Expedia Group Inc (EXPE) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. My name is Katrina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Expedia Group Fourth Quarter 2020 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Thank you.

下午好。我叫 Katrina，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 Expedia Group 2020 年第四季度電話會議。 （操作員說明）謝謝。

I would now like to turn the call over to Patrick Thompson, Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance.

我現在想把電話轉給公司財務高級副總裁帕特里克湯普森。

Good afternoon, and welcome to Expedia Group's financial results conference call for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2020. I'm pleased to be joined on the call today by our CEO, Peter Kern; and our CFO, Eric Hart.

下午好，歡迎參加 Expedia Group 截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日的第四季度財務業績電話會議。我很高興今天我們的首席執行官 Peter Kern 加入電話會議；以及我們的首席財務官 Eric Hart。

The following discussion, including responses to your questions, reflects management's views as of today, February 11, 2021 only. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise this information.

以下討論，包括對您問題的回答，僅反映了管理層截至 2021 年 2 月 11 日今天的觀點。我們不承擔任何更新或修改這些信息的義務。

As always, some of the statements made on today's call are forward-looking, typically preceded by words such as we plan, we expect, we believe, we anticipate, we are optimistic or confident that or similar statements. Please refer to today's earnings release and the company's filings with the SEC for information about factors which could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

與往常一樣，在今天的電話會議上發表的一些聲明是前瞻性的，通常以我們計劃、我們期望、我們相信、我們預期、我們樂觀或有信心或類似的聲明開頭。請參閱今天的收益發布和公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，了解可能導致我們的實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述存在重大差異的因素的信息。

You will find reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures discussed today in our earnings release, which is posted on the company's Investor Relations website at ir.expediagroup.com. And I encourage you to periodically visit our IR website for other important content.

您會在我們的收益發布中找到非 GAAP 措施與今天討論的最具可比性的 GAAP 措施的對賬，該發布發佈在公司的投資者關係網站 ir.expediagroup.com 上。我鼓勵您定期訪問我們的 IR 網站以獲取其他重要內容。

Unless otherwise stated, all references to cost of revenue, selling and marketing expense, general and administrative expense and technology and content expense exclude stock-based compensation. And all comparisons on this call will be against our results for the comparable period of 2019. Please note that depreciation expense is now reported in a separate line item, and prior periods have been restated to reflect this change.

除非另有說明，否則所有提及的收入成本、銷售和營銷費用、一般和行政費用以及技術和內容費用均不包括基於股票的補償。此次電話會議的所有比較都將與我們 2019 年同期的結果進行比較。請注意，折舊費用現在在單獨的項目中報告，並且之前的期間已經重述以反映這一變化。

And with that, let me turn the call over to Peter.

有了這個，讓我把電話轉給彼得。

Thank you very much, Pat, and good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us. I'll be fairly brief as the fourth quarter, of course, kind of reflected what the rest of the year looked like and so much as it was a bumpy ride. COVID news dominated, of course, everything in travel. And I would say that we saw a mixed world of some optimism coming from the vaccine rollouts beginning mixed with obviously very bad news on case loads across the globe, closures in many countries, restrictions all over the various geographies.

非常感謝，帕特，大家下午好。感謝您加入我們。我會相當簡短，因為第四季度當然有點反映了今年剩餘時間的情況，而且是一段坎坷的旅程。 COVID 新聞當然主導了旅行中的一切。我要說的是，我們看到了一個喜憂參半的世界，既有疫苗推出帶來的一些樂觀情緒，也有關於全球病例數量、許多國家的關閉、各個地區的限制等明顯非常糟糕的消息。

So with that as the background, we're happy to turn the page on the year and move into '21. I will say that on the whole, as you saw in our release, booking trends in the fourth quarter pretty much near the third quarter at about down 60% for total gross lodging bookings, net of cancellations. That did moderate towards the holiday season and the end of the quarter, and we saw that moderate into the high 50s down. And that has -- that improvement has seemed to continue through January. And in the latter part of January, we've seen down in the high 40s.

因此，以此為背景，我們很高興翻開這一年的新篇章，進入 21 年。我要說的是，總體而言，正如您在我們的新聞稿中看到的那樣，第四季度的預訂趨勢與第三季度非常接近，扣除取消取消後的總住宿預訂量下降了約 60%。這在假期和本季度末確實有所緩和，我們看到這種情況緩和到 50 年代的高點。而且這種改善似乎一直持續到一月份。在 1 月下旬，我們看到了 40 多歲的高點。

So the trends are generally good, although very bad overall, going in the right direction. But I would caution everybody that we continue to expect it to be bumpy as this is a story of a thousand different geographies and a thousand different fact sets around the virus and, of course, vaccine rollouts, et cetera.

因此，趨勢總體上是好的，儘管總體上非常糟糕，但方向是正確的。但我要提醒大家，我們仍然預計它會崎嶇不平，因為這是一個關於一千個不同地區和圍繞該病毒的一千個不同事實集的故事，當然還有疫苗的推出等等。

We did see that improvement overall, driven by Vrbo, not a big surprise. That continues to be a terrific use case with the whole home market being very attractive, family travel being very attractive in that form. And North America generally has been a relative bright spot, of course. Our relative strength in North America certainly helps us in that.

在 Vrbo 的推動下，我們確實看到了整體的改善，這並不令人意外。這仍然是一個很好的用例，整個家庭市場非常有吸引力，家庭旅行以這種形式非常有吸引力。當然，北美通常是一個相對亮點。我們在北美的相對實力在這方面無疑對我們有所幫助。

So we continue to hope and expect the vaccine rollout to drive consumer confidence and drive things forward. But we certainly are not trying to predict what consumer sentiment will be as the buyers changes over the ensuing months. So we continue to expect a bumpy ride. We are watching for what governments are doing, what the rules may be on international travel or things like travel passports, et cetera, with the goal just of making that process as seamless as we can for our travelers and getting people back moving again. We know there's a lot of pent-up demand, and we certainly want to serve it as much as we can.

因此，我們繼續希望並期待疫苗的推出能夠提振消費者信心並推動事情向前發展。但我們當然不會試圖預測隨著買家在接下來的幾個月裡發生變化，消費者的情緒會如何。因此，我們繼續期待顛簸的旅程。我們正在關注政府正在做什麼，國際旅行或旅行護照之類的規則可能是什麼，目的只是為了讓我們的旅行者盡可能無縫地完成這一過程，並讓人們再次出行。我們知道有很多被壓抑的需求，我們當然希望盡可能多地滿足它。

With that market background in mind, in the fourth quarter, we were investing more heavily in marketing. This was intended to get ahead of what we thought would be the coming demand from the vaccine rollouts, but it was largely focused certainly on the upper funnel brand marketing side on Vrbo, where we knew there was a lot of momentum. And as I've said before on these calls, we are using this moment to try to drive as much brand recognition and long-term value into the brand over time. So we pushed into Vrbo.

考慮到這種市場背景，在第四季度，我們加大了營銷投入。這是為了趕在我們認為疫苗推出即將到來的需求之前，但它主要集中在 Vrbo 的上層漏斗品牌營銷方面，我們知道那裡有很大的動力。正如我之前在這些電話會議上所說的那樣，我們正在利用這個時刻來嘗試隨著時間的推移為品牌帶來盡可能多的品牌認知度和長期價值。所以我們推入了 Vrbo。

On the performance marketing side, which we view as more of a quick twitch muscle. We have continued to be relatively conservative. Again, we saw lots of closures happen across the globe. Those closures drive massive cancellation spikes. And they can make performance marketing very unattractive very quickly when it goes the wrong way. So we have been relatively conservative.

在績效營銷方面，我們認為這更像是一種快速抽搐的肌肉。我們繼續保持相對保守。同樣，我們看到全球各地發生了許多關閉事件。這些關閉導致大量取消高峰。當效果營銷走錯路時，它們會很快使效果營銷變得毫無吸引力。所以我們一直比較保守。

And in that vein, we have actually removed Vrbo from Google's vacation rental meta product. Again, our focus is as much as possible on driving direct traffic, driving incremental profitability from all our performance marketing. And as we see opportunity to remove unprofitable activities, we do that. And as we leg back into a more normal market, we think we'll be able to drive more into the upper funnel, more direct traffic and be much more calculated in performance marketing.

在這種情況下，我們實際上已經從 Google 的度假租賃元產品中刪除了 Vrbo。同樣，我們的重點是盡可能多地推動直接流量，推動我們所有績效營銷的增量盈利能力。當我們看到有機會取消無利可圖的活動時，我們就會這樣做。當我們回到一個更正常的市場時，我們認為我們將能夠推動更多進入漏斗的上層，獲得更多的直接流量，並在績效營銷中更加精打細算。

On the rest of the marketing side, and this is really about brand differentiation and geographic differentiation, I've talked about this before, but we continue to focus on driving whatever brands make sense, wherever they are in the globe. So for example, we have leaned heavily into our Wotif brand in Australia, a company we bought years ago. It's a very strong domestic brand in Australia, particularly associated with domestic travel, which has been the primary use case. And we're seeing good reaction from the market by doing that. And we are looking at that everywhere. That goes for Vrbo as well, which is not a global brand. It has strength particularly in North America, but there are parts of Europe where we have other brands that are stronger. Australia, we have another brand called Stayz that's stronger. So we are leaning into those and seeing good growth across all our alternate accommodation brands in our strong markets.

在營銷方面的其餘部分，這實際上是關於品牌差異化和地域差異化，我之前已經談過這個，但我們繼續專注於推動任何有意義的品牌，無論它們在全球何處。因此，例如，我們在澳大利亞大力支持我們的 Wotif 品牌，這是我們多年前收購的一家公司。它在澳大利亞是一個非常強大的國內品牌，尤其是與國內旅行相關的品牌，這一直是主要的用例。通過這樣做，我們看到了市場的良好反應。我們到處都在關注這一點。這也適用於 Vrbo，它不是一個全球品牌。它在北美尤其有實力，但在歐洲部分地區我們擁有其他更強大的品牌。澳大利亞，我們有另一個更強大的品牌 Stayz。因此，我們正傾向於這些，並在我們強大的市場中看到我們所有替代住宿品牌的良好增長。

Longer term, I would just point out that, in addition to driving that brand neutrality, if you will, we are also intending to drive alternative accommodations through our OTA brands. We haven't -- we've been saying that for a long time. We are now highly focused on doing it. It's not ready to roll yet. We do, do it, but it is not -- the consumer experience is not yet where we want it, but we are highly focused on driving that in the future. And that will be the way we attack markets where we don't have an existing Vrbo or other alternative accommodation brand.

從長遠來看，我只想指出，除了推動品牌中立，如果你願意的話，我們還打算通過我們的 OTA 品牌推動替代住宿。我們沒有——我們已經說了很長時間了。我們現在非常專注於做這件事。它還沒有準備好滾動。我們做到了，做到了，但事實並非如此——消費者體驗尚未達到我們想要的水平，但我們高度專注於在未來推動這一點。這將是我們攻擊我們沒有現有 Vrbo 或其他替代住宿品牌的市場的方式。

And then finally, we continue to do work on the marketing side on just brand differentiation and segmenting the market. And Brand Expedia, our biggest pool of OTA brand, will be rolling out in the spring with a new campaign focused on essentially the complete trip. Brand Expedia is the most complete OTA, and we are going to focus on people who are trying to book multiple things, more complex trips. We think there's a big opportunity there. And the brand has not sufficiently landed that message over the years. So we are optimistic about our new approach to that.

最後，我們繼續在營銷方面開展品牌差異化和細分市場方面的工作。我們最大的 OTA 品牌池 Brand Expedia 將在春季推出一項新的活動，主要關注完整的旅行。 Expedia 品牌是最完整的 OTA，我們將專注於嘗試預訂多種事物、更複雜的旅行的用戶。我們認為那裡有很大的機會。多年來，該品牌並沒有充分傳達這一信息。因此，我們對我們的新方法持樂觀態度。

On the other side of the house and perhaps the most important place we are investing our time, energy and calories, which we've talked about frequently, is the tech platform. That continues to be a key focus of ours. I just want to point out, this is an area froth with opportunity for us. It will be years of mining that opportunity. 2021 is an important year where we expect to have significant delivery on important steps forward on simplifying our tech platform. And we are keenly focused on that, along with being focused on turning ourselves into a Tier 1 tech company and looking for and building systems to find and retain and recruit great talent and retain our great talent that we have and build Tier 1 tech enterprise that focuses keenly on solving consumer problems and our business partner problems. And we think we're well on our way to that.

在房子的另一邊，也許我們經常談論的我們投入時間、精力和卡路里的最重要的地方是技術平台。這仍然是我們的重點。我只想指出，這對我們來說是一個充滿機遇的領域。挖掘這個機會將需要數年時間。 2021 年是重要的一年，我們希望在簡化技術平台的重要步驟上取得重大進展。我們非常專注於此，同時專注於將自己變成一家一級科技公司，尋找並建立系統來尋找、留住和招聘優秀人才，留住我們擁有的優秀人才，並建立一級科技企業，敏銳地專注於解決消費者問題和我們的業務合作夥伴問題。我們認為我們正在朝著這個方向努力。

And finally, I'll end with something that's a little less easy to calculate by revenue or margin, but I think it's equally critical to the success of our enterprise going forward, which is that at the tail end of this year, we re-landed, reset our company mission, purpose and values with an emphasis on travel being a force for good, bringing people together, broadening horizons and strengthening connections. And we think, obviously, in this time and place that the U.S. and the world is in, that is obviously an important role we play in the world. But we want to bring that to everything we do, everything we do in the product,and really express that through the experience.

最後，我將以一些不太容易通過收入或利潤計算的東西作為結尾，但我認為這對我們企業未來的成功同樣重要，那就是在今年年底，我們重新 -著陸後，重新設定我們公司的使命、宗旨和價值觀，強調旅行是一種向善的力量，將人們聚集在一起，開闊視野並加強聯繫。我們認為，顯然，在美國和世界所處的這個時間和地點，這顯然是我們在世界上扮演的重要角色。但我們想把它帶到我們所做的一切，我們在產品中所做的一切，並通過體驗真正表達出來。

And in doing that, we also acknowledged as a company that what we do has impacts on the environment, and we are refocusing ourselves on effects that travel creates on the environment, particularly and initially around tools and information to help our travelers and help our suppliers make better choices to help drive better outcomes for the environment so that's an important push for us.

在這樣做的過程中，作為一家公司，我們也承認我們所做的事情對環境有影響，我們正在重新關注旅行對環境造成的影響，特別是最初圍繞幫助我們的旅行者和我們的供應商的工具和信息做出更好的選擇以幫助為環境帶來更好的結果，這對我們來說是一個重要的推動力。

And then finally, we've made some bold, ambitious goals for ourselves around diversity and inclusion in terms of our workforce. And it really goes beyond our workforce because we really want to express that through travel as well. There are many people who have challenges in having successful travel outcomes. We have not done enough to help all people in that. And we want to drive that through everything we do every time we roll a product out, every time we think about building a product and the consumer experience. And we intend to drive that through the business.

最後，我們圍繞員工隊伍的多樣性和包容性為自己制定了一些大膽、雄心勃勃的目標。它確實超越了我們的員工隊伍，因為我們也真的想通過旅行來表達這一點。有許多人在獲得成功的旅行結果方面遇到挑戰。在這方面，我們所做的還不足以幫助所有人。每次我們推出產品時，每次我們考慮構建產品和消費者體驗時，我們都希望通過我們所做的一切來推動這一點。我們打算通過業務推動這一點。

So with that, I'll just close by saying expect things to be bumpy for a while. I don't think this is linear, what we've been going through. And I don't think we should expect it to become linear. We are optimistic that when consumer confidence comes back, when people feel confident that the vaccine rollout is going well, that they will be able to travel. We clearly see demand, and I think we're just going to power through it. And when consumers are ready to travel, we're going to be there.

因此，我將結束時說預計事情會顛簸一段時間。我不認為這是線性的，我們一直在經歷。而且我認為我們不應該期望它變成線性的。我們樂觀地認為，當消費者信心恢復時，當人們對疫苗的推出進展順利充滿信心時，他們將能夠旅行。我們清楚地看到需求，我認為我們將通過它來提供動力。當消費者準備好旅行時，我們就會在那裡。

And with that, I will turn it over to Eric. Thank you.

有了這個，我會把它交給埃里克。謝謝。

Thanks, Peter. Thank you, also, for joining the call as well. Coming into 2020, we've talked a lot about driving margin expansion as being one of our key priorities, and we're pleased to have made significant progress in a number of areas along those fronts.

謝謝，彼得。也感謝您加入電話會議。進入 2020 年，我們已經就推動利潤率擴張作為我們的主要優先事項之一進行了很多討論，我們很高興在這些方面的許多領域取得了重大進展。

The first I want to touch on is on a fixed cost basis. We talked since start of the year a range of $300 million to $500 million. We upped that during the year last year and then upped it to $700 million to $750 million range. We now believe that we will be at the higher end of that $700 million to $750 million range for fixed cost savings relative to our 2019 exit rate. We have achieved approximately $675 million on a run rate basis. And we expect to realize largely all of the cost savings by the end of 2021.

我想談的第一個是固定成本。自今年年初以來，我們談到了 3 億至 5 億美元的範圍。去年我們提高了這一數字，然後將其提高到 7 億至 7.5 億美元的範圍。我們現在相信，相對於我們 2019 年的退出率，我們將處於 7 億至 7.5 億美元的固定成本節省範圍的較高端。按運行率計算，我們已經實現了大約 6.75 億美元。我們預計到 2021 年底將實現大部分成本節約。

As mentioned previously, when projecting for, do keep in mind that we will have annual increases and expect to invest in areas of the business where we see attractive opportunities as well.

如前所述，在進行預測時，請記住我們每年都會增長，並期望投資於我們也看到有吸引力機會的業務領域。

On the variable cost of revenue side, we remain on track for over $200 million in annual savings based on 2019 volume levels. The 3 key drivers are improved economics through our payments platform, expansion of our conversations costs and lower variable cloud costs as well. Similar to the fixed cost initiatives, we expect to realize largely all of these variable cost savings by the end of 2021. Although given the costs are volume-based, the savings will not be fully evident until we reach more normalized business levels.

在可變收入成本方面，根據 2019 年的銷量水平，我們有望每年節省超過 2 億美元。 3 個關鍵驅動因素是通過我們的支付平台提高經濟性、擴大我們的對話成本以及降低可變云成本。與固定成本計劃類似，我們預計到 2021 年底將在很大程度上實現所有這些可變成本的節省。儘管考慮到成本是基於數量的，但在我們達到更正常的業務水平之前，節省的成本不會完全顯現。

Shifting to our Q4 results. I wanted to start by providing details on 2 onetime items that distorted our P&L and reduced adjusted EBITDA by approximately $65 million.

轉向我們的第四季度結果。我想首先提供 2 個一次性項目的詳細信息，這些項目扭曲了我們的 P&L，並將調整後的 EBITDA 減少了大約 6500 萬美元。

First, we recognized approximately $125 million of contra revenue related to third-party travel insurance due primarily to higher pandemic-related cancellations. We restructured our commercial terms and recorded the expense in Q4 so that we will not impact our unit economics of those products and also our P&L going forward. Excluding this impact, the Q4 revenue decline improved by 4% to 62% year-over-year. We continue to believe insurance products are a key part of our offer and also provide terrific customer experience and protection for them going forward to continue to -- we plan to continue to invest in that area. And when you look at 2020, the insurance line of business was profitable despite the adjustment that we made and despite substantially less revenue.

首先，我們確認了大約 1.25 億美元的與第三方旅行保險相關的對沖收入，這主要是由於與大流行病相關的取消率較高。我們重組了商業條款並在第四季度記錄了費用，這樣我們就不會影響這些產品的單位經濟效益以及我們未來的損益表。排除這一影響，第四季度收入同比下降 4% 至 62%。我們仍然相信保險產品是我們提供的產品的關鍵部分，並且還為他們提供了極好的客戶體驗和保護，我們計劃繼續在該領域進行投資。縱觀 2020 年，儘管我們進行了調整併且收入大幅減少，但保險業務仍然盈利。

The second one time change was a favorable adjustment to personnel costs. Given the impact to our business in 2020, we decided to shift cash bonuses, which we accrued at 50% throughout the year to equity this year for the vast majority of our employees. As a result, in Q4, we reversed approximately $60 million of bonus expense that accrued in the first 3 quarters of the year. The related cash savings will come in Q1 of 2021 when bonuses are typically paid.

第二個一次性變化是對人員成本的有利調整。鑑於 2020 年對我們業務的影響，我們決定將我們全年累計 50% 的現金獎金轉為今年絕大多數員工的股權。因此，在第四季度，我們扭轉了今年前三個季度產生的約 6000 萬美元的獎金支出。相關的現金儲蓄將在 2021 年第一季度到來，屆時通常會支付獎金。

We recognize the majority of this bonus benefit and overhead expenses. Excluding the bonus accrual reversal, overhead expenses declined 31% year-over-year in Q4, similar to the year-over-year decline in Q3. The bonus reversal had minimal impact on cost of revenue, which declined 47%, and the disposal of Bodybuilding.com provided approximately a 5% benefit.

我們承認大部分獎金福利和管理費用。不包括應計獎金逆轉，第四季度間接費用同比下降 31%，與第三季度的同比下降相似。紅利沖銷對收入成本的影響很小，收入成本下降了 47%，而 Bodybuilding.com 的處置提供了大約 5% 的收益。

Moving generally on to bonuses. We also made the strategic decision this quarter to shift our compensation structure away from annual cash bonuses going forward with the vast majority of our fully funded annual bonus program being converted to salary. We anticipate approximately $50 million in extra quarterly payroll costs starting in Q2 of 2021 relative to Q1 2020, mainly due to this change.

一般轉向獎金。我們還在本季度做出了戰略決策，將我們的薪酬結構從年度現金獎金中轉移出來，並將我們資金充足的年度獎金計劃的絕大部分轉換為工資。我們預計從 2021 年第二季度開始，與 2020 年第一季度相比，季度工資成本將增加約 5000 萬美元，這主要是由於這一變化。

Moving on to marketing efficiency. We have been investing more in brand spend, Peter mentioned that, to drive direct traffic at the top of the funnel, while at the same time, operating at higher ROI in variable channels. We believe this approach, along with the benefits of unifying all of our retail marketing data and technology, will enable us to be much more strategic in how we balance volume, profitability in both the short and the long term.

繼續營銷效率。彼得提到，我們一直在品牌支出上投入更多資金，以推動漏斗頂部的直接流量，同時在可變渠道中以更高的投資回報率運營。我們相信，這種方法以及統一我們所有零售營銷數據和技術的好處將使我們能夠在短期和長期平衡銷量和盈利能力方面更具戰略性。

As Peter mentioned, we leaned particularly heavily into additional brand marketing to Vrbo to take advantage of the demand in alternative accommodations, and we have continued to prudently wade back into performance marketing, where we see demand. Overall, the efficiency initiatives we've executed during COVID will enable us to emerge from the disruption leaner, faster and with improved margins.

正如彼得所提到的，我們特別傾向於對 Vrbo 進行額外的品牌營銷，以利用替代住宿的需求，並且我們繼續謹慎地涉足績效營銷，我們看到了需求。總體而言，我們在 COVID 期間執行的效率舉措將使我們能夠更精簡、更快地擺脫顛覆，並提高利潤率。

In total, adjusted EBITDA was negative $160 million in Q4. And when normalizing for the 2 nonrecurring items I just walked through, it was negative $95 million.

總的來說，第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 為負 1.6 億美元。當對我剛剛瀏覽的 2 個非經常性項目進行標準化時，它是負的 9500 萬美元。

On to free cash flow. It is typically negative for us in Q4 due to seasonality of our profit and working capital and as such was negative this quarter as well, Q4 as well, 513 negative -- negative $513 million on a reported basis.

關於自由現金流。由於我們的利潤和營運資金的季節性，第四季度對我們來說通常是負面的，因此本季度也是負面的，第四季度也是負面的，513 負 - 在報告的基礎上為負 5.13 億美元。

Moving on to cash. We ended the year with total unrestricted cash and short-term investments of $3.4 billion, which is about $1 billion lower than we ended Q3. During the quarter, we repaid the remaining $650 million outstanding on our revolver which accounted for the majority of the change in cash. We head into 2021 in a strong liquidity position, with the $3.4 billion in cash and an essentially untapped $2 billion revolver. As the business recovers over the next few years, we remain committed to deleveraging back to our historical capital structure.

繼續現金。年底，我們的無限制現金和短期投資總額為 34 億美元，比我們在第三季度末減少了約 10 億美元。在本季度，我們償還了剩餘的 6.5 億美元循環貸款，這佔現金變化的大部分。進入 2021 年，我們將擁有 34 億美元的現金和基本上未動用的 20 億美元左輪手槍，流動性狀況良好。隨著未來幾年業務的複蘇，我們將繼續致力於去槓桿化以恢復我們的歷史資本結構。

Turning to 2021. While we remain optimistic about the vaccines and look forward to travel recovering, as Peter mentioned, visibility on what the recovery will look like and near-term trends remain low at this point. Given the current trends and typical seasonality, we do expect a significant adjusted EBITDA loss in the quarter. As a reminder, Q1 is historically the lowest revenue and profit quarter of the year.

談到 2021 年。雖然我們對疫苗仍然持樂觀態度，並期待著旅行的複蘇，正如彼得所提到的，但目前對複甦的前景和近期趨勢的了解仍然很低。鑑於目前的趨勢和典型的季節性，我們確實預計本季度調整後的 EBITDA 損失會很大。提醒一下，從歷史上看，第一季度是一年中收入和利潤最低的一個季度。

In terms of 2021 forecasting, just to give you a bit of insight on costs, overhead costs are the part of the P&L where we have the most visibility. We expect overhead costs in Q1 to be similar to Q4 before the impact of changes to the bonus accrual. We expect overhead in Q2 to step up by approximately $50 million, principally due to the shift away from bonus compensation that I mentioned earlier and a lapping of temporary COVID-related savings from 2020.

就 2021 年的預測而言，只是為了讓您對成本有一些了解，間接成本是損益表中我們最能看到的部分。我們預計第一季度的管理費用與第四季度的獎金應計變動影響之前相似。我們預計第二季度的間接費用將增加約 5000 萬美元，這主要是由於我之前提到的獎金補償的轉移以及從 2020 年開始的與 COVID 相關的臨時儲蓄。

In closing, while there is considerable uncertainty remaining on what the recovery will look like, we feel good about where we are from a margin expansion. We feel good about our liquidity position. And we're confident that we're taking the right steps to accelerate in the recovery.

最後，雖然復甦的前景仍存在相當大的不確定性，但我們對利潤率擴張的進展感到滿意。我們對我們的流動性頭寸感到滿意。我們相信我們正在採取正確的步驟來加速復蘇。

With that, thank you, and Katrina, we're ready for our first question.

有了這個，謝謝你和卡特里娜颶風，我們準備好迎接我們的第一個問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Eric Sheridan of UBS.

（操作員說明）你的第一個問題來自瑞銀的 Eric Sheridan。

Maybe 2 follow-ups on alternative accommodations. When you're seeing the strength there, can we get a little bit better sense of whether that's coming through the branded sites and apps for what's already in the marketplace? Or is that coming through the core Expedia brand? Can we understand a little bit better how you're thinking about conversion and including more alternative accommodation inventory within the Expedia brand? Or do you think that might be as you optimize for outcomes as demand returns?

也許有 2 個關於替代住宿的後續行動。當你看到那裡的力量時，我們能否更好地了解市場上已有的品牌網站和應用程序是否會出現這種情況？或者是通過核心 Expedia 品牌實現的？我們能否更好地了解您如何考慮轉換以及如何在 Expedia 品牌中包含更多替代住宿庫存？或者你認為這可能是因為你優化了需求回報的結果？

Yes. Thanks, Eric. Happy to address that. So just to be clear, the vast, vast, vast, virtually all of the success in alternatives and Vrbo has been through the branded Vrbo sites or, as I mentioned, some of the sub-brands that are specific to countries. We have a very modest business in the alternative space that happens through our OTAs. It has been a less than satisfactory product that we are working on aggressively, but it is a small, small part of the business.

是的。謝謝，埃里克。很高興解決這個問題。所以要明確一點，替代品和 Vrbo 的巨大、巨大、巨大，幾乎所有的成功都是通過品牌 Vrbo 網站，或者正如我提到的，一些特定於國家的子品牌。我們在通過我們的 OTA 發生的替代空間中擁有非常有限的業務。這是我們正在積極開發的一款不太令人滿意的產品，但它只佔業務的一小部分。

We do believe, though, that in time, that can be an important part of the business, particularly when you think about markets where Expedia or Hotels.com or any of our OTAs might have strong brands, but Vrbo is basically nonpresence as a brand. So we think that's a scenario where being able to pipe that through is really valuable. We think even in markets where they overlap, there can be use cases where customers are coming into Expedia or another brand and could absolutely want an alternative accommodation and want to see that option revealed as against hotel and other kinds of options.

不過，我們確實相信，隨著時間的推移，這可能會成為業務的重要組成部分，尤其是當您考慮 Expedia 或 Hotels.com 或我們的任何 OTA 可能擁有強大品牌但 Vrbo 作為品牌基本上不存在的市場時.因此，我們認為在這種情況下，能夠通過管道進行傳輸非常有價值。我們認為，即使在它們重疊的市場中，也可能存在這樣的用例，即客戶進入 Expedia 或其他品牌，並且絕對想要替代住宿，並希望看到該選項與酒店和其他類型的選項相對應。

And then I would just add that -- well, you didn't ask it, I think there's -- we believe there's a big opportunity for alternative accommodations through our B2B partners, which it is not currently really piped to do. So those are all opportunities to continue to expand on the alternative space and I think to take advantage of what we have in terms of supply, but what we don't necessarily have on the brand side to drive it in certain markets.

然後我只想補充一點——好吧，你沒有問過，我認為有——我們相信通過我們的 B2B 合作夥伴提供替代住宿的機會很大，目前還沒有真正做到這一點。因此，這些都是繼續擴展替代空間的機會，我認為可以利用我們在供應方面的優勢，但我們在品牌方面不一定擁有在某些市場上推動它的優勢。

Your next question comes from the line of Naved Khan from Truist Securities.

你的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Naved Khan。

Yes. Maybe just a quick clarification. On the lodging trends that you called out here in terms of January into like 50s and maybe 40s recently, is it fair to assume that most of the improvement versus Q4 is driven by the U.S. and not much of a change in other geos?

是的。也許只是一個快速的澄清。關於您在這裡提到的 1 月份到最近 50 年代甚至 40 年代的住宿趨勢，假設與第四季度相比的大部分改善是由美國推動的，而其他地區的變化不大，這是否公平？

And then with respect to Vrbo, you guys used to break it out separately, and then more recently, you've been consolidating. Is this -- does it make sense for you to, again, start to share more details with investors so that maybe they can -- we can give more credit to performance in that -- in the business?

然後關於 Vrbo，你們過去常常將它分開，然後最近，你們一直在整合。這對你來說是否有意義，再次開始與投資者分享更多細節，以便他們可以 - 我們可以給予更多的功勞 - 在業務中？

Okay. I'll take those questions in order, I guess. First of all, the -- I would say the lion's share of the improvement, yes, is due to strength in North America compared to other places. I mean it is a tale of many stories, and different markets have come back at different rates. But I would say in terms of any big drivers, North America has generally retained more willingness to move around, people engaging in more travel. Less -- we haven't had government shutdowns in the way that we have in other places. So yes, I would say North America is probably the bulk of the story over that month or so.

好的。我想我會按順序回答這些問題。首先，我想說的是，大部分的改進是由於北美與其他地方相比的實力。我的意思是這是一個故事的故事，不同的市場以不同的速度回歸。但我要說的是，就任何主要驅動因素而言，北美總體上保留了更多的流動意願，人們進行了更多的旅行。更少——我們沒有像其他地方那樣關閉政府。所以是的，我想說北美可能是那個月左右故事的主體。

The answer to your second question, no, we don't intend to break it out, not because we don't want to make all of your lives easier but because we believe it's one business. Essentially, as I mentioned about piping Vrbo content through the OTAs, we view this as if another product that a traveler will want. It's not -- obviously, it's having a great moment. And we're glad that we own it, and we believe we can ride some of the success travelers being exposed to the product type in a new way. But we view it collectively, and we view it as one business that we're driving whatever the best outcome for the consumers and driving that outcome across all lines of business. So we think this separation has been artificial effectively, and we're not planning to report it that way in the future.

你的第二個問題的答案，不，我們不打算把它拆開，不是因為我們不想讓你們所有人的生活都更輕鬆，而是因為我們相信這是一項業務。本質上，正如我提到的通過 OTA 傳輸 Vrbo 內容，我們將其視為旅行者想要的另一種產品。這不是 - 顯然，它正在度過一個美好的時刻。我們很高興我們擁有它，我們相信我們可以讓一些成功的旅行者以一種新的方式接觸到這種產品。但我們將其視為集體，我們將其視為一項業務，我們正在推動為消費者帶來最好的結果，並在所有業務領域推動這一結果。所以我們認為這種分離實際上是人為的，我們不打算在未來以這種方式報告。

Next question, we have Brian Nowak from Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題，我們有來自摩根士丹利的 Brian Nowak。

I have 2 guys. The first one, curious to hear about how have your conversations and your relationships with your hotel suppliers sort of evolve throughout the crisis and then the recovery? And sort of what are some of their tension points that you're really hoping to solve better through the recovery than maybe you have in the past?

我有兩個人。第一個，很想知道您與酒店供應商的對話和關係在整個危機和復蘇過程中是如何發展的？你真正希望通過恢復比過去更好地解決他們的一些緊張點是什麼？

And the second one, I know you've done a lot of great steps to sort of improve data sharing and sort of optimize processes. Any new examples of areas you found where you weren't sharing data enough or sort of other ways in which you've been able to optimize the business more coming out than you were previously?

第二個，我知道你已經做了很多偉大的步驟來改進數據共享和優化流程。您發現沒有足夠共享數據的區域的任何新示例，或者您能夠比以前更多地優化業務的其他方式？

Yes. I might sort of smash those 2 together a little bit, which is relations have been quite good with the hoteliers. I think we're all aligned and hoping and working towards helping them come out of it. We've renewed a number of agreements without much debate.

是的。我可能會把這 2 個粉碎一點點，這是與酒店經營者的關係一直很好。我認為我們都一致希望並努力幫助他們擺脫困境。我們在沒有太多爭論的情況下續簽了一些協議。

And I think our focus has been really on doing more to help the hotelier, as you alluded to, through data. But some of the examples include things like optimized distribution, which we've talked about before where we essentially become the wholesale distribution point for a number of hotels. We've done this with a few chains now. And that gives us an opportunity to help them clean up the marketplace, where they might have a wholesale market that is perhaps being abused by some players and driving the wrong outcomes for them. And with our technology and with our approach, we can help clean that up for them. And we think that's a net positive for both of us.

我認為我們的重點實際上是通過數據做更多的事情來幫助酒店經營者，正如您提到的那樣。但是一些例子包括優化分銷之類的東西，我們之前已經討論過我們基本上成為許多酒店的批發分銷點。我們現在已經用一些連鎖店做到了這一點。這讓我們有機會幫助他們清理市場，他們可能擁有一個批發市場，這個市場可能被一些參與者濫用並為他們帶來錯誤的結果。借助我們的技術和方法，我們可以幫助他們清理這些垃圾。我們認為這對我們雙方都是積極的。

Similarly, we have been sharing more data. We're working hard on new tools to provide more data to drive real-time decision-making for hoteliers so that they can optimize revenue in better ways. And of course, we're doing our part to try to drive and improve the product so that we can sell higher value rooms, room types, up-sell product, et cetera, so that we can help drive ADRs and overall revenue.

同樣，我們一直在共享更多數據。我們正在努力開發新工具，以提供更多數據來推動酒店經營者的實時決策，以便他們能夠以更好的方式優化收入。當然，我們正在儘自己的一份力量來推動和改進產品，以便我們可以銷售更高價值的房間、房間類型、追加銷售產品等，從而幫助推動 ADR 和整體收入。

So there's a lot of work going on. I think we're tightly aligned in wanting the hotel to come out and be successful. I think the hotels understand and appreciate the role we play in a rebound. And it's been quite a good environment and good relationships all around, and we're all working hard to try to rebuild the market.

所以有很多工作正在進行。我認為我們一致希望酒店能夠成功。我認為酒店理解並欣賞我們在反彈中發揮的作用。這是一個非常好的環境和良好的關係，我們都在努力重建市場。

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

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Lloyd Walmsley。

Two, if I can. First, it sounds like you're making some big moves like pulling Vrbo out of Google metasearch. As you think about performance marketing coming out of the pandemic, any other big shifts you'd call out strategically? And kind of how do you see direct marketing spend as a percent of revenue maybe when we get back to a normalized environment?

兩個，如果可以的話。首先，聽起來您正在採取一些重大舉措，例如將 Vrbo 從 Google 元搜索中撤出。當您考慮大流行帶來的績效營銷時，您會在戰略上呼籲任何其他重大轉變嗎？當我們回到正常化環境時，您如何看待直接營銷支出佔收入的百分比？

And then just second one, if we go back to when you took over, I mean, Barry had some pretty harsh comments about the work-life balance at Expedia. Curious, what have you all been doing to kind of change the culture at the company. How is morale holding up given a tough travel environment and all the changes going on? Anything you can share there would be great.

然後是第二個，如果我們回到你接手的時候，我的意思是，巴里對 Expedia 的工作與生活平衡有一些非常嚴厲的評論。很好奇，你們都做了什麼來改變公司的文化。鑑於艱難的旅行環境和所有正在發生的變化，士氣如何保持？任何你可以在那里分享的東西都會很棒。

Yes. Well, maybe I'll tack those in reverse order. Thanks for the questions, Lloyd. I think morale is quite good. I think people are energized. I think in the early days, there was fear of survival and all those kinds of things. We're long past that. I think we are trying to drive a performance culture, a culture that gets a lot done. And we've shrunk the company considerably in terms of manpower. So people are working hard. People are tackling big issues.

是的。好吧，也許我會以相反的順序處理它們。謝謝你的問題，勞埃德。我認為士氣相當不錯。我認為人們充滿活力。我認為在早期，存在對生存的恐懼和所有這些事情。我們早就過去了。我認為我們正在努力推動一種績效文化，一種完成很多工作的文化。我們在人力方面大大縮減了公司。所以人們正在努力工作。人們正在解決重大問題。

This replatforming of our entire tech stack, it's a big undertaking, and there's a ton of work going on there. There's a ton of work going on with suppliers, as we just talked about; ton of work going on for the customer. So I think morale is quite good. We're trying to build a culture where people who want to win and want to thrive feel inspired to do their best work. And I think that's what we're doing. Does that appeal to everybody? Maybe not, but that is what we're driving. And I think there's a lot of energy behind that.

對我們整個技術堆棧的重新平台化，這是一項艱鉅的任務，並且有大量的工作正在進行。正如我們剛剛談到的，供應商正在進行大量工作；為客戶進行大量工作。所以我覺得士氣還是挺不錯的。我們正在努力營造一種文化，讓那些想贏、想茁壯成長的人受到鼓舞，努力做到最好。我認為這就是我們正在做的。這對每個人都有吸引力嗎？也許不是，但這就是我們正在推動的。我認為這背後有很多能量。

So I would say morale is good. People are engaged. People feel good about our new mission and our purpose, and I think we're all aligned behind that.

所以我會說士氣是好的。人們訂婚了。人們對我們的新使命和目標感覺良好，我認為我們都支持這一點。

As far as the performance goes, and Eric, jump in, if you want to as well. But I would say, we're very sharp-minded about it in the sense that we're happy to invest in anything that drives incremental profitability, good revenue and good profits. And we're not keen to kind of continue on a path of just continuing where investment was not productive. So we didn't find investment in the Google VR product particularly incremental. We didn't think the customer experience was particularly valuable. And we are, of course, also in a period where we're seeing great direct traffic for Vrbo. So we found other ways and, in our view, more profitable ways to drive traffic.

就表演而言，埃里克，如果你願意的話，也可以加入。但我要說的是，我們對此非常敏銳，因為我們很樂意投資於任何能夠推動盈利增長、良好收入和良好利潤的事物。而且我們並不熱衷於繼續走一條只是繼續投資效率不高的道路。所以我們沒有發現對谷歌 VR 產品的投資特別增加。我們不認為客戶體驗特別有價值。當然，我們也正處於 Vrbo 直接流量巨大的時期。因此，我們找到了其他方式，並且在我們看來是更有利可圖的方式來增加流量。

As far as the rest of performance marketing goes and performance marketing for hotels and meta, et cetera, the different products for the consumer, it's a different proposition and clearly has historically had value for the consumer. I think we feel like we will continue to play at it. I think we will continue to improve at it.

至於績效營銷的其餘部分以及酒店和元等的績效營銷，針對消費者的不同產品，這是一個不同的主張，並且顯然在歷史上對消費者俱有價值。我想我們覺得我們會繼續玩下去。我認為我們會繼續改進它。

I've talked before about how we've smashed together our performance marketing teams, where we're wiring all the data streams. We're pushing towards multi-brand algorithms and things we haven't done before. So we think we're going to get much better at it in terms of being able to optimize for the portfolio and continue to use it hopefully very effectively.

我之前談到過我們如何將我們的績效營銷團隊整合在一起，我們在其中連接所有數據流。我們正在推動多品牌算法和我們以前沒有做過的事情。因此，我們認為，就能夠優化投資組合併希望繼續非常有效地使用它而言，我們將在這方面做得更好。

But right now, there are no -- I wouldn't say there are big tectonic shifts in what we're seeing as to how we would apply that money other than we're going to be very clinical about it in terms of looking for and driving the best veins of profitability we can, wherever they are.

但是現在，除了我們在尋找並儘可能地推動盈利能力的增長，無論他們身在何處。

Yes. This is Eric. Thanks for the question. And just on the marketing as a percent of revenue, just to touch on that, we're not at this point solving for a specific percentage. Ultimately, we're in this COVID period. And so we're, as we talked about, wading prudently into performance channels and then investing in brand where we think it's appropriate, particularly on Vrbo.

是的。這是埃里克。謝謝你的問題。就營銷佔收入的百分比而言，只是為了觸及這一點，我們目前還沒有解決具體的百分比問題。最終，我們處於這個 COVID 時期。因此，正如我們所說，我們謹慎地涉足績效渠道，然後在我們認為合適的地方投資於品牌，尤其是在 Vrbo 上。

But as Peter mentioned, there's just a ton of work that's going on, for example, in performance channels, leveraging our overall data, multi-brand bidding, as Peter just mentioned, but ultimately trying to understand as well lifetime value and incrementality as well. And so those are new muscles, in particular, given the scale -- the way we're running the business now and the scale of the data that we're aggregating together. So I think there's more to learn there.

但是正如 Peter 提到的，只有大量的工作正在進行，例如，在績效渠道中，利用我們的整體數據，多品牌競價，正如 Peter 剛才提到的，但最終也試圖了解生命週期價值和增量.因此，這些都是新的力量，特別是考慮到規模——我們現在經營業務的方式以及我們聚合在一起的數據規模。所以我認為那裡還有更多東西要學。

And then on the brand side, that just has a very different profile than performance in that it has longer return periods. And so we're confident to invest behind the brands, obviously doing that behind Vrbo. We expect to do that even more in some of our other brands as we narrow in on specific value propositions in line of product behind those and then the marketing associated as well.

然後在品牌方面，這與性能有很大不同，因為它有更長的回報期。因此，我們有信心投資品牌，顯然是在 Vrbo 背後投資。我們希望在我們的一些其他品牌中做更多的事情，因為我們縮小了產品背後的特定價值主張，然後是相關的營銷。

So a long-winded way of saying we don't have a specific percentage that we're solving for now. But we're certainly spending a lot of time trying to improve on the marketing side and the value proposition and related marketing.

因此，這是一種冗長的說法，我們目前沒有解決的具體百分比。但我們肯定會花費大量時間來改進營銷方面以及價值主張和相關營銷。

Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Kopelman from Cowen and Company.

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

Great. I just had a couple of follow-ups. So I was hoping to drill into some of the improvement that you've seen in the January trends as the declines have gone from the high 60s to the high 40s at the end of January. So what do you see as the key drivers there? And did you get a sense if the decline in COVID-19 cases and the vaccine rollout were having an impact on the consumer demand there? And then what kind of -- within that, what kind of growth rates did Vrbo experience in January?

偉大的。我剛剛進行了幾次跟進。因此，我希望深入了解您在 1 月趨勢中看到的一些改進，因為 1 月底的跌幅從 60 多歲的高位上升到 40 多歲的高位。那麼你認為那裡的關鍵驅動因素是什麼？如果 COVID-19 病例的減少和疫苗的推出對那裡的消費者需求產生了影響，您是否感覺到了？然後 - 在其中，Vrbo 在 1 月份經歷了什麼樣的增長率？

Peter, do you want me to take this one? Go ahead.

彼得，你想讓我拿這個嗎？前進。

Jump in anywhere, Eric. But I would just say, Kevin, that broadly, as I mentioned, the improvements were in North America, and Vrbo was a strong part of it. It's hard to say whether it's correlated to the improvement in cases. That tends to be -- sometimes you think everyone should be feeling better and it doesn't show up and sometimes you feel the opposite. But I would say that Vrbo tends to be long-dated. The summer, obviously, is a strong opportunity for the Vrbo use case, and we're seeing people lean into that as the year opens up.

跳到任何地方，埃里克。但我只想說，凱文，正如我提到的，從廣義上講，改進是在北美，而 Vrbo 是其中的重要組成部分。很難說這是否與案件的改善有關。這往往是——有時你認為每個人都應該感覺好些，但它並沒有出現，有時你的感覺恰恰相反。但我會說 Vrbo 往往是過時的。顯然，夏天對於 Vrbo 用例來說是一個很好的機會，我們看到人們在新的一年開始時傾向於這樣做。

And so by and large, the blending towards that. We have seen some improvement in conventional lodging, again, particularly in North America. But I would say, it's a little bit of a Vrbo continued health and even amplified health going into the summer months, et cetera, and a little bit of improvement in the more conventional spaces. And I don't think we'll break out exactly how good it was, but Vrbo has been strong. Eric, I don't know if you want to add anything.

總的來說，就是朝著那個方向融合。我們再次看到傳統住宿有所改善，尤其是在北美。但我會說，這有點像 Vrbo 的持續健康，甚至在進入夏季的幾個月裡增強了健康，等等，以及在更傳統的空間中的一點點改善。而且我不認為我們會說出它究竟有多好，但 Vrbo 一直很強大。 Eric，我不知道你是否想補充什麼。

Yes. The only add that I'd add to that is just around -- and you touched on it, which is the booking windows and what we've seen is a bit of a bifurcation, which we've talked about before. But historically, during COVID, we saw a shortening of booking windows. We've continued to see that on the conventional lodging or on the hotel side of the business. But what we've seen is Vrbo elongate again and look much more like we would have expected to see in any other year, which gets back to the summer bookings that Peter is mentioning.

是的。我要添加的唯一補充就是——你提到了它，這是預訂窗口，我們看到的是有點分歧，我們之前已經談過。但從歷史上看，在 COVID 期間，我們看到了預訂窗口的縮短。我們繼續在傳統住宿或酒店方面看到這種情況。但我們看到的是 Vrbo 再次拉長，看起來更像我們預期在任何其他年份看到的情況，這可以追溯到彼得提到的夏季預訂。

And so I suspect -- we know there's pent-up demand. People want to travel. And I think people have confidence that they're going to be able to travel at least domestically using the U.S. as an example. And so they're starting to book those summer months now.

所以我懷疑——我們知道有被壓抑的需求。人們想要旅行。而且我認為人們有信心至少可以在國內旅行，以美國為例。所以他們現在開始預訂那些夏季的月份。

Great. Very helpful. And then on kind of a follow-up on the last question and along those lines. How has -- how should we think about ad spend kind of playing out? You've seen the bookings picking up as a base case, should we just kind of assume that ad spend is trending in kind of similarly on a year-over-year basis? Or do you see having to spend ahead of demand in that kind of rebound scenario? How has that played out at the start of the year?

偉大的。很有幫助。然後是對最後一個問題的後續跟進。如何 - 我們應該如何考慮廣告支出的發揮？您已經看到預訂量上升是一個基本案例，我們是否應該假設廣告支出的趨勢與去年同期類似？或者您是否認為在這種反彈情況下必須先於需求支出？今年年初的情況如何？

Yes. I think we definitely don't want to be behind. So if anything, we'll certainly invest in getting -- capturing the demand. I think, as Eric mentioned, there's this funny thing that happened where stay dates and book dates were much closer together for a large part of 2020. If '21 starts to look more normal, which it seems to be doing, then we'll start to see that expand again. And I think in that vein, you may see us investing in capturing that demand even if that demand is not staying for some time.

是的。我認為我們絕對不想落後。因此，如果有的話，我們肯定會投資於獲得 - 捕捉需求。我認為，正如埃里克所提到的，在 2020 年的大部分時間裡，住宿日期和預訂日期更加接近，發生了一件有趣的事情。如果 21 年開始看起來更正常，這似乎正在發生，那麼我們將開始看到它再次擴大。我認為，在這種情況下，你可能會看到我們投資於捕捉這種需求，即使這種需求不會持續一段時間。

And so you may see some dislocation, I would expect, or bumpiness in the numbers in terms of when the marketing spend is versus when the revenue recognition is, but we certainly don't plan to be back on our heels. We -- as I mentioned, we have a strong campaign that we're working on for Brand Expedia. We've got -- we've certainly consistently stating we'll stay in the Vrbo upper funnel work on brand; Hotels.com, the same. So I think you'll see that continue, and we will continue to lean in as we believe the market and demand is opening up, no question.

所以你可能會看到一些錯位，我預計，或者在營銷支出與收入確認時間方面的數字顛簸，但我們當然不打算緊隨其後。我們 - 正如我提到的那樣，我們正在為 Brand Expedia 開展一場強有力的活動。我們已經 - 我們肯定一直表示我們將留在 Vrbo 上部漏斗品牌工作； Hotels.com，相同。所以我認為你會看到這種情況繼續下去，我們將繼續傾斜，因為我們相信市場和需求正在開放，毫無疑問。

And yes. And Kevin, just one quick add on that. Hopefully, it's helpful as well. And Peter mentioned it briefly, but just around the revenue recognition, just a reminder for everyone, when it comes to lodging, that we recognize that revenue at the time of stay, generally speaking. And as we mix into Vrbo with their longer booking windows, particularly in the summer, then you're going to see more of that revenue on the transactions that we're -- a lot of those that we're seeing now,get pushed out into the later months.

是的。凱文，只是一個快速的補充。希望它也有幫助。 Peter 簡要地提到了它，但只是圍繞收入確認，只是提醒大家，在住宿方面，我們通常會在入住時確認收入。當我們將 Vrbo 與他們更長的預訂窗口混合在一起時，尤其是在夏季，那麼你會在我們的交易中看到更多的收入——我們現在看到的很多交易，都被推動了進入以後的幾個月。

So then when you go back to look at marketing, it's a bit bumpier, to use Peter's word, just because we're spending now elevated in Vrbo in lots of different ways where the revenue may be more down the line.

因此，當你回頭看營銷時，用彼得的話來說，它有點顛簸，只是因為我們現在在 Vrbo 中以許多不同的方式增加了支出，而收入可能會更多。

Your next question comes from the line of Justin Post from Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Justin Post。

Great. I guess, just wondering if you're seeing anything in your traffic for your core businesses that give you any optimism on the summer, very front-end planning or through some of your other sites that you have. Are you seeing any uptick there as people start looking forward to the summer?

偉大的。我想，只是想知道您是否在核心業務的流量中看到任何讓您對夏季、非常前端規劃或通過您擁有的其他一些網站感到樂觀的東西。隨著人們開始期待夏天，您是否看到那裡有任何上升？

And second, do you have any thoughts on how you're doing market share-wise in the industry right now, especially in alternative accommodations? But just overall, how do you feel about how your market share is trending right now?

其次，您對您目前在該行業的市場份額方面有何想法，尤其是在替代住宿方面？但總的來說，您如何看待您的市場份額目前的趨勢？

Yes. I'll take that one first and then me come back to the other question. But I would say, to be specific in the question, in alternative accommodations in our strong markets, we believe we have seen very good share and share growth relative to our competition. But I would say, overall, each of -- we and our main competitors have different good guys. We have a very good guy with Vrbo and the use case and where we have supply and where people are wanting to travel.

是的。我會先回答那個問題，然後再回到另一個問題。但我要說的是，具體而言，在我們強大市場的替代住宿方面，我們相信相對於我們的競爭對手，我們已經看到了非常好的份額和份額增長。但我會說，總的來說，我們和我們的主要競爭對手都有不同的好人。我們有一個非常好的 Vrbo 和用例，我們有供應的地方以及人們想要去的地方。

But conversely we also and conventionalizing have a heavy -- a strong presence in major cities and international travel, both of which obviously have been hurt equally. I could point to any one of our competitors who has the inversion of that and has -- is better in secondary cities, et cetera, maybe better in alternative accommodations in markets where we don't even have a presence. Some of those markets have shut, some of those markets are strong. It's a tale of many stories.

但相反，我們也和傳統化在主要城市和國際旅行中有很強的影響力，這兩者顯然都受到了同樣的傷害。我可以指出我們的任何一個競爭對手，他們有相反的情況，並且在二線城市更好，等等，在我們甚至沒有存在的市場的替代住宿中可能更好。其中一些市場已經關閉，其中一些市場表現強勁。這是許多故事的故事。

So I think as it comes to share, we think we're doing well, where we're strong, certainly in alternative accommodations and overall in North America. But there are certainly competitors who have better solutions for certain use cases, and they're seeing benefit from that. So I think it's really -- I would caution anybody to get too excited about share one way or the other during this because the dislocation really creates a bunch of unique stories. And you can -- I would think one could get fooled by a trend that's not a trend. It's just a moment of how people are using travel right now. So -- but we have gained and we're happy about that and -- in our strongest markets and, in particular, in VR.

因此，我認為就分享而言，我們認為我們做得很好，在我們強大的地方，當然是在北美的替代住宿和整體上。但肯定有競爭對手對某些用例有更好的解決方案，他們也從中受益。所以我認為這真的 - 我會提醒任何人在此期間對以一種或另一種方式分享過於興奮，因為錯位確實創造了一堆獨特的故事。你可以——我認為一個人可能會被一種不是趨勢的趨勢所愚弄。這只是人們現在如何使用旅行的一個時刻。所以——但我們已經取得了成果，我們對此感到高興——在我們最強大的市場，尤其是 VR 領域。

I think your other question was on traffic. The answer is we see a lot of booking. It's not entirely clear that it's all for the summer or for -- which -- not -- I don't think there's anything that tells you there's something specific people are searching for, for specific timezone. But we are seeing interest in the holidays already at the end of next -- at the end of this year. It's still relatively small, but stronger than it had been a year ago.

我想你的另一個問題是關於交通的。答案是我們看到很多預訂。目前還不完全清楚這一切都是為了夏天還是為了——哪個——不是——我認為沒有任何東西可以告訴你特定的人正在尋找特定的時區。但我們已經看到人們對明年年底的假期感興趣——在今年年底。它仍然相對較小，但比一年前更強大。

We're seeing trends like that. Some are very strong in alternatives are still highly muted in conventional lodging. And I would just say there are a lot of things we're seeing that contra being what people think is going on. We see a lot of interest in cities in terms of quick share and people looking -- not necessarily booking, but there's plenty of people looking to travel to cities and other things. So I think it's -- I think that the looking is not yet indicative of a pattern of booking, but there's tons of interest for sure.

我們看到了這樣的趨勢。有些在替代品方面非常強大，但在傳統住宿方面仍然非常低調。我只想說，我們看到的很多事情都與人們的想法相反。我們看到，在快速分享和人們尋找方面，人們對城市很感興趣——不一定是預訂，但有很多人希望去城市旅行和其他事情。所以我認為它 - 我認為外觀還不能表明預訂模式，但肯定會有很多興趣。

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Fitzgerald from Wells Fargo.

你的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Brian Fitzgerald。

One housekeeping maybe and then one other one. Just to confirm the -- that 500 bps of contra revenue related to the COVID claims and the third-party insurance, that was not added back to EBITDA, I think I heard that.

可能是一項客房清潔服務，然後是另一項清潔服務。只是為了確認 - 與 COVID 索賠和第三方保險相關的 500 個基點的對銷收入沒有添加回 EBITDA，我想我聽說過。

And then trivago talked yesterday about the trend towards apartment hotels and chains getting into that as transient and group business may struggle to come back or slower. Any thoughts on how hotel inventory might lean into that leisure or long-term stay for pneumatic workers or your thoughts on how you guys would benefit from that trend?

然後 trivago 昨天談到了公寓酒店和連鎖酒店進入這一趨勢的趨勢，因為臨時和團體業務可能難以恢復或放緩。關於酒店庫存如何傾向於氣動工人的休閒或長期住宿的任何想法，或者您對你們如何從這種趨勢中受益的想法？

Yes, I can -- thanks for the question. I can take the first part. It was contra revenue, as mentioned, and it was not added back to EBITDA. I think I just gave in the upfront portion just what the EBITDA would have been if we would have taken that out or adjusted for it.

是的，我可以——謝謝你的提問。我可以參加第一部分。如前所述，這是對沖收入，並且沒有加回到 EBITDA 中。我想我只是在前期部分給出了 EBITDA 的情況，如果我們將其剔除或對其進行調整的話。

And I'll just -- yes, Brian, I'll just say, haven't given a tremendous amount of thought. I think we've seen hotels historically try to play at in the alternative space in different ways. Hasn't been a particularly large part of anybody's business. No man's made it into a big success, really. I think many of these trends, I think most of the hotel industry thinks, will be relatively short-lived, then they'll be back at it in a conventional way.

我只是 - 是的，布賴恩，我只是說，沒有考慮太多。我認為我們在歷史上已經看到酒店嘗試以不同的方式在替代空間中發揮作用。在任何人的業務中都不是特別重要的一部分。真的，沒有人取得巨大成功。我認為這些趨勢中的許多，我認為大多數酒店業人士認為，將相對短暫，然後他們將以傳統方式重新出現。

But I'm sure we'll see experimentation there. I don't think it particularly favors or disfavors us. We play in virtually every product class. And if we can help hoteliers sell those kinds of longer stay, apartment-type stay products through Vrbo, we're certainly delighted to do that. But I don't think for us, it's a trend one way or the other that will -- that is particularly good or particularly bad. I think it's just maybe a slight shift for some hoteliers, but not a big difference for us.

但我相信我們會在那裡看到實驗。我不認為它特別有利於或不利我們。我們幾乎涉足每個產品類別。如果我們可以幫助酒店經營者通過 Vrbo 銷售這些類型的長期住宿、公寓式住宿產品，我們當然很樂意這樣做。但我不認為對我們來說，這是一種趨勢，無論是哪種方式——特別好或特別壞。我認為這對一些酒店經營者來說可能只是一個輕微的轉變，但對我們來說並不是很大的不同。

Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Ju from Crédit Suisse.

你的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸銀行的 Stephen Ju。

Okay. So Peter, maybe go back in history a little bit. I think part of the pain point for Vrbo in the past when it was a public company was to make sure you don't get de-ranked in the search results because of duplicative content, I think as you try to integrate, say, Abritel's inventory onto Homeaway.com or Vrbo.com. So as you work to integrate the Vrbo content itself onto your OTA properties, is a potential traffic loss or degradation something that we need to worry about in the future?

好的。所以彼得，也許可以回顧一下歷史。我認為 Vrbo 在過去是一家上市公司時的部分痛點是確保您不會因為重複的內容而在搜索結果中排名下降，我認為當您嘗試整合 Abritel 的庫存到 Homeaway.com 或 Vrbo.com。因此，當您努力將 Vrbo 內容本身集成到您的 OTA 屬性中時，我們將來需要擔心潛在的流量損失或降級嗎？

And I guess, what do you think you need to do to address from a consumer experience standpoint for that seamless integration of inventory, so that to the consumer, they are more willing to pick either/or or maybe more the alternative accommodations on Brand Expedia?

我想，從消費者體驗的角度來看，您認為您需要做些什麼來實現庫存的無縫整合，這樣對於消費者來說，他們更願意選擇 Brand Expedia 上的一個/或更多的替代住宿？

Yes, thanks. It's a good question. And to the first part, I think, yes, there's lots of stories in the panels of those of us who play in the world of Google, et cetera, of being de-ranked and things and a lot of learnings gone into that. Obviously, we'll have to watch that as we roll it out.

對了謝謝。這是個好問題。對於第一部分，我認為，是的，在我們這些在 Google 世界中玩遊戲的人的面板中有很多故事，等等，被降級，事情和很多學習都融入其中。顯然，我們必須在推出時注意這一點。

But I think you shouldn't think of this necessarily as a peanut butter approach. Not all lodging is sort of parallel. So if someone's looking for a hotel to people in Paris, offering them an apartment for 10 people, not necessarily a solution or a house in south of France. So I think there will be different solutions. I think we're working through what the consumer experience should be. Some of our competitors have done well putting those things next to each other. But again, it's particularly when they can sort of match up relatively the use case, so the small apartment versus the small hotel room.

但我認為你不應該認為這一定是一種花生醬方法。並非所有的住宿都是平行的。因此，如果有人正在為巴黎的人尋找酒店，為他們提供 10 人的公寓，不一定是法國南部的解決方案或房子。所以我認為會有不同的解決方案。我認為我們正在研究消費者體驗應該是什麼。我們的一些競爭對手將這些東西放在一起做得很好。但同樣，特別是當它們可以相對匹配用例時，所以小公寓與小酒店房間。

When -- right now, Vrbo is largely oriented towards the whole home experience mostly in secondary places, vacation places, et cetera. So it's really a question of as you get those opportunities and you want to go to the beach somewhere, how do those things line up, how does the product reveal it in an attractive way and not confuse the consumer, et cetera. So it's really an end-to-end. So we have to do, which is what -- how does the consumer want to digest it, how can we service the right things for them and then how do we give them the benefit of the information and the service and all the things one might be used to in a home rental that are different when you rent a hotel room essentially.

什麼時候——現在，Vrbo 主要面向整個家庭體驗，主要是在次要場所、度假場所等。所以這真的是一個問題，當你獲得這些機會並且你想去某個地方的海灘時，這些東西如何排列，產品如何以有吸引力的方式展示它而不會讓消費者感到困惑，等等。所以這真的是端到端的。所以我們必須做的是——消費者想要如何消化它，我們如何為他們提供正確的服務，然後我們如何讓他們從信息和服務以及人們可能會做的所有事情中受益習慣於租用酒店房間時所使用的房屋租賃。

So there's a lot of work going into that. I don't have an absolute answer for you, except we know that there is demand. We know that there's a question of getting discovery in places where we don't have brands. We know there is demand from our B2B partners. So we know there's opportunity, but we still have work to do to make sure the consumer experience makes sense.

所以有很多工作要做。我沒有給你一個絕對的答案，除非我們知道有需求。我們知道在我們沒有品牌的地方存在發現問題。我們知道我們的 B2B 合作夥伴有需求。所以我們知道有機會，但我們仍有工作要做，以確保消費者體驗有意義。

Your next question comes from the line of Douglas Anmuth from JPMorgan.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Douglas Anmuth。

Peter, you mentioned that Vrbo isn't global and you have other VR brands in Europe, for example. Just trying to understand what you're doing to build out Vrbo more there or are you content letting some of the other brands do more vacation in those geos?

彼得，你提到 Vrbo 不是全球性的，例如，你在歐洲有其他 VR 品牌。只是想了解您正在做什麼以在那裡建立更多的 Vrbo，或者您是否滿足於讓其他一些品牌在這些地區度過更多假期？

Yes. I think where we have strong brands, we are perfectly content to drive those brands. I think we have opportunity to drive them with the same techniques that we have created and made effective in Vrbo, whether that's from our creative, our approach to performance marketing, et cetera, et cetera. So there's no reason we can't take a brand like Stayz in Australia and drive that through. And there is no little benefit to absolutely turning it into Vrbo.

是的。我認為在我們擁有強大品牌的地方，我們完全滿足於推動這些品牌。我認為我們有機會用我們在 Vrbo 中創造並發揮作用的相同技術來推動他們，無論是來自我們的創意、我們的績效營銷方法等等。因此，我們沒有理由不能在澳大利亞採用像 Stayz 這樣的品牌來推動它的發展。而且絕對把它變成Vrbo也有不小的好處。

That being said, there are some markets where we have converted to Vrbo, and we are going to invest behind that brand. And we'll do that in some places as well. So I think you'll see a combination of places where Vrbo is the right answer. You'll see a few places where we're content to use some strong local, long-dated brands that have real brand awareness and stickiness. And then as I say, we'll use our other OTA brands and other things to drive it in places where neither exists and where we don't think it's worth trying to start a brand from scratch.

話雖這麼說，但我們已經在某些市場上轉向了 Vrbo，我們將投資於該品牌。我們也會在某些地方這樣做。所以我想你會看到 Vrbo 是正確答案的地方組合。你會看到一些地方我們滿足於使用一些具有真正品牌知名度和粘性的強大的本地、歷史悠久的品牌。然後正如我所說，我們將使用我們的其他 OTA 品牌和其他東西來推動它到那些都不存在以及我們認為不值得從頭開始創建品牌的地方。

Your next question comes from the line of Richard Clarke from Bernstein.

你的下一個問題來自伯恩斯坦的理查德克拉克。

Just at the top of the call, you mentioned using alternatives in B2B more. Just wondering what that will look like. Is that going to be a sort of white label product? Or how would you see that coming through?

就在通話的頂部，您提到更多地使用 B2B 中的替代方案。只是想知道那會是什麼樣子。那會是一種白標產品嗎？或者你會如何看待它？

And if I can just ask another one. With the charge you've taken this quarter and the pandemic in general, is there any sort of change in the way you think about the flexibility of that to consumers that's changing kind of looking into next year and the uncertainty continues?

如果我可以再問一個。考慮到您本季度的收費和總體流行病，您對消費者的靈活性的看法是否有任何變化，這種變化正在改變對明年的看法並且不確定性仍在繼續？

Eric, do you want to take the second one first?

埃里克，你想先拿第二個嗎？

I'm sorry.

對不起。

No. Yes. I'm sorry, I'm happy to take it. Well, we're constantly trying -- I think we've got a number of initiatives to build out more insurance and assurance products. It's one of the areas that we think is -- consumers want it. They're telling us they want it. We have some offerings there. We think we can expand those offerings. We've got a great team that's going up and executing against it. So I would say generally, we think it's a great product for everyone all around, and we're going to invest around it and innovate around the offerings.

不，是的。對不起，我很樂意接受。好吧，我們一直在努力——我認為我們已經採取了許多舉措來構建更多的保險和保障產品。這是我們認為的領域之一——消費者想要它。他們告訴我們他們想要它。我們在那裡有一些產品。我們認為我們可以擴展這些產品。我們有一支優秀的團隊，他們正在奮起反抗。所以我一般會說，我們認為它對周圍的每個人來說都是一個很棒的產品，我們將圍繞它進行投資並圍繞產品進行創新。

From a flexibility standpoint, that's certainly something that's top of mind for us. I don't think it necessarily dips into insurance itself. But of course, we've looked at the terms associated with those, and those have been modified relative to the situation that we're in, i.e., whether you have COVID or been exposed and so on and so forth. And so there's adjustments that have been made to those policies to make them relevant.

從靈活性的角度來看，這當然是我們最關心的事情。我認為它不一定涉及保險本身。但是，當然，我們已經查看了與這些相關的術語，並且這些術語已經根據我們所處的情況進行了修改，即您是否患有 COVID 或是否被暴露等等。因此，對這些政策進行了調整以使其具有相關性。

But generally speaking, we're trying to make sure that we give offerings. We communicate flexibility. Most of our products have flexibility built to them in one form or another. And we're making sure that we're promoting those on the site so that customers can make appropriate decisions. I hope that's helpful.

但總的來說，我們正在努力確保我們提供產品。我們傳達靈活性。我們的大多數產品都以一種或另一種形式具有靈活性。我們確保我們在網站上推廣這些內容，以便客戶可以做出適當的決定。我希望這會有所幫助。

Yes. Thanks. And I'll just say, Richard, on -- as to B2B through our -- excuse me, alternatives to our B2B partners, I'll remind everyone that we have a quite healthy B2B business. It takes many forms, including powering rewards programs, powering regional OTAs in places where we are not, in some places where we are and even offline travel agents. And we think there's a lot of use cases in all of that for alternative accommodations. We have not been wired to do it, goes to our tech platform that I talk about frequently. And -- but we believe when we can do it, there will be significant demand opportunities in those vectors.

是的。謝謝。我只想說，理查德，關於 - 關於 B2B 通過我們 - 對不起，我們的 B2B 合作夥伴的替代品，我會提醒大家我們有一個非常健康的 B2B 業務。它有多種形式，包括為獎勵計劃提供支持，為我們不在的地方、我們在的一些地方甚至線下旅行社提供支持。我們認為所有這些都有很多用於替代住宿的用例。我們還沒有被要求這樣做，去我經常談論的我們的技術平台。而且——但我們相信，當我們能夠做到時，這些載體將有大量的需求機會。

So it could take the form of a white label product in certain kinds of circumstances. It could equally take the form of being part of a broader template where we power everything in our rewards program, and that's flights and conventional and alternative. Right now, because the alternative product has not been strong even in our own OTAs, we just don't have a product offering that's particularly compelling for our B2B partners. So that's coming as we build the flexibility into our platform and as we master the alternative accommodations on our own OTAs. We just see it as an opportunity in the space.

因此，在某些情況下，它可以採用白標產品的形式。它同樣可以採取成為更廣泛模板的一部分的形式，在該模板中，我們為獎勵計劃中的所有內容提供動力，即航班、常規和替代方案。目前，由於替代產品在我們自己的 OTA 中也並不強大，我們只是沒有對我們的 B2B 合作夥伴特別有吸引力的產品。因此，隨著我們在平台中構建靈活性以及我們掌握自己的 OTA 上的替代住宿，這種情況即將到來。我們只是將其視為該領域的一個機會。

Yes. And just to add to that, I mean, there's certainly demand from our B2B partners for that inventory. And as Peter said, that can get distributed based on different types of B2B partners, whether that's a rewards program, et cetera. That could be template. That could be API. And we just got to make sure that we have, on the template, the right experience; and on the API, the right data that folks need to be able to incorporate it into whatever site or however we're powering it.

是的。除此之外，我的意思是，我們的 B2B 合作夥伴肯定需要該庫存。正如彼得所說，這可以根據不同類型的 B2B 合作夥伴進行分配，無論是獎勵計劃等等。那可能是模板。那可能是API。我們只需要確保我們在模板上擁有正確的體驗；在 API 上，人們需要能夠將正確的數據整合到任何站點或我們正在為其提供支持的任何站點。

Your next question comes from the line of Mario Lu from Barclays.

你的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Mario Lu。

So just curious to hear your high-level thoughts on capital allocation with $3.4 billion of cash on hand. Do you see this environment as one where you might find some value via M&A, where it might make some strategic sense despite still waiting for a recovery? And the second one, you guys are removing Vrbo listings from Google. Any color you could provide on what percentage of bookings came from that historically?

所以很想听聽您對手頭 34 億美元現金的資本配置的高層想法。您是否認為這種環境可以通過併購找到一些價值，儘管仍在等待復甦，但它可能具有一定的戰略意義？第二個，你們正在從谷歌中刪除 Vrbo 列表。您可以提供任何顏色說明歷史上有多少百分比的預訂來自該預訂？

Yes. I can take the first part, Peter, which is, I think our focus continues to be for the moment on stabilization and recovery. I think we've gotten through the stabilization, and we're in that recovery phase, if you will, and call it, the early innings of that. So I do think that we feel like we're in a great position, as mentioned, with the $3.4 billion plus the $2 billion on the revolver.

是的。彼得，我可以做第一部分，也就是說，我認為我們目前的重點仍然是穩定和復蘇。我認為我們已經度過了穩定期，我們正處於恢復階段，如果你願意的話，可以稱之為早期階段。所以我確實認為我們感覺我們處於有利位置，如前所述，34 億美元加上左輪手槍上的 20 億美元。

But I -- from a capital allocation standpoint, I want to make sure that we can invest behind our brands and feel comfortable we'll be able to take whatever level of risk we decide to do so that we can be relevant in that recovery and be in that conversation with consumers.

但我——從資本配置的角度來看，我想確保我們能夠投資於我們的品牌，並感到自在，我們能夠承擔我們決定承擔的任何風險水平，以便我們能夠在復蘇中發揮作用，並且與消費者進行對話。

When it comes to the debt side of the house, which you didn't ask, obviously, we paid the $650 million off on the revolver to get that back up to the $2 billion. But at this point, I would say we're in that recovery phase and not obviously looking to return capital. But down the line, I suspect we will want to take down our debt, get back to investment grade, all the good things we've talked about in previous quarters. And then we could talk about how do we think about returning capital.

當談到房子的債務方面時，你沒有問，顯然，我們在左輪手槍上支付了 6.5 億美元，使它回到 20 億美元。但在這一點上，我想說我們正處於復蘇階段，顯然不希望收回資本。但最終，我懷疑我們會想要減少債務，回到投資級別，以及我們在前幾個季度討論過的所有好事。然後我們可以討論我們如何考慮返還資本。

Now more specifically on your question on M&A, I would say we're more in an opportunistic posture at this moment. We've got a strong legacy in M&A as a company, as you will know. We are certainly out and having conversations and seeing what might be opportunistic, if you will. But right now, I would say we're primarily focused on ourselves and making sure that we get our data platform right, we got our marketing right, we can invest behind the business.

現在更具體地關於你關於併購的問題，我想說我們現在更處於機會主義的姿態。正如您所知，作為一家公司，我們在併購方面擁有深厚的底蘊。如果您願意的話，我們當然會出去進行對話，看看什麼可能是機會主義的。但現在，我想說我們主要關注自己，確保我們的數據平台正確，我們的營銷正確，我們可以投資於業務。

Yes. And I would just cap that answer with our historical M&A, which was successful also, is what made us as complicated as we were as a company. And we are keen to make sure we don't make those mistakes again. It doesn't mean we will never buy something, doesn't mean that we won't find opportunities, but we are not -- that is not going to be the core of what drives us.

是的。我只想用我們歷史上的併購來結束這個答案，這也是成功的，這讓我們像一家公司一樣複雜。我們渴望確保我們不會再犯這些錯誤。這並不意味著我們永遠不會買東西，並不意味著我們不會找到機會，但我們不會——這不會成為驅動我們的核心。

And then on the Vrbo question, Google VR was not particularly significant. And we concluded that it was not additive, which is why we made the move we made. And so it's not -- it wasn't like we set a substantial part of our business and just took a shot across the bow. We just believed it was not a particularly critical piece of our business and was not adding value, and we made a decision.

然後在 Vrbo 問題上，谷歌 VR 並不是特別重要。我們得出結論，它不是添加劑，這就是我們採取行動的原因。所以它不是 - 它不像我們設置了我們業務的重要部分並且只是在弓箭上開槍。我們只是認為這不是我們業務中特別重要的部分，也沒有增加價值，因此我們做出了決定。

We will now take our final question coming from the line of Andrew Boone from JMP Securities.

我們現在將接受來自 JMP 證券公司 Andrew Boone 的最後一個問題。

One of your alternative accommodation competitors talks about kind of the exclusivity of their listings. Can you talk about any of your efforts there to expand your alternative accommodation listings? And I think you guys historically have talked about lack of inventory in more price-sensitive areas. Can you just give an update there?

您的一位替代住宿競爭對手談到了他們房源的排他性。你能談談你在那里為擴大你的替代住宿列表所做的任何努力嗎？而且我認為你們過去一直在談論價格敏感地區的庫存不足。你能在那裡提供更新嗎？

And then secondly, as we're seeing the first signs of recovery, can you just provide an update on your marketing tech stack and whether you guys feel like you're ready to lean in there?

其次，當我們看到復甦的最初跡象時，您能否提供有關您的營銷技術堆棧的最新信息，以及你們是否覺得您已經準備好投入其中？

Sure. So I would say on the listing side, we and our competitors have a fair amount of exclusivity. Sometimes that's because of geography, sometimes that's because it's tight. It's a bunch of different things that drive it. We're not spending a huge amount of time trying to figure out how to just -- how to make our inventory entirely exclusive. We're trying to spend our time building the category. I think that's probably broadly true for them as well.

當然。所以我想說，在上市方面，我們和我們的競爭對手擁有相當多的排他性。有時那是因為地理位置，有時那是因為它很緊。它是由一堆不同的東西驅動的。我們並沒有花大量時間試圖弄清楚如何——如何讓我們的庫存完全排他性。我們正在嘗試花時間建立類別。我認為這對他們來說也可能是普遍正確的。

As far as increasing inventory, it hasn't been a particularly great market for doing that between home turnover, between people living in their second homes and other things. It's been a challenging time. We have seen some compression in certain markets that we serve, and we are focused on expanding inventory in those places.

就增加庫存而言，在房屋周轉率、居住在第二套住房的人和其他事物之間，這並不是一個特別好的市場。這是一個充滿挑戰的時期。我們在我們服務的某些市場看到了一些壓縮，我們專注於擴大這些地方的庫存。

But because of the challenges broadly in the market, we haven't just been willy nilly trying to grow supply all over the place. So we are focused on the places where we know there's lots of demand, where we know there's compression as a first order of business. And over time, as the market normalizes and we see an opportunity to attract good quality content, we'll be back in the market doing that.

但由於市場普遍存在挑戰，我們並沒有隨意嘗試在各地增加供應。因此，我們專注於我們知道有大量需求的地方，我們知道壓縮是首要任務。隨著時間的推移，隨著市場正常化，我們看到了吸引優質內容的機會，我們將回到市場上這樣做。

As far as far as the tech stack goes on marketing, we're making lots of progress every day. Are we where we want to be yet? No. Are we going as fast as we think we can? Yes. And we're making improvements every day. So I think, again, converting all of our brands to one common tech stack, one common set of data, one common set of analytics, is a big list. We've been doing it throughout this crisis, and we're still doing it. And -- but we are beginning to reap real benefits.

就技術堆棧在市場營銷方面而言，我們每天都在取得很大進步。我們到我們想去的地方了嗎？不，我們的速度是否達到了我們認為的速度？是的。我們每天都在改進。因此，我再次認為，將我們所有的品牌轉換為一個通用的技術堆棧、一組通用的數據、一組通用的分析，這是一個很大的清單。在整個危機期間，我們一直在這樣做，而且我們仍在這樣做。而且 - 但我們開始收穫真正的好處。

And I think by the time,- I think you said now that we're coming out of it, I'm not sure how to measure that. But if we are indeed coming out of it, it's probably not going to take 10 months or 3 weeks. It's going to take a while over the course of this year. I'm sure we'll be coming out of it, and hopefully, we'll be back to some more normal level. And I hope we will be in a good place in terms of the tech stack. We are a long way ahead of where we were and we will continue to make progress every day. So it depends when that recovery comes, but we're making really good progress.

我想當時，- 我想你說現在我們正在走出困境，但我不確定如何衡量這一點。但如果我們確實從中走出來，可能不需要 10 個月或 3 週的時間。在今年的過程中，這將需要一段時間。我相信我們會走出困境，希望我們會回到更正常的水平。我希望我們在技術堆棧方面處於有利地位。我們已經遠遠領先於過去，我們將繼續每天取得進步。所以這取決於復蘇何時到來，但我們正在取得非常好的進展。

And I think that's it. So again, thank you all for your time. I hope you all stay safe. Hopefully, we can all get back to traveling soon. You probably miss it as much as we do, and look forward to talking to you again. Take care.

我想就是這樣。再次感謝大家的寶貴時間。我希望你們都安全。希望我們都能盡快恢復旅行。您可能和我們一樣懷念它，並期待與您再次交談。小心。

Thanks, everyone.

感謝大家。

Thank you, presenters. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

謝謝各位主持人。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。祝你有美好的一天。