Over the past week, three of some of the largest online reservation companies — Airbnb Inc., Booking Holdings Inc. and Expedia Group Inc. — painted a decidedly less dramatic picture: They all issued stronger-than-expected outlooks that suggest growth isn’t slowing as fast as they thought it would, in part thanks to international demand.

Airbnb said Thursday that its key metric of nights and experiences booked will accelerate this quarter, with the growth rate expected to exceed the 8.5% achieved in the last period. Wall Street had projected a 7.7% gain. Expedia, which also reported Thursday, said it was raising its full-year gross bookings growth guidance to 5% from 4%.

Just a week earlier, Booking, the parent to brands like Kayak and Priceline, offered surprisingly optimistic guidance, sending its own shares soaring. Expedia rose as much as 8.9% after markets opened on Friday, reaching their highest levels since 2022. Airbnb fell as much as 9.8% as it also warned of margin compression due to increased spending on marketing and product development. 

Taken together, the companies’ forecasts offer some reasons for optimism as policymakers and investors are still trying to gauge the strength of the US economy. They challenge a narrative established by online travel companies, airlines and resorts last quarter that an across-the-board travel slowdown was coming.

Full story: Online Travel Firms Show Post-Pandemic Boom Still Has Steam – BNN Bloomberg