Booking CFO leans on AI in push to run ‘tight ship’

Booking generated $4.8 billion in revenues during the first quarter, a year-over-year increase of 8%, according to results released in late April. Both room nights and gross bookings spiked 7% compared to the year-earlier period.

Room night growth was up in the high-single digits in Europe and Asia, compared with the low-single digits in the U.S., Steenbergen said during an April 29 earnings call.

The finance chief told investors during the call that Booking was adjusting its full-year gross bookings and revenue growth outlook to “mid-to-high single-digits” at constant currency rates. He cited “increased uncertainty in the geopolitical and macroeconomic environment.” The company previously projected full-year growth of “at least 8%.”

“While Booking’s network is among the strongest in the industry, its demand would not be immune if the US tariff policy led to weaker consumption,” Morningstar Senior Equity Analyst Dan Wasiolek said in an April 30 client’s note.

Booking is well positioned to navigate risks in the current environment thanks to its ongoing transformation program, Steenbergen told CFO Dive. “We’re running a tight ship from an expense management perspective,” he said.

In a November securities filing, Booking announced plans for “organizational changes” including modernization of processes and workforce reduction.

“We believe these efforts will improve operating expense efficiency, increase organizational agility, free up resources that can be reinvested into further improving our offering to both travelers and partners, and better position the Company for the long term,” the filing said.

The company provided further details in a December securities filing, saying the initiative will, over the next three years, ultimately reduce annual run rate expenses by about $400 million to $450 million. The majority of savings are expected come from “changes across our brands such as modernizing processes and systems, optimizing procurement, and reducing real estate footprint, as well as approximately one-third from expected workforce reductions,” the company said in the follow-up notice.

The disclosures didn’t specify how many jobs the company planned to eliminate. Booking employed about 24,300 employees globally as of December 2024, according to a February 10-K filing.

“We launched a transformation program last year, because it was a good moment to take a few step backwards and look at where we were as an organization,” Steenbergen said. “The organizational complexity had gone up a lot.”