有任何逆轉的跡象？

Zach, so just to make sure I understood your first part of your question, you're just asking a little bit about how we're going to get the demand that's coming in the future. Do I have that correct?

札克，​​為了確保我理解你問題的第一部分，你是想問我們將如何滿足未來的需求。我理解的對嗎？

Just, I guess, like understanding whether level of pent-up demand that you guys kind of expecting as we move into next year, given there's still current travel restrictions, especially on the cross-border side and Asia's still -- remains depressed. So as we look into next year, should we see another kind of boost here?

我只是想了解一下，考慮到目前仍然存在旅行限制，尤其是在跨境方面，而且亞洲的經濟仍然低迷，你們預計明年會出現怎樣的積壓需求水平。展望明年，我們是否會看到另一種成長動能？

Got it. I got it. Okay. Why don't I take that first half, and then I'll let David say whatever what we feel we can disclose regarding any of the trends regarding different parts of the business. So we absolutely know there's huge pent-up demand because any time any government lets go a restriction, we see immediate, immediate pumped demand.

知道了。我得到了它。好的。不如我先說前半部分，然後讓大衛說說我們認為可以透露的關於公司各個業務領域趨勢的任何信息。所以我們完全知道有巨大的被壓抑的需求，因為任何時候政府放鬆限制，我們都會立即看到需求激增。

So for example, the announcement of the November 8 opening for people to come to the U.S., immediately, we saw demand. In the U.K., when they changed restriction, immediate demand. So we know it's there. Absolutely.

例如，11月8日宣布美國開放入境後，我們立即看到了需求。在英國，當他們改變限制時，需求立即出現。所以我們知道它在那裡。絕對地。

Now how much? We don't have a way to quantify it. But we do know if you look at -- particularly in the U.S., when you look at what people's savings rates are right now, we have been able to save a lot of money during this pandemic, and they want to spend it. And one of the things people have not been able to do as much they want to is go travel. So I believe there is a significant amount of demand, they're just waiting to come out. But of course, it has to -- we have to have these restrictions for the long-haul international travel open up. And we also -- we know that it's important that we always provide the best value because when they do travel, they come to us. And Dave, I don't know what you can say about suburban, local, far, what you can say.

現在多少錢？我們沒有辦法量化它。但我們知道，如果你觀察一下——尤其是在美國，當你觀察人們目前的儲蓄率時，你會發現，在這次疫情期間，我們已經節省了很多錢，而他們也想把錢花出去。人們一直未能如願以償的事情之一就是旅行。所以我認為市場需求很大，他們只是在等待機會出現。當然，這是必須的——我們必須解除這些限制，才能開放長途國際旅行。而且我們也知道，始終提供最佳價值非常重要，因為當他們旅行時，他們會選擇我們。戴夫，我不知道你對郊區、本地、遠方有什麼看法，你能說什麼呢？

Yes. Zach, Q3 saw a strong recovery across the geographies that we talked about. So I'd say that there's still a bias towards a more leisure outdoor-oriented activity, particularly beach-oriented properties did very well in the summer months, the North Hemisphere. But we do see some recovery into the cities as well. I mean I think that we all know that anecdotally, if you want to book a hotel room in a city, it's becoming increasingly hard. So we are seeing recovery across the board, although still more oriented towards the outdoor beach-oriented leisure locations.

是的。Zach，第三季我們討論過的各個地區都出現了強勁復甦。所以我覺得，人們仍然更傾向於休閒的戶外活動，尤其是面向海灘的房產在北半球的夏季月份表現非常出色。但我們也看到城市地區出現了一些復甦跡象。我的意思是，我想我們都知道，從一些例子來看，如果你想在一個城市預訂飯店房間，那將變得越來越困難。因此，我們看到各方面都在復甦，儘管復甦的趨勢仍然更集中在戶外海灘休閒場所。

Your next question is from Mark Mahaney from Evercore ISI.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Mark Mahaney。

Three quick ones, please. Any impact at all from IDFA? Secondly, those 100 million mobile app MAUs, do you have enough history to know if those are -- if they act materially different? Are they more or less profitable? Are they more or less loyal than -- more or less likely to convert than the users that you had coming at you from other platforms?

請快速回答三個問題。IDFA 有任何影響嗎？其次，對於那 1 億行動應用程式月活躍用戶，你們是否有足夠的歷史數據來判斷它們是否──它們的行為是否具有實質的差異？它們的獲利能力是更高還是更低？與來自其他平台的用戶相比，他們的忠誠度更高還是更低？轉換率更高還是更低？

And then third, please, the rolling out of the air products to more markets, you have it in 21 markets. You rolled out some good statistics here about how 25% of the customers are new. And there was something you said about add-on sales, if you could just repeat what that was. But it all sounds like that's a really good product addition. So I guess the action question is, why aren't -- how long will it take you to roll it out fully across all markets given how positive it's been so far?

第三，請問空氣產品應該推廣到更多市場，目前已經進入了 21 個市場。你在這裡提供了一些很好的統計數據，例如有 25% 的客戶是新客戶。你剛剛提到過附加銷售，你能再重複一次嗎？但聽起來這確實是個非常棒的產品新增功能。所以我想，現在的問題是，鑑於目前為止的正面反響，為什麼還沒有全面推廣到所有市場？你們需要多久才能全面推廣到所有市場？

Thanks, Mark. Why don't I take -- let me do the air question first. Then I'll talk a little bit about IDFA, and I'll let David what he wants to say about our app and I'm not sure I'll let him be as free as he wants to be or not about what we see in terms of profitability, et cetera. So you're absolutely right about the air business, very exciting for us, of course, and we've been working on it. And it's interesting because I happen to have noticed that in the first quarter call, in 2020, just as things started going very bad for the whole world, we were talking about the -- just starting out in the air business at Booking.com in the fourth quarter of 2019.

謝謝你，馬克。我為什麼不呢——讓我先回答一下關於空氣的問題。然後我會簡單談談 IDFA，我會讓 David 談談他想對我們的應用程式說些什麼，但我不確定我是否會讓他暢所欲言地談論我們在盈利能力等方面看到的情況。所以你說得完全正確，航空業對我們來說當然非常令人興奮，我們一直在努力發展這方面業務。有趣的是，我碰巧注意到，在 2020 年第一季的電話會議上，就在全世界的情況開始變得非常糟糕的時候，我們正在討論 Booking.com 在 2019 年第四季剛開始涉足航空業務的事情。

And I mentioned about we are striving to get to that 50% coverage of Booking.com customers. I was looking forward to hopefully doing that for 2020. And of course, that didn't quite happen, exactly what we wanted. But the question, and it wasn't from you, Mark, who was another analyst who asked about why not 100%. And I said, well, the 50% was just what I want to get to that year. Of course, we want to get to 100%, and that still is the same thing. Yes, we're in 27 countries. Of course, we want to get to every single country that anybody we currently deal with, we want to be able to provide them with an air ticket.

我之前提到過，我們正在努力實現 Booking.com 客戶覆蓋率達到 50%。我原本期待著能在2020年做到這一點。當然，事情並沒有完全按照我們預想的那樣發展。但是，這個問題（不是你，馬克，而是另一位分析師提出的，他問為什麼不是 100%）。我說，50% 正是我那一年想要達到的目標。當然，我們希望達到 100%，但這本質上還是同一件事。是的，我們的業務遍及27個國家。當然，我們希望能夠與我們目前合作的每個國家的所有客戶都建立聯繫，並為他們提供機票。

But it takes time. So it's not something you just flip a switch. You have to actually go through regulations to get licensing and all those sorts of things. So we're rolling it out as we can, as we should, and we will get to 100% at some point. Now I do want to point out that we are at that -- over that 50% number right now. So I am pleased with where we are with that.

但這需要時間。所以這不是你按一下開關就能解決的事。你必須按照規定辦理執照之類的手續。所以我們正在盡我們所能、也應該盡我們所能地推進這項工作，總有一天我們會達到 100% 的完成率。現在我想指出的是，我們現在已經超過了50%這個數字。所以我對我們目前的進展感到滿意。

I also want to say, though, it's still so early. We're not doing big marketing yet, real big marketing. There are a lot of opportunities to get a much higher number of people coming to this air product. And the reason that we like it, not only the 25% of the new customers, which, of course, is fantastic, but is that attachment rate, which I haven't given a number, but I'm pleased with where we are with that right now. And again, that's something we have not optimized yet. There's a lot of opportunity there to optimize that and get an even higher attach rate.

不過，我也想說，現在還為時過早。我們還沒有進行大規模的市場推廣，真正的大規模市場推廣。有很多機會可以吸引更多的人來體驗這款空氣產品。我們喜歡它的原因，不僅是新增客戶率達到 25%（這當然很棒），還有它的附加率，我沒有給出具體數字，但我對我們目前的附加率感到滿意。再次強調，這是我們尚未優化的方面。這裡有很多機會可以進行最佳化，並獲得更高的附加率。

And that's part of the overall vision of being able to bring new customers in from different verticals in different ways than we've done in the past, which we primarily pay for performance marketing and being able to bring a lot more customer and as we talked a little bit earlier in a previous answer about being able to provide them with a lot more value.

這是我們整體願景的一部分，即以不同於以往的方式從不同的垂直領域吸引新客戶。過去，我們主要透過付費進行效果行銷，從而吸引更多客戶，正如我們在先前的回答中稍微談到的那樣，能夠為他們提供更多價值。

Your first question about IDFA, look, these privacy-related changes, they only impact a small part of our marketing and it's obviously not unique to our company. We know that's very common. We can manage through this. And as we know -- as you know, most of our marketing, primarily -- it's paid marketing channels like PPC and meta, and that's not going to be directly impacted by any of these kinds of changes.

關於 IDFA 的第一個問題，你看，這些與隱私相關的變化只會影響我們行銷的一小部分，而且顯然這不是我們公司獨有的。我們知道這種情況很常見。我們可以渡過難關。正如我們所知——正如你們所知，我們的大部分行銷活動主要都是付費行銷管道，例如 PPC 和元行銷，而這些管道不會受到任何此類變化的直接影響。

Our focus is always first-party data. We want to leverage the data in the marketing. And any of these changes to privacy like the IDFA, this does not really impact us.

我們始終專注於第一方數據。我們希望在行銷中利用數據。像IDFA這樣的隱私變更，其實並不會對我們產生影響。

And I think you would know, we chose not to show the app -- tracking app back in April -- April '21, this year, April, while the IDFA specifically decided not to do that, and of course, you've seen our results since then, so I really don't think this is a big deal for us. I'm very proud of the team in our whole marketing. They will be able to work and come up with, I would say, privacy-oriented ways to continue to be able to market with good tracking and ROIs. And David, I think you had number 2, which is about the monthly active users for mobile.

我想你應該知道，我們選擇不在今年四月（2021 年 4 月）展示我們的應用程式——追蹤應用程序，而 IDFA 也明確決定不這樣做。當然，從那以後，你們也看到了我們的結果，所以我真的不認為這對我們來說是什麼大事。我為我們整個行銷團隊感到非常自豪。他們將能夠努力工作，並想出以隱私為導向的方法，繼續進行行銷，同時獲得良好的追蹤和投資回報。大衛，我想你提到的是第 2 點，也就是行動端的月活躍用戶數。

Yes. I've got number 2. And Mark, what I can tell you is we kind of watch very carefully how are different types of direct user response. And obviously, the more direct we can get, the better and the more -- the direct customers return direct, they're better still. And there are 3 types of direct customers. There's direct customers using the app, direct customers that come to us on the mobile web, there are customers who come to us on desktop.

是的。我拿到了第二名。馬克，我可以告訴你的是，我們會非常仔細地觀察不同類型的直接使用者回饋。顯然，我們越能直接接觸客戶越好，而且直接客戶越多，回頭客就越多，那就更好了。直接客戶分為 3 種類型。有直接使用我們應用程式的客戶，有直接透過行動網頁造訪我們網站的客戶，還有透過桌上型電腦造訪我們網站的客戶。

And perhaps not too surprisingly, the direct customers on the app measured by the metrics I just talked about are our most loyal cohort of direct customers. So it's a good thing. We want to get more of that. And a lot of our marketing that we do, these agency-oriented apps, getting people to download and use the app because it's sticky.

或許並不令人意外，根據我剛才提到的指標衡量，應用程式上的直接客戶是我們最忠誠的直接客戶群。所以這是好事。我們希望獲得更多這樣的機會。我們進行的許多行銷活動，包括這些面向代理商的應用程序，都是為了吸引用戶下載和使用應用程序，因為這些應用程式具有很強的用戶黏性。

Next, we have Eric Sheridan from Goldman Sachs.

接下來，我們請到了高盛的艾瑞克‧謝裡丹。

I want to come back to the comments you talked about a little bit earlier about the dynamics around hotel room night growth or traditional hotel supply room night growth versus alternative accommodations. Curious what your view is on how the landscape on both the supply and the demand side might evolve as we move into a post-pandemic world and aim towards summer of 2022. And how you think about making investments on supply to match up the way in which there might be a more normalized travel environment in '22?

我想回到你之前提到的關於酒店客房夜間增長或傳統酒店供應客房夜間增長與替代住宿方式之間動態變化的評論。很好奇您對後疫情時代以及2022年夏季的供需格局將如何演變有何看法。那麼，您認為應該如何投資於供應，以適應 2022 年可能出現的更正常的旅行環境？

I'll give my first comments, and I'll let -- David can always add, if he'd like. So we saw before the pandemic an increase in the alternative accommodations business as it became a larger and larger share of the total accommodations business and it was going on a pretty steady rate going up. And dynamic happens and you get a step change. And as people desire safety, being away from crowd, and they go there.

我先發表一下我的看法，如果大衛願意的話，他可以隨時補充。因此，在疫情爆發之前，我們看到替代住宿業務有所成長，其在住宿業務總量中所佔的份額越來越大，並且成長速度相當穩定。於是，動態變化發生了，你會看到突飛猛進的變化。人們渴望安全，遠離人群，所以他們會去那裡。

And now we've seen for ourselves, we've seen people liking hotels and that. I think the long-term trend, though, will continue. And I think if you look 5 years in the future, I think alternative accommodations will be a higher share. So that means, of course, for us, is we've talked about this in the past, how important it is that we go out and make sure we get the best supply we can get. And that means working hard on that and making sure that the people who own these properties see us as a platform that they want to use that's first in their mind that this is a great way to fill up their properties. And that's something that we are working on, absolutely.

現在我們親眼看到了，我們看到人們喜歡酒店等等。但我認為，從長遠來看，這種趨勢還會持續下去。我認為，展望未來 5 年，替代住宿方式的比例將會更高。所以，對我們來說，當然意味著，正如我們過去討論過的，我們必須出去確保獲得最好的供應，這一點非常重要。這意味著我們要努力工作，確保這些房產的所有者將我們視為他們想要使用的平台，讓他們首先想到這是填滿他們房產的好方法。這正是我們正在努力的方向，絕對的。

The demand side is similar. Go to Europe, and we've talked about them in the past, and say, where can I get a villa in the south of France, people will say, I think Booking.com is a great place. He went to the U.S., and he said, hey, I need a vacation, a place to ski, they may not think of Booking.com first. We got to get that awareness up. And I've talked about that in the past, and that's something we have to do also.

需求方面的情況也類似。去歐洲旅行，我們以前也討論過，如果你問，在法國南部哪裡可以租到別墅，人們會說，我覺得 Booking.com 是個好地方。他去了美國，然後說，嘿，我需要度假，找個滑雪的地方，他們可能不會先想到 Booking.com。我們必須提高這種意識。我以前也談過這一點，這也是我們必須要做的事。

But one of the truly great things about Booking.com is we offer more of both. Nobody offers -- you put together hotels and alternative accommodations. You put that together, we're the ones who have both of those. And I really believe that's a superior way for somebody to decide what they're going to choose in terms of accommodation. And we see this in our data. We see people come. They look -- first start looking at one type and then they end up booking another type, and they're able to compare and contrast, both to see the reviews on both, look at the prices on both. What are they going to get for one, what are they going to get from the other. And that's why we believe we have a superior offering to the consumer.

但 Booking.com 的一大優點在於，我們兩者兼顧，而且服務更豐富。沒有人提供住宿——你需要自己安排飯店和其他住宿方式。綜合來看，我們才是同時擁有這兩樣東西的人。我真心認為，對於想要選擇住宿的人來說，這是一種更好的方法。我們的數據也證實了這一點。我們看到有人來了。他們先是查看一種類型的房車，然後最終預訂了另一種類型的房車，他們可以進行比較和對比，既可以查看兩種房車的評價，也可以查看兩種房車的價格。他們能從一方得到什麼，又能從另一方得到什麼？正因如此，我們相信我們能為消費者提供更優質的產品和服務。

And I do believe, though, that it is something that absolutely is going to continue. But on the other side, you all see the hotels, they're making some moves themselves, and they're coming up with ways to offer a better offering, providing some of the benefits of an alternative accommodation to a consumer, particularly so they are prepared as people work in a new way in the future and want to have both the benefits of the hotel but perhaps more room or more services that you can get in terms of making sure you have good WiFi or a place you can do your work at. And that's something I see also, hotels are definitely going to be getting into that space. David, I don't know if you want to say anything more to that?

但我相信，這種情況一定會持續下去。但另一方面，你們也看到了，飯店也在採取一些措施，努力提供更好的服務，為消費者提供一些替代住宿的優勢，尤其是在人們未來工作方式發生變化，既希望享受飯店的便利，又希望擁有更大的空間或更多的服務（例如良好的無線網路或可以工作的地方）的情況下。而且我也看到，飯店業一定會進軍這個領域。大衛，我不知道你是否還有什麼要補充的？

No, I think it was good. I'd just point out that to your point that, that strength and that balance in both clearly contributed to us having a strong Q3 because we saw strong demand in alternative continue that we saw sequentially a much bigger increase from Q2 to Q3 hotels that we could offer both.

不，我覺得挺好的。我想指出的是，正如您所說，這種實力和平衡顯然促成了我們第三季度的強勁業績，因為我們看到對替代住宿的強勁需求持續增長，而且從第二季度到第三季度，我們能夠同時提供這兩種住宿的酒店數量環比增長幅度更大。

Next, we have Stephen Ju of Credit Suisse.

接下來，我們請到了瑞士信貸的 Stephen Ju。

Okay. So Glenn, I think in the past, we've talked about your payments product helping to expand your TAM by onboarding those users who may not necessarily be using credit cards and instead online payment services. Given the overall, I guess, depressed state of travel in Asia, maybe much of that value unlocked is still in front of us. But are you seeing evidence in other regions of the world that this is helping to bring in that incremental user? And also, just rising ability for you guys to merchandise as you do more of the connected trip opens up a greater opportunity for you guys to run promos and change prices, and hence, flex your gross margins up and down to drive growth on top of what has always been more of a performance marketing-driven growth. So is there still a pretty material gap in ROI from doing one versus the other at this point in terms of what you've perceived?

好的。格倫，我想我們之前討論過，你的支付產品如何透過吸引那些可能不一定會使用信用卡而是使用線上支付服務的用戶，來幫助你擴大潛在市場規模。鑑於亞洲旅遊業整體低迷的現狀，或許許多尚未釋放的價值仍有待我們發掘。但您是否在世界其他地區看到證據表明，這有助於吸引更多用戶？此外，隨著你們進行更多互聯旅行，你們的商品銷售能力不斷提高，這為你們提供了更大的機會來開展促銷活動和調整價格，從而靈活地上下調整毛利率，以在以往以效果營銷為驅動的增長基礎上推動增長。那麼，就你目前所觀察到的情況來看，這兩種方法在投資報酬率方面是否存在相當大的差距呢？

I'll talk about the first one about our payments. I'll let David talk about ROIs on our merchandising approach and how we're doing that. So you're absolutely right. If somebody doesn't have an ability to pay for something because they don't have the appropriate payment method, then they're not going to be able to buy from that person and/or that company like us. So we always have to do that.

我先來談談關於我們付款方式的第一個問題。我會讓大衛來談談我們商品銷售策略的投資回報率以及我們是如何做到這一點的。所以你的說法完全正確。如果某人因為沒有合適的支付方式而無法支付某件商品，那麼他們就無法從這個人或像我們這樣的公司購買商品。所以我們必須一直這樣做。

So if you are in Southeast Asia, and let's say somebody is using, let's say, Grab, who's a partner of ours, and they're saying GrabPay. Well, if we're not able to use GrabPay for the hotel, taking the money in from the consumer, that person is not going to use us. They're going to use somebody else. And we have, obviously, GrabPay, a partner working on that.

所以，如果你在東南亞，假設有人在使用 Grab（我們的合作夥伴），他們說的是 GrabPay。如果我們無法使用 GrabPay 向飯店收取款項，那麼顧客就不會使用我們的服務。他們會換其他人來做。顯然，我們還有 GrabPay 作為合作夥伴，正在共同推動這項工作。

Or if you look at other ways, people who say they go and look, it's not in their favor, they can use another way, they still decide not to use up. There's something else we've seen, which is really interesting, is that just having more ways to accept payments seems to increase conversion sometimes. I don't know why. I can't give you a science. I just see data, and this is -- that's interesting.

或者，如果你看看其他方法，有些人說他們去尋找，但結果對他們不利，他們可以使用其他方法，但他們仍然決定不去嘗試。我們也觀察到一個非常有趣的現象，那就是增加支付方式似乎有時可以提高轉換率。我不知道為什麼。我無法跟你講解科學原理。我看到的只是數據，這——這很有趣。

The other side is making sure we're paying the supplier the way they want to get the money because sometimes they say, I don't want to get it the way you're doing it with a virtual credit card or I don't want to get it in terms of the bank transfer. I want to get it some other way. So we've got to be able to do that, and that improves our relationship with the suppliers. And particularly improves with the supplier when the method that we can get the money to them is cheaper than the method they are currently using.

另一方面，我們要確保以供應商希望的方式付款，因為有時他們會說，我不想用你們這種方式用虛擬信用卡付款，或者我不想透過銀行轉帳付款。我想用其他方法得到它。所以我們必須能夠做到這一點，這樣才能改善我們與供應商的關係。尤其是當我們向供應商付款的方式比他們目前使用的方式更便宜時，與供應商的關係就會得到改善。

That's a great thing when we can do that, that's another value add to that hotel or any other type of supplier. Lots of ways that we're going to do that, and there are all other things we're working -- the fintech part of our business that we're just starting out. We talked last time about setting up that unit. There are a lot of opportunities there. And we talked about how in 2019, we did over $100 billion worth of gross bookings. And our idea is to let's find ways that we can monetize that better, and let's find ways we can [flag] value to both consumers and suppliers. And David, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about ROIs and how we're doing the merchandise.

如果我們能做到這一點，那當然很好，這能為酒店或其他類型的供應商帶來額外的價值。我們將透過多種方式來實現這一目標，此外，我們也正在努力開展其他業務——例如我們剛起步的金融科技業務。我們上次討論過安裝那個設備的事。那裡有很多機會。我們也談到，2019 年我們的總預訂額超過了 1000 億美元。我們的想法是，讓我們找到更好的獲利方式，並找到能夠為消費者和供應商創造價值的方式。大衛，我不知道你是否想談談投資回報率以及我們是如何進行商品銷售的。

Sure. So as Glenn said, payments is increasingly becoming part of the core value proposition that we offer at Booking.com, in particular, to both customers and partners. So it's no longer just kind of we think as an add-on. It really is solving problems for both of them in cost-effective ways and risk-reduction ways that they couldn't do as efficiently themselves. So that's why it's growing so rapidly of our mix.

當然。正如 Glenn 所說，支付正日益成為 Booking.com 為客戶和合作夥伴提供的核心價值主張的一部分。所以，我們不再只是把它看作是一種附加功能了。它確實以經濟高效且降低風險的方式解決了雙方的問題，而這些問題是他們自己無法如此有效率地解決的。所以這就是為什麼它在我們產品組合中的佔比成長如此迅速的原因。

Now you're right, Stephen, that once we're on payments, we can participate in merchandising. Of course, the most efficient way to get rates is to source great rates, which Glenn talked about a fair amount in his point. But if we need to participate over and above the sourcing and driving promotional targeting, particular use in particular markets, we can with the payments platform.

你說得對，史蒂芬，一旦我們開始付款，我們就可以參與商品銷售了。當然，獲得優惠利率的最有效方法是找到優質的利率，格倫在他的觀點中對此進行了相當多的討論。但是，如果我們需要在採購和推動促銷目標之外，參與特定市場的特定用途，我們可以透過支付平台來實現。

And we now have enough experience under our belt in instrumentation around that, that we can treat that, as you mentioned, as a marketing investment and look at it in a very similar way to the way that we look at our spend in the performance channels, for example. Compare ROIs one versus the other and decide what the right mix is.

現在，我們在相關儀器方面已經累積了足夠的經驗，正如您所提到的，我們可以將其視為一項行銷投資，並以與我們看待效果管道支出非常相似的方式來看待它。比較兩種方案的投資報酬率，並確定最佳組合。

So correct, with payments becoming a bigger piece of our proposition, where we can, when we need to, when we think it makes sense, we can look at merchandising through a strong ROI lens. We can be quite proactive in that area and compare it directly with other forms of spending on marketing.

沒錯，隨著支付方式在我們業務中佔據越來越重要的地位，在條件允許的情況下，當我們需要這樣做的時候，當我們認為這樣做有意義的時候，我們可以從強大的投資回報率角度來看待商品銷售。我們可以在這個領域採取非常積極主動的措施，並將其與其他形式的行銷支出進行直接比較。

Next, we have Doug Anmuth of JPMorgan.

接下來，我們請到了摩根大通的道格·安穆斯。

I just wanted to ask about social advertising. I know the dollars there are still small. But just curious what gives you the confidence in not working to the point of potentially adding some real dollars there. It's an area you've tried before. So just curious kind of what's different now. And then secondly, David, if you could just walk through those 4Q sequential revenue dynamics again and if there's something that's particularly different as opposed to just the normal seasonality?

我只是想問一下關於社群廣告的問題。我知道那裡的美元價值仍然很低。但我很好奇，是什麼讓你有信心不投入大量精力去真正賺點錢呢？這是你以前嘗試過的區域。所以就好奇現在有什麼不同。其次，David，你能否再詳細分析一下第四季的環比收入動態，看看除了正常的季節性因素之外，是否存在什麼特別不同的情況？

So yes, so absolutely small numbers right now. And I think I said that in my prepared remarks, these are small, small numbers right now. But obviously, there are a huge number of potential customers who are in those areas where we want to reach out to make sure they're aware of us, and they're coming to us. So it's a place that we're not going to ignore. Now we obviously have to come up with the right method, the right way to present or offer it, the right way we're going to present our brand and be able to get them to come to us. And that means we've got to be able to measure are we getting a good return or not.

是的，目前數字確實非常小。我想我在事先準備好的演講稿中也說過，這些數字目前都非常非常小。但很顯然，在這些我們想要接觸的地區，有大量的潛在客戶，我們希望確保他們了解我們，並且會主動與我們聯繫。所以，我們不能忽視這個地方。現在我們顯然需要找到正確的方法，正確的展示或提供方式，正確的品牌展示方式，才能讓他們主動來找我們。這意味著我們必須能夠衡量我們是否獲得了良好的回報。

And I don't want to give too much in terms of the sales how we're doing and what we're doing, but I'm feeling good about how we're building it up. And we see the right returns, the right ROIs because we are always very conscious of spending that advertising money the right way, then we will scale up and spend more money. And that's something I said in the prepared remarks.

我不想過多透露我們的銷售情況和具體做法，但我對我們正在取得的進展感到滿意。我們看到了正確的回報，正確的投資回報率，因為我們始終非常注意以正確的方式使用廣告資金，然後我們將擴大規模並投入更多資金。這也是我在準備好的演講稿中提到的內容。

I feel good about where we are now. Because a great thing about our business, our company, the way we think is we're not dogmatic. We don't think just because we thought it first, this would be great, that then we absolutely do. We're going to do it, experiment, put money to work, see the results, test. And then we'll learn. If it's great, we're going to put more money. If not, we'll come up with another way. That's how we built this company, and that's what we'll do in the future. And David, I think there's a question for you there.

我對我們目前的狀況感到滿意。因為我們公司、我們業務的一大優點就是我們不固執己見。我們並不認為僅僅因為我們先想到了這一點，它就會很棒，我們就一定會這麼做。我們將付諸行動，進行試驗，投入資金，觀察結果，進行測試。然後我們就會明白。如果效果很好，我們會追加投資。如果不行，我們會想出其他辦法。我們就是這樣創建了這家公司，將來我們也會這樣做。大衛，我想問你一個問題。

Yes. Doug, let me explain that -- reexplain that whole seasonality thing because this is quite important, and we can explain it at a kind of high level. So Q3 was very strong. it was almost artificially strong from a revenue point of view because you've got 2 things unnaturally helping it. First of all, remember, a lot of bookings in Q1, Q2 that weren't always -- stayed in Q1, Q2 stayed in Q3. So we got that benefit compared to normal Q3. On top of that, in the quarter, more bookings in Q3 than normal stayed in Q3. So because booking window was so short, so Q3 got topped up 2 ways from Q1, Q2 and in Q3.

是的。道格，讓我解釋一下——重新解釋整個季節性問題，因為這非常重要，我們可以從宏觀層面來解釋它。所以第三季表現非常強勁。從收入角度來看，它的成長幾乎是人為造成的，因為有兩個因素不自然地幫助它。首先，請記住，第一季和第二季的許多預訂並不總是——第一季度入住，第二季入住，第三季入住。所以與正常的第三季相比，我們獲得了這個好處。此外，本季第三季預訂的房源比平常更多，且有更多房源在第三季入住。由於預訂窗口期很短，所以第三季的訂單是透過第一季、第二季和第三季兩種方式補充的。

So now when you think of Q4 and you're now comparing it against a very top-up Q3, and some of that top-up in Q3 directly impacts Q4. So Q4 gets impacted by comparing against a strong Q3, but I think some of those Q3 bookings that normally would stay in Q4 stayed in Q3. So you've now got, if you like, a double factor driving the comparison between Q3 and Q4.

所以現在當你考慮第四季度，並將其與第三季大幅成長的情況進行比較時，第三季的一些成長會直接影響第四季。因此，第四季會受到強勁的第三季業績的影響，但我認為一些通常會在第四季入住的第三季預訂，最終還是留在了第三季。所以，如果你願意的話，現在有雙重因素影響第三季和第四季之間的比較。

Also, we believe the booking window will start to expand in Q4. So more of the bookings in Q4 will actually leak out of Q4 than did in Q3 relatively. So you've got these 2 factors kind of driving a very unusual comparison between Q3 and Q4. So a fair amount more sequential revenue decline. It's all timing and all mechanics. But think of it as a Q4 comparing Q3 on steroids. And some of the reason why Q3 was on steroids will directly impact Q4. So that's what's going on.

此外，我們認為預訂窗口將在第四季開始擴大。因此，第四季實際流失的預訂量將比第三季相對流失的預訂量更多。所以，正是這兩個因素導致了第三季和第四季之間非常不尋常的對比。因此，營收季減比下降幅度相當大。一切都取決於時機和技巧。但你可以把它想像成一個打了興奮劑的第四季度，與第三季度相比。第三季業績大幅成長的部分原因將直接影響第四季。事情就是這樣。

And that concludes the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Glenn Fogel for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。現在我將把電話轉回給格倫·福格爾，請他作總結發言。

Thank you. So in closing, I want to repeat what I said at the close of last quarter's earnings call and reiterate our strong belief that our industry's full recovery will be hastened by everyone who can get a vaccine, going out and getting it. We urge all people who are approved for and medically able to be vaccinated do their part to make our society safer. And we urge all advised to get a booster to go get one.

謝謝。最後，我想重申我在上個季度財報電話會議結束時所說的話，並再次強調我們堅信，所有能夠接種疫苗的人都去接種疫苗，將加速我們行業的全面復甦。我們敦促所有獲準接種疫苗且身體條件允許的人盡自己的一份力，使我們的社會更安全。我們敦促所有被建議接種加強劑的人都去接種。

And as always, I want to thank our partners customers, our dedicated employees and our shareholders. We appreciate your support as we continue to build on the long-term vision for our company. Thank you, and please be safe. Good night.

一如既往，我要感謝我們的合作夥伴、客戶、敬業的員工和股東。感謝您一直以來的支持，我們將繼續推動公司的長期發展願景。謝謝，請注意安全。晚安。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。