Trivago NV (TRVG) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the trivago Q1 Earnings Call 2023. (Operator Instructions) I must advise you the call is being recorded today, Wednesday, the 3rd of May 2023. We are pleased to be joined on the call today by Axel Hefer, trivago's CEO and Managing Director; and Matthias Tillmann, trivago's CFO and Managing Director.

女士們先生們，美好的一天。感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎來到 trivago 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。（操作員說明）我必須通知您，今天，即 2023 年 5 月 3 日，星期三，我們正在錄製電話會議。我們很高興今天加入電話會議trivago 首席執行官兼董事總經理 Axel Hefer；以及 trivago 的首席財務官兼董事總經理 Matthias Tillmann。

The following discussion, including responses to your questions, reflects management's views as of today, Wednesday, May 3, 2023 only. trivago does not undertake any obligation to update or revise this information. As always, some of the statements made on today's call are forward-looking, typically preceded by words such as we expect, we believe, we anticipate or similar statements.

以下討論，包括對您問題的回答，僅反映了管理層截至今天（2023 年 5 月 3 日，星期三）的觀點。 trivago 不承擔任何更新或修改這些信息的義務。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，通常以我們期望、我們相信、我們預期或類似的聲明開頭。

Please refer to the Q1 2023 operating and financial review and the company's other filings with the SEC for information about factors which could cause trivago's actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. You will find reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures discussed today in trivago's operating and financial review, which is posted on the company's IR website at ir.trivago.com.

有關可能導致 trivago 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，請參閱 2023 年第一季度運營和財務審查以及公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件。您會在 trivago 的運營和財務審查中找到非 GAAP 措施與今天討論的最具可比性的 GAAP 措施的對賬，該報告發佈在公司的 IR 網站 ir.trivago.com 上。

You are encouraged to periodically visit trivago's Investor Relations site for important content. Finally, unless otherwise stated, all comparisons on this call will be against results for the comparable period of 2022.

我們鼓勵您定期訪問 trivago 的投資者關係網站以獲取重要內容。最後，除非另有說明，否則本次電話會議的所有比較都將與 2022 年同期的結果進行比較。

With that, let me turn the call over to Axel.

有了這個，讓我把電話轉給阿克塞爾。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us for our Q1 2023 earnings call today. Demand in the first quarter has been robust and we have seen the start of a strong recovery in travel in Asia, driven by the reopening of Japan and China. In our Western markets, the economic outlook has remained uncertain. And we've seen our users mitigating the negative effect of inflation, shifting to shorter trips and cheaper destinations when comparing prices on trivago.

感謝大家今天加入我們的 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。第一季度的需求一直強勁，我們看到在日本和中國重新開放的推動下，亞洲旅遊業開始強勁復甦。在我們的西方市場，經濟前景仍然不明朗。我們已經看到我們的用戶減輕了通貨膨脹的負面影響，在 trivago 上比較價格時轉向更短的旅行和更便宜的目的地。

In an environment where price comparison is on top of everybody's mind every day, we have ramped up our brand marketing activities and are preparing to continue to invest into our brand and the communication of our value proposition in the summer.

在每個人每天都在關注價格比較的環境中，我們加強了品牌營銷活動，並準備在夏季繼續投資於我們的品牌和價值主張的傳播。

In the first quarter, we've seen solid growth of our branded traffic and expect our brand marketing activities to continue to fuel a positive development of our direct traffic. Our product development continues to be focused on our core value proposition, comparing prices for accommodation.

第一季度，我們的品牌流量穩步增長，預計我們的品牌營銷活動將繼續推動直接流量的積極發展。我們的產品開發繼續專注於我們的核心價值主張，比較住宿價格。

We've made good progress on improving our coverage of directly bookable rates and have surpassed the 50% coverage threshold in our test markets. Another focus area has been the improvement of our price comparison display across accommodations and travel dates. We are excited about the improved value proposition to our users that these improvements will yield later in the year and expect to improve our competitive positioning.

我們在提高直接預訂房價的覆蓋率方面取得了良好進展，並在我們的測試市場中超過了 50% 的覆蓋率門檻。另一個重點領域是改進住宿和旅行日期的價格比較顯示。我們對向用戶提出的改進價值主張感到興奮，這些改進將在今年晚些時候產生，並期望提高我們的競爭地位。

Okay. Thank you, Axel, and good morning, everyone. Let me briefly walk you through our financial performance in the first quarter before we open it up for questions. As Axel mentioned, we had a strong start to the year with year-on-year referral revenue growth in January, exceeding 30% as a result of continued robust travel demand trends and elevated average booking values. The strong growth was largely driven by the recovery from COVID-related travel restrictions in January 2022 in our segment Developed Europe and Rest of World.

好的。謝謝你，阿克塞爾，大家早上好。在開始提問之前，讓我簡要介紹一下我們第一季度的財務業績。正如 Axel 提到的那樣，由於持續強勁的旅遊需求趨勢和更高的平均預訂價值，我們今年開局強勁，1 月份的推薦收入同比增長超過 30%。強勁的增長主要是由於 2022 年 1 月我們的歐洲發達地區和世界其他地區的 COVID 相關旅行限制的複蘇。

As a result of the cadence of the recovery in the first quarter of 2022, our year-on-year growth rates decelerated in February and March. In addition, we did not see the same uptick in monetization as last year, leading to a decrease in monetization year-on-year, in particular in our segment Americas. Our referral revenue growth in the first quarter was 11%. Other revenue declined to EUR 1.7 million as we started to phase out certain B2B products like display ads in the second half of last year.

由於 2022 年第一季度的複蘇節奏，我們的同比增長率在 2 月和 3 月有所放緩。此外，我們沒有看到與去年相同的貨幣化增長，導致貨幣化同比下降，尤其是在我們的美洲分部。我們第一季度的推薦收入增長了 11%。其他收入下降至 170 萬歐元，因為我們在去年下半年開始逐步淘汰某些 B2B 產品，例如展示廣告。

Our net income was EUR 9.9 million compared to a net loss of EUR 10.7 million last year, which was largely driven by the nonrecurrence of the incremental expense of EUR 21.1 million in Q1 2022 in relation to the proceedings brought by the ACCC against us. As planned, we have ramped up our brand marketing investments earlier this year, which led to a decline in return on advertising spend, in particular, in Developed Europe and Rest of World.

我們的淨收入為 990 萬歐元，而去年淨虧損為 1070 萬歐元，這主要是由於 2022 年第一季度與 ACCC 對我們提起的訴訟有關的 2110 萬歐元增量費用的非經常性推動。按照計劃，我們今年早些時候加大了品牌營銷投資，這導致廣告支出回報率下降，尤其是在發達歐洲和世界其他地區。

The increase in marketing expenses was partly offset by higher referral revenue. And as a result, our adjusted EBITDA decreased only slightly from EUR 21.1 million in the first quarter of 2022 to EUR 18.6 million in the first quarter of 2023, in line with our expectations.

營銷費用的增加部分被推薦收入的增加所抵消。因此，我們調整後的 EBITDA 從 2022 年第一季度的 2110 萬歐元略微下降至 2023 年第一季度的 1860 萬歐元，符合我們的預期。

In summary, despite higher brand marketing investments and lower monetization levels compared to last year, we continue to achieve a strong adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.8%, while growing our referral revenue. As mentioned in our shareholder letter, we have decided to stop providing qualified referrals and revenue per qualified referrals going forward.

總而言之，儘管與去年相比品牌營銷投資增加且貨幣化水平降低，但我們繼續實現 16.8% 的強勁調整後 EBITDA 利潤率，同時增加我們的推薦收入。正如我們的股東信中所述，我們已決定停止提供合格的推薦和每個合格推薦的收入。

As we continue to run product tests that aim to increase the value of our referrals, made significant volatility in click out behavior, which makes it difficult to compare these metrics to prior periods. We believe that it is not helpful to look at these metrics to understand or model our underlying business dynamics. However, we will continue to comment on the key drivers of our referral revenue development.

隨著我們繼續運行旨在增加推薦價值的產品測試，點擊行為出現了顯著波動，這使得很難將這些指標與之前的時期進行比較。我們認為，查看這些指標對於理解或模擬我們的基本業務動態沒有幫助。但是，我們將繼續評論我們推薦收入發展的主要驅動因素。

So let me give you some color on the dynamics in the first quarter for the different regions. Starting with our segment Americas. Our referral revenue declined by 7% year-on-year. The decline was largely driven by a loss in performance marketing volumes as we did not observe the same uptick in monetization in our own auction as last year, and we continue to focus on profitability.

因此，讓我為您介紹一下第一季度不同地區的動態。從我們的美洲部分開始。我們的推薦收入同比下降了 7%。下降的主要原因是效果營銷量的減少，因為我們沒有觀察到與去年相同的拍賣貨幣化增長，我們繼續關注盈利能力。

In Developed Europe, the recovery in travel demand from Omicron-related travel restrictions, elevated ADRs and successful brand marketing campaigns contributed to the referral revenue growth of 19% year-on-year in that segment. We observed the deceleration in referral revenue growth rates throughout the quarter, reflecting the strong improvement in referral revenue from January to March last year.

在發達歐洲，與 Omicron 相關的旅行限制、更高的 ADR 和成功的品牌營銷活動導致旅行需求復蘇，導致該細分市場的推薦收入同比增長 19%。我們觀察到整個季度的推薦收入增長率有所下降，反映出去年 1 月至 3 月推薦收入的強勁增長。

The recovery was strongest in our segment Rest of World. Referral revenue growth was 51% as we saw recovery in many Asian markets, most notably in Japan. We saw a strong increase in average booking values in that segment, driven by elevated ADRs and an increase in booking conversion, while our monetization was roughly stable compared to the same period last year.

世界其他地區的複蘇最為強勁。由於我們看到許多亞洲市場（尤其是日本）的複蘇，推薦收入增長了 51%。在 ADR 上升和預訂轉化率增加的推動下，我們看到該細分市場的平均預訂價值強勁增長，而我們的貨幣化與去年同期相比大致穩定。

Now moving on to advertising expenses. In anticipation of a strong travel recovery in Europe and Rest of World, we ramped up our brand marketing investments early in the year. We are very happy with the results as we saw a nice acceleration in the brand traffic growth rate compared to the fourth quarter in 2022.

現在轉向廣告費用。由於預計歐洲和世界其他地區的旅遊業將強勁復甦，我們在年初加大了品牌營銷投資。我們對結果感到非常滿意，因為與 2022 年第四季度相比，我們看到品牌流量增長率有了很好的加速。

As expected, our return on advertising spend decreased as a result of higher brand investments in both segments. However, absolute contribution still increased compared to the same period last year due to the increase in referral revenue.

正如預期的那樣，由於兩個細分市場的品牌投資增加，我們的廣告支出回報率有所下降。然而，由於推薦收入的增加，絕對貢獻與去年同期相比仍有所增加。

In Americas, our overall marketing expenses and contribution decreased slightly as the decrease in monetization year-on-year was stronger compared to the other 2 segments. The decline in advertising spend was largely driven by an algorithmic reduction in performance marketing expenses as we continue to focus on profitability. Overall, our marketing expenses were 59.5% of revenue, up from 55.4% in the previous quarter and 52.7% in the same period last year.

在美洲，我們的整體營銷費用和貢獻略有下降，因為與其他 2 個細分市場相比，貨幣化同比下降幅度更大。隨著我們繼續關注盈利能力，廣告支出的下降主要是由於績效營銷費用的算法減少所致。總體而言，我們的營銷費用佔收入的 59.5%，高於上一季度的 55.4% 和去年同期的 52.7%。

I will now discuss our operational expenses, excluding advertising expenses and the penalty imposed by the Australian Federal Court in Q1 2022 relative to last year. In the first quarter, our operational expenses decreased slightly compared to the same period in 2022.

我現在將討論我們的運營費用，不包括廣告費用和澳大利亞聯邦法院在 2022 年第一季度相對於去年施加的罰款。第一季度，我們的運營費用與 2022 年同期相比略有下降。

Compensation expenses, including share-based compensation, decreased mainly as a result of headcount reductions compared to Q1 2022. Further, we recorded lower commission fees for acquiring traffic as our white label product is fading out. This was partly offset by an increase in TV production costs, IT-related costs, mainly due to the setup fee for the onboarding of independent hotels and higher expected credit losses on trade receivables.

與 2022 年第一季度相比，員工人數減少導致薪酬支出（包括基於股份的薪酬）有所減少。此外，由於我們的白標產品正在逐漸淡出，我們獲得流量的佣金也有所減少。這部分被電視製作成本和 IT 相關成本的增加所抵消，主要是由於獨立酒店的入職設置費和貿易應收賬款的預期信用損失增加。

We further improved our cash position and remained well capitalized with approximately EUR 297 million in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments.

我們進一步改善了我們的現金狀況，並保持充足的資本，擁有約 2.97 億歐元的現金、現金等價物、受限制的現金和短期投資。

Finally, let me give you some color on early trends in the second quarter. Our referral revenue declined by a low single-digit percentage rate in April as our monetization was very strong in the comparable period last year. However, in the last week of April, we have seen our referral revenue growing again year-on-year. The main trends remain stable. We continue to see elevated average booking values in all regions, driven by higher ADRs and slightly offset by shorter length of stay.

最後，讓我為您介紹一下第二季度的早期趨勢。我們的推薦收入在 4 月份以較低的個位數百分比下降，因為我們的貨幣化能力在去年同期非常強勁。然而，在 4 月的最後一周，我們看到我們的推薦收入再次同比增長。主要趨勢保持穩定。我們繼續看到所有地區的平均預訂價值都在上升，這是由更高的 ADR 推動的，並被更短的停留時間略微抵消。

Demand continues to be robust, while auction dynamics are stable. We remain optimistic about our ability to ramp up our brand marketing investments in the upcoming months in order to further grow our brand baseline traffic across all 3 segments.

需求繼續強勁，而拍賣動態穩定。我們對未來幾個月加大品牌營銷投資以進一步增加所有 3 個細分市場的品牌基線流量的能力保持樂觀。

With that, we expect a decrease in return on advertising spend and contribution in the second and third quarter year-on-year as we continue to invest into future branded traffic growth. We further expect that the increase in marketing expenses in the second quarter relative to the first quarter will be compensated by a seasonal increase in revenues. And consequently, we expect that our adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2023 will be similar to that in the first quarter.

因此，隨著我們繼續投資於未來的品牌流量增長，我們預計第二季度和第三季度的廣告支出回報率和貢獻將同比下降。我們進一步預計，第二季度相對於第一季度的營銷費用增加將被收入的季節性增長所彌補。因此，我們預計 2023 年第二季度的調整後 EBITDA 將與第一季度相似。

For the full year 2023, we continue to expect that despite a ramp-up in marketing investments and a normalization in auction dynamics, our adjusted EBITDA will exceed that of 2019 as a result of our cost discipline and more efficient marketing investments compared to prepandemic years.

對於 2023 年全年，我們繼續預計，儘管營銷投資增加且拍賣動態正常化，但由於我們的成本控制和與大流行前年份相比更有效的營銷投資，我們調整後的 EBITDA 將超過 2019 年.

In summary, we are committed to delivering higher adjusted EBITDA margins compared to prepandemic and believe that we are well positioned to increase our brand investments, thereby growing our direct traffic.

總之，與大流行前相比，我們致力於提供更高的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率，並相信我們有能力增加品牌投資，從而增加我們的直接流量。

With that, let's open the line for questions. Operator, we are ready...

有了這個，讓我們打開問題熱線。接線員，我們準備好了……

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today goes to Lloyd Walmsley of UBS.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題是瑞銀的 Lloyd Walmsley。

Two questions, if I can. First, the shareholder letter talked about kind of referral revenue growth in the quarter being in line with expectations. So just curious if the shift in marketing from customers was something you had seen earlier in the year and kind of expected and I guess more broadly, like how much communication and visibility do you get from customers?

兩個問題，如果可以的話。首先，股東信中談到本季度的某種推薦收入增長符合預期。所以只是好奇營銷從客戶的轉變是否是你在今年早些時候看到的並且有點預期，我想更廣泛地說，比如你從客戶那裡獲得了多少溝通和知名度？

And then the second one, just staying on this topic of the focus of increased profitability from OTAs. Are you seeing this across your clients? Or is it really driven by 1 client? And -- do you have any sense of whether this is kind of how broad this is versus just shifting priorities among your clients' marketing? Anything you could share there would be helpful.

然後是第二個，只關注 OTA 提高盈利能力這一主題。您是否在您的客戶中看到了這一點？或者它真的是由 1 個客戶驅動的嗎？而且 - 你是否知道這是否是一種廣泛的範圍，而不是僅僅在客戶的營銷中轉移優先級？您可以在那里分享的任何內容都會有所幫助。

Thank you, Lloyd. Yes, let me start with your first question, and then I'll pass it on to Axel for your second question. I mean, obviously, the monetization, that is something we can control at least. So we do make assumptions and we do look at the cadence we saw in prior years. And based on that, we model different scenarios. But ultimately, that's something we have to take as it comes, and then adjust our marketing expenses.

謝謝你，勞埃德。是的，讓我從你的第一個問題開始，然後我將把它傳遞給 Axel 來回答你的第二個問題。我的意思是，顯然，貨幣化，這是我們至少可以控制的事情。因此，我們確實做出了假設，我們確實查看了前幾年看到的節奏。並基於此，我們對不同的場景進行建模。但最終，這是我們必須接受的事情，然後調整我們的營銷費用。

The comment in the shareholder letter was basically relative to when we last spoke in February. And by then, we hinted at auction dynamics already. So it's something that we that we saw and we expected monetization to be a bit softer. But then again, the exact level, that's nothing we know. But roughly, I would say it was in line. And then monetization, obviously, is only 1 piece.

股東信中的評論基本上與我們上次在 2 月談話時有關。到那時，我們已經暗示了拍賣動態。所以這是我們看到的東西，我們預計貨幣化會更溫和一些。但話又說回來，確切的水平，我們一無所知。但粗略地說，我會說它是一致的。然後貨幣化，顯然，只有 1 件。

The other is demand and average booking values conversion rates. So this all goes into referral revenue. And there, as I said, trends were stable throughout the quarter, and that is roughly what we expected. And hence, overall, referral revenue were in line with our expectations.

另一個是需求和平均預訂價值轉化率。所以這一切都進入了推薦收入。正如我所說，整個季度的趨勢都很穩定，這大致就是我們的預期。因此，總體而言，推薦收入符合我們的預期。

Yes. On your second question, the focus on profitability versus growth or the balance between the 2. I mean if we go back 1 year, I mean, there was -- I mean, the vast majority of travel companies was focused on volume, on capturing the recovery, the returning traveler, and winning over the returning traveler as a customer.

是的。關於你的第二個問題，關注盈利能力與增長或兩者之間的平衡。我的意思是，如果我們回到 1 年前，我的意思是，我的意思是，絕大多數旅遊公司都關注數量，捕捉恢復，返回的旅行者，並贏得返回的旅行者作為客戶。

This year, the sentiment is obviously a bit different. I mean, there is a lot more geopolitical instability, there is more economic instability uncertainty. And in times of uncertainty, I mean, some advertisers choose obviously, to focus more on profit. But it's really a case-by-case decision. I mean every partner is taking a different decision on the trade-off. And our expectation is with the general environment stabilizing and uncertainty fading that the balance will shift further to growth again.

今年，情緒顯然有點不同。我的意思是，有更多的地緣政治不穩定，有更多的經濟不穩定不確定性。在不確定的時期，我的意思是，一些廣告商顯然會選擇更多地關注利潤。但這確實是個案決定。我的意思是每個合作夥伴都在權衡取捨上做出不同的決定。我們預計，隨著大環境趨於穩定，不確定性消退，平衡將再次轉向增長。

And then, Lloyd, just to add to that, I think that's what Axel said is right, And then 1 other point, I think I mentioned it [Walmsley] in my remarks, but historically, it has not been uncommon for us to see an increase in monetization going into the peak season.

然後，Lloyd，補充一下，我認為 Axel 說的是對的，然後還有一點，我想我在我的發言中提到了它 [Walmsley]，但從歷史上看，我們經常看到進入旺季的貨幣化增加。

Last year, the seasonal effect was just more pronounced going into April. And in a way, we see a normalization now. So we did not see an increase in monetization to the same extent this year, and that is contributing to the year-over-year decrease. So I guess, in addition to what Axel said, there's also a comp effect here.

去年，季節性影響在進入 4 月時更為明顯。在某種程度上，我們現在看到了正常化。因此，我們沒有看到今年貨幣化的增長達到同樣程度，這是導致同比下降的原因。所以我想，除了 Axel 所說的之外，這裡還有一個補償效應。

Okay. Okay. So a little bit of optimism, things will start to move back to growth. That's helpful.

好的。好的。所以有點樂觀，事情將開始恢復增長。這很有幫助。

The next question goes to Doug Anmuth of JPMorgan.

下一個問題是摩根大通的 Doug Anmuth。

This is Dae on for Doug. So first one, I was wondering if you had any more color you could provide on how 3Q is shaping up so far? And in terms of seasonality for rest of the year for revenue. How do you expect that to play out?

這是 Dae on for Doug。所以第一個，我想知道你是否可以提供更多關於 3Q 到目前為止如何形成的顏色？就今年剩餘時間的收入季節性而言。你期望結果如何？

And then secondly, I mean, it sounds like ROAS in 2022 was higher than what it could have been if you were to go back with the ROAS that you have now. So how should we think about where ROAS should shake out relative to 2022 levels? Would you expect ROAS this year to be closer to 2021? Or should it be closer to 2019? Any more color on that, if you could provide us would be helpful.

其次，我的意思是，聽起來 2022 年的 ROAS 高於如果你回到現在的 ROAS 可能達到的水平。那麼，相對於 2022 年的水平，我們應該如何考慮 ROAS 應該在哪裡調整？您預計今年的 ROAS 會更接近 2021 年嗎？還是應該更接近 2019 年？如果您能為我們提供更多顏色，將會有所幫助。

Yes, sure. So yes, let me give you a bit more color on referral revenue. I mean, we don't guide revenue specifically. I think we provided more guidance around EBITDA for the second quarter, also for the full year. And the simple reason for that is that it's more controllable from our perspective, and there's still some volatility, not only in the absolute levels, but in particular, in the year-over-year comparisons.

是的，當然。所以是的，讓我給你更多關於推薦收入的顏色。我的意思是，我們沒有具體指導收入。我認為我們為第二季度和全年提供了更多關於 EBITDA 的指導。原因很簡單，從我們的角度來看，它更容易控制，而且仍然存在一些波動，不僅在絕對水平上，而且在同比比較中尤其如此。

But starting -- some more color, starting on a global level, I mean what I said is that our referral revenue grew more than 30% in January, and growth rates decelerated in February and March. So we ended the quarter at 11% -- the quarter -- in the quarter, we grew 11%. In April, as I said, referral revenue was slightly negative. The deceleration in referral revenue growth rate was largely driven by the strong uptick in monetization during that period last year.

但是開始——更多的顏色，從全球範圍開始，我的意思是我說的是我們的推薦收入在 1 月份增長了 30% 以上，而 2 月和 3 月的增長率有所下降。所以我們以 11% 結束了本季度 - 本季度 - 在本季度，我們增長了 11%。 4 月份，正如我所說，推薦收入略有下降。推薦收入增長率的下降主要是由於去年同期貨幣化的強勁增長。

As we are lapping this effect, comps are getting easier again and referral revenue was already up, as I mentioned, year-on-year in the last week of April.

正如我們所提到的，在 4 月的最後一周，隨著我們對這種效應的研究，補償再次變得更加容易，並且推薦收入已經同比增長。

Now when we look at the different regions, the cadence was very similar, just at different levels. To give you an idea, referral revenue in Europe was roughly flat in April year-on-year. In Americas, referral revenue declined in April by a high-teens percentage. And in Rest of World, it was still up over 30%.

現在，當我們觀察不同的地區時，節奏非常相似，只是處於不同的水平。給你一個想法，歐洲的推薦收入在 4 月份與去年同期大致持平。在美洲，4 月份的推薦收入下降了十幾%。而在世界其他地區，它仍然上漲了 30% 以上。

And again, in all regions, we saw an improvement in the last week of April. So that overall referral revenue grew again. I hope this gives you a bit of color how the cadence and shape was and how to think about referral revenue maybe for the rest of this quarter.

同樣，在所有地區，我們在 4 月的最後一周都看到了改善。因此，整體推薦收入再次增長。我希望這能讓您了解節奏和形狀，以及如何考慮本季度剩餘時間的推薦收入。

Now on ROAS, we expect the quarterly distribution of our ad spend to be similar to last year, just with a slightly higher share of spend in Q1 at the expense of Q3 and Q4. As we said, overall, we plan to increase our ad spend. We see, in particular, an opportunity to ramp up brand investment relative to last year, as we plan to add some markets there where we have not been active last year in Rest of World and given the strong performance last summer, and you have seen that in Q1 already.

現在在 ROAS 上，我們預計廣告支出的季度分佈與去年相似，只是第一季度的支出份額略高於第三季度和第四季度。正如我們所說，總體而言，我們計劃增加廣告支出。我們特別看到了與去年相比增加品牌投資的機會，因為我們計劃在去年我們在世界其他地區不活躍的市場增加一些市場，並且考慮到去年夏天的強勁表現，你已經看到已經在第一季度了。

So yes, ROAS, I mean, when we talk about margin and relative to 2019 and last year, we said -- we expect that will be down a little bit, and that is reflected by lower ROAS. If you look at the range 2019 to 2022, then I think we're still planning to be closer to 2022 than to 2019. But again, with the ramp-up in brand investment, we expect ROAS to be down in the coming 2 quarters relative to last year.

所以是的，ROAS，我的意思是，當我們談論利潤率和相對於 2019 年和去年時，我們說 - 我們預計會有所下降，這反映在較低的 ROAS 上。如果你看看 2019 年到 2022 年的範圍，那麼我認為我們仍然計劃更接近 2022 年而不是 2019 年。但同樣，隨著品牌投資的增加，我們預計 ROAS 將在未來兩個季度下降相對於去年。

The next question goes to Brian Fitzgerald of Wells Fargo. Brian.

下一個問題交給富國銀行的布賴恩菲茨杰拉德。布萊恩。

This is Stan Velikov for Brian. Actually, I have 2 questions related to the softness in auction bidding that you saw in Q1. First, why do you think it was more pronounced in the Americas? And second, what are you seeing in auction dynamics this quarter across the various regions?

這是 Brian 的 Stan Velikov。實際上，我有 2 個問題與您在第一季度看到的拍賣出價疲軟有關。首先，為什麼你認為它在美洲更為明顯？其次，您對本季度各個地區的拍賣動態有何看法？

Yes. Thank you. I can start with the second part of your question. I mean -- and that makes it a bit more complicated. So there are 2 things, how to look at it. One is sequentially and 1 is year-over-year. And I think -- the 1 comment I made is that sequentially, auction dynamics are relatively stable. So historically, we have seen a slight increase in monetization going into the summer months.

是的。謝謝。我可以從你問題的第二部分開始。我的意思是——這讓它變得有點複雜。所以有兩件事，如何看待它。一個是順序的，一個是同比的。而且我認為 - 我發表的 1 條評論是，拍賣動態相對穩定。所以從歷史上看，我們看到進入夏季的貨幣化略有增加。

Last year, there was just more pronounced. And this year, we see a normalization of that, which means monetization is slightly ticking up and roughly -- but roughly stable, what we have seen so far from January to April.

去年，情況更加明顯。而今年，我們看到了這種情況的正常化，這意味著貨幣化略有上升，而且大致——但大致穩定，這是我們從 1 月到 4 月到目前為止所看到的。

In the year-over-year, that led to a bigger decline in March and April. And now we're seeing it starting to get a bit better as comps are getting easier. And then Axel, do you want to take the first part of the question?

與去年同期相比，這導致 3 月和 4 月的跌幅更大。現在我們看到它開始變得更好，因為比賽變得越來越容易。然後 Axel，你想回答問題的第一部分嗎？

Yes, sure. I mean, so it's actually -- it's a good question, but it's difficult to answer because you obviously see overall regions that are then -- that have a mix effect of the different countries within the region and then mix effect of the different advertisers within those countries.

是的，當然。我的意思是，這實際上是 - 這是一個很好的問題，但很難回答，因為你顯然會看到當時的整個區域 - 具有區域內不同國家的混合效應，然後是區域內不同廣告商的混合效應那些國家。

So it's more an advertiser-by-advertiser decision rather than a country-by-country decision. And depending on the market share mix and the country mix, you have then a different outcome. And in Americas, the outcome was greater than in other regions.

因此，這更像是一個廣告商一個廣告商的決定，而不是一個國家一個國家的決定。根據市場份額組合和國家/地區組合，您會得到不同的結果。在美洲，結果比其他地區更大。

The next question goes to James Lee of Mizuho.

下一個問題是 Mizuho 的 James Lee。

Great. Two here. First, on ADR trends. And I think you guys mentioned the shareholder letter is elevated across all regions. I was wondering if you can maybe break it down by region a little bit? And what is your outlook for the rest of the year?

偉大的。這裡有兩個。首先，關於 ADR 趨勢。我想你們都提到了股東信件在所有地區都有所提升。我想知道您是否可以按地區細分一下？您對今年餘下時間的展望是什麼？

And also number two, can you give us a sense of what the demand is for summer travel for Europe that looked like based on the search results? And any changes in terms of booking windows, any change in length of stay? Any incremental color would be helpful.

第二，你能告訴我們根據搜索結果看起來歐洲夏季旅行的需求是什麼嗎？預訂窗口有何變化，入住時間有何變化？任何增量顏色都會有所幫助。

Yes, sure. Thanks, James. Let me start with the booking value. So in the first quarter, year-on-year, the average booking value for us increased around 10% globally.

是的，當然。謝謝，詹姆斯。讓我從預訂價值開始。因此，在第一季度，與去年同期相比，我們在全球的平均預訂價值增長了約 10%。

ADRs, as you probably know, were up slightly more than that with the highest increase in Rest of World. And we had an offsetting effect from slightly shorter length of stay. That was very similar in all regions and globally, it was around, let's call it, 5%.

正如您可能知道的那樣，ADR 的漲幅略高於世界其他地區漲幅最高的地區。我們因稍短的停留時間而產生了抵消作用。這在所有地區和全球範圍內都非常相似，大概是 5%。

In April, we observed a deceleration in the average booking growth rate to a low single digit as we start lapping the increase from last year. If you look at the different regions in Americas and Europe, average booking values were slightly higher compared to April last year. And then in Rest of World, we still see higher increase in the mid-teens. And there was no notable change in length of stay in April compared to the first quarter.

4 月份，我們觀察到平均預訂增長率下降至較低的個位數，因為我們開始迴避去年的增長。如果你看看美洲和歐洲的不同地區，與去年 4 月相比，平均預訂價格略高。然後在世界其他地區，我們仍然看到十幾歲的人有更高的增長。與第一季度相比，四月份的停留時間沒有明顯變化。

Now to your first question on demand. On a supply level, we saw a nice recovery in Europe and Rest of World, as you can see in the numbers in the first quarter. In Rest of World, demand continued to increase in April as in particular, in Asian markets, we continue to observe a recovery post-COVID. In Europe, I believe the market demand was similar in April compared to last year.

現在回答你的第一個問題。在供應層面，我們看到歐洲和世界其他地區出現了良好的複蘇，正如您在第一季度的數據中看到的那樣。在世界其他地區，4 月份需求繼續增長，尤其是在亞洲市場，我們繼續觀察到 COVID 後的複蘇。在歐洲，我認為 4 月份的市場需求與去年相似。

In terms of booking windows, there is no big change. So I think we see that normalized compared to prepandemic. So booking windows from what we see are pretty normal again with an average booking window for us being between 30 and 60 days, slightly different by region, but not vastly different.

在預訂窗口方面，沒有大的變化。因此，我認為與大流行前相比，我們看到這種情況已經正常化。因此，我們看到的預訂窗口再次非常正常，我們的平均預訂窗口在 30 到 60 天之間，因地區而異，但差異不大。

Yes. And I think that is true for all regions. So there's nothing really to call out. I mean the booking window 30 to 60 days, that tells you that in Europe, we just started to see summer demand. So it's a bit early to talk about trends. In general, what we have seen is that so-called Tier 2 destinations are increasing in demand.

是的。我認為所有地區都是如此。所以真的沒什麼好說的。我的意思是 30 到 60 天的預訂窗口，這告訴你在歐洲，我們才剛剛開始看到夏季需求。所以現在談論趨勢有點早。總的來說，我們所看到的是所謂的二級目的地的需求正在增加。

We have seen that -- the share of international travelers going up in certain European countries, also in the U.S. that the increase was even stronger than in most European markets, which might also be driven by the strong U.S. dollar relative to the euro and other currencies. But largely, looking at these trends like urban travel, city trips, domestic international, I think by now, we are largely recovered, and it's not that we see very different mixes to what we saw pre-pandemic.

我們已經看到，某些歐洲國家和美國的國際遊客比例上升，甚至比大多數歐洲市場的增長還要強勁，這也可能是受到美元相對於歐元和其他貨幣走強的推動貨幣。但在很大程度上，看看這些趨勢，如城市旅行、城市旅行、國內國際，我認為到現在為止，我們基本上已經恢復了，並不是說我們看到的組合與大流行前的情況有很大不同。

The next question goes to Ron Josey of Citi.

下一個問題交給花旗銀行的羅恩喬西。

Axel, Matthias, I want to ask about just progress on 2023 growth initiatives like direct hotel bookings that we talked about, I think, last quarter, and then just a little more clarification on Asia specifically. I think we said strong recovery in Japan and the reopening of China. Just talk to us about the trends there, when do you think or how do you think that progresses going forward any other dynamics around Asia Pac that we should know about?

Axel、Matthias，我想問一下 2023 年增長計劃的進展情況，比如我們在上個季度談到的直接酒店預訂，然後再具體說明一下亞洲。我想我們說過日本的強勁復甦和中國的重新開放。只需與我們談談那裡的趨勢，您認為什麼時候或您如何看待我們應該了解的亞太地區的任何其他動態？

Sure. So on our growth initiatives, I mean, they are obviously marketing and product initiatives. On marketing, as Matthias said, I mean, we started to invest into brand marketing, and we expect to continue to do so.

當然。因此，在我們的增長計劃中，我的意思是，它們顯然是營銷和產品計劃。在營銷方面，正如 Matthias 所說，我的意思是，我們開始投資於品牌營銷，我們希望繼續這樣做。

On the product side, we're making good progress on the increase in coverage and are testing in parallel or running in parallel, some tests to prepare for the point in time later in the year when our coverage is sufficient to really launch features that then differentiate the product further. So we are happy with the progress, but from a user perspective, you will start to see some changes later in the year. So it will still take some time.

在產品方面，我們在增加覆蓋率方面取得了良好進展，並且正在並行測試或併行運行，一些測試是為今年晚些時候我們的覆蓋率足以真正推出功能的時間點做準備進一步區分產品。所以我們對進展感到滿意，但從用戶的角度來看，您將在今年晚些時候開始看到一些變化。所以還是需要一些時間。

Yes. And just to quickly add to that. I mean, as we said before, we don't think that this will have a financial -- significant or notable financial impact 1 way or the other for 2023. So we do incur some costs in onboarding independent hotels, but that's all included in the numbers and outlook I shared. But on the revenue margin side, there's nothing you should be aware of at this point.

是的。只是為了快速添加。我的意思是，正如我們之前所說，我們認為這不會對 2023 年的財務產生重大或顯著的財務影響。我分享的數字和前景。但在收入利潤率方面，目前您無需注意任何事項。

And then on your second question, I mean, obviously, it's hard to predict how this will continue. But I think last year already with the start of Golden Week in Japan, we saw a nice recovery in that country. And obviously, given the size of the country, it's -- it has a bigger share and bigger weight for our segment, Rest of World.

然後關於你的第二個問題，我的意思是，很明顯，很難預測這將如何繼續。但我認為去年隨著日本黃金周的開始，我們看到該國出現了良好的複蘇。顯然，考慮到該國的規模，它 - 它對我們的部分世界其他地區具有更大的份額和更大的權重。

But equally, we have seen a very nice recovery in smaller countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia. So I think it's starting now in across the region, really. And we have started already to ramp up investments compared to last year, and so far, I have seen a nice response.

但同樣，我們在新加坡、香港、馬來西亞等較小的國家也看到了非常好的複蘇。所以我認為它現在正在整個地區開始，真的。與去年相比，我們已經開始增加投資，到目前為止，我看到了很好的反響。

So I think the trend continues to be there, and it is a growth opportunity for us. We haven't been active for over 2 years during the pandemic in some of these markets. And it's just very nice to see that with the absence of in particular brand marketing during that period, that once you start come back, that there is a positive response. And yes, I expect that we will continue to see that region recovering. And if we do that, we will continue to invest into that. And we think it's an opportunity for us to grow the Rest of World segment for us relative to the other 2 segments.

所以我認為這種趨勢會繼續存在，這對我們來說是一個增長機會。在其中一些市場的大流行期間，我們已經有 2 年多沒有活躍了。很高興看到在那段時間沒有特別的品牌營銷，一旦你開始回來，就會有積極的回應。是的，我希望我們將繼續看到該地區的複蘇。如果我們這樣做，我們將繼續投資於此。我們認為這是我們相對於其他 2 個細分市場為我們發展世界其他地區細分市場的機會。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question goes to Kevin Kopelman of TD Cowen.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題是 TD Cowen 的 Kevin Kopelman。

Great. Can you give us more color on the consumer reaction you're seeing so far from the investment in brand advertising and maybe how that's compared to brand campaigns you've launched in the past?

偉大的。你能給我們更多關於你到目前為止對品牌廣告投資所看到的消費者反應的顏色嗎？也許這與你過去發起的品牌活動相比如何？

Yes, sure. Thanks, Kevin. I mean we talked about the change in messaging before. And what did we change? I mean the core message is a price comparison, obviously, but we said in the current environment, with high inflation, everybody is focusing on saving money and it's on everybody's mind, top of mind, so to speak.

是的，當然。謝謝，凱文。我的意思是我們之前討論過消息傳遞的變化。我們改變了什麼？我的意思是，核心信息顯然是價格比較，但我們說過，在當前高通脹的環境下，每個人都在關注省錢，可以說，這是每個人的想法，最重要的事情。

And -- that's why we tried to sharpen that message a little bit more even. And it's not only the brand message, but it's also the combination with product features. We launched price alert. We focus on that in our e-mail marketing, et cetera. So it's really holistic approach. And I think that's showing effects.

而且 - 這就是為什麼我們試圖更加清晰地傳達這一信息。而且它不僅是品牌信息，也是與產品功能的結合。我們推出了價格提醒。我們在電子郵件營銷等方面專注於此。所以這是真正的整體方法。我認為這正在顯示效果。

Where can we see that in the -- so a, in the brand traffic we see on our platform, there it's visible. It's also visible in the response -- in the direct response we see from our -- in particular, TV campaigns. And there when we compare our current campaign, and I mean, obviously, we are now -- as we are in May, we start to ramp up. So the exciting time is only starting now.

我們在哪裡可以看到 - 因此，在我們在平台上看到的品牌流量中，它是可見的。它在響應中也很明顯——在我們從我們看到的直接響應中——特別是電視活動。當我們比較我們當前的活動時，我的意思是，很明顯，我們現在 - 就像我們在 5 月份一樣，我們開始增加。所以激動人心的時刻才剛剛開始。

But if I compare that to last year and the year before, we do see that the response is greater than what we have seen before. And that makes us confident that we should scale up and ramp up our investment, and that is what we are planning. And that is why the guidance on ROAS, ad spend, and EBITDA is what it is because we think it's an opportunity for us.

但如果我將其與去年和前年進行比較，我們確實會發現反應比我們之前看到的要大。這讓我們相信我們應該擴大和增加我們的投資，這就是我們正在計劃的。這就是為什麼關於 ROAS、廣告支出和 EBITDA 的指導是這樣的，因為我們認為這對我們來說是一個機會。

Great. And 1 other 1, can you remind us on just how comps look like May and June compared to April as we think about the rest of the quarter on a year-over-year basis?

偉大的。還有另外 1 個，您能否提醒我們，當我們考慮與去年同期相比的本季度剩餘時間時，與 4 月相比，5 月和 6 月的表現如何？

Yes. So I think the way to think about it is if you look at the first half then comps for us were toughest in March and in particular, April, and then will be slightly easier in May and June.

是的。所以我認為考慮它的方式是，如果你看一下上半年，那麼我們的比賽在 3 月尤其是 4 月是最艱難的，然後在 5 月和 6 月會稍微容易一些。

We have no further questions. I'll now hand back to Axel for any closing comments.

我們沒有其他問題了。我現在將返回給 Axel 以徵求任何結束意見。

Thanks for taking the time to participate in today's earnings call. The next quarters and years will be decisive for the metasearch industry as we believe that a clear value proposition and its communication will be key to succeed. Many thanks, and have a good day.

感謝您抽出寶貴時間參加今天的財報電話會議。未來幾個季度和幾年對元搜索行業來說將是決定性的，因為我們相信明確的價值主張及其溝通將是成功的關鍵。非常感謝，祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you. This now concludes today's call. Thank you so much for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開線路。