We have Priceline CEO Brett Keller joining us now. Brett, it's great to have you with us, because it feels like for the cruises you're still seeing really robust demand there. We were talking about pricing power with some of the CEOs of some of the big cruise lines earlier in the day on Bloomberg TV today, and then you take a look at the airlines. It's a much different picture. Of course, when it comes to the forecast for travel demand. From where you're sitting at Priceline, how does it look to you?

We have Priceline CEO Brett Keller joining us now. Brett, it's great to have you with us, because it feels like for the cruises you're still seeing really robust demand there. We were talking about pricing power with some of the CEOs of some of the big cruise lines earlier in the day on Bloomberg TV today, and then you take a look at the airlines. It's a much different picture. Of course, when it comes to the forecast for travel demand. From where you're sitting at Priceline, how does it look to you?

Yeah, well, I think what we're seeing is that consumers are certainly seeking out value, and cruise lines create and produce a lot of value for consumers. It's one of the cheapest ways to travel in terms of all inclusive meals, entertainment, etc. And you spend many times you can spend less than one hundred dollars per person per night, So it's great value there. We're seeing the same thing. We have shoppers coming into price lines specifically focused on our value offers, whether that's our vacation packages, express deals, etc. When you look at the flight industry, listen, TSA numbers continue to show that there's growth year on year. In fact, we're tracking five or six sent up year on year for the last month, and so consumers are still flying. I think what happened in the airline space is they added a little too much capacity and so they're removing that as they look forward over the next quarter, and that's going to put a little more pressure on pricing, as their prices have been down for most of the year.

Yeah, well, I think what we're seeing is that consumers are certainly seeking out value, and cruise lines create and produce a lot of value for consumers. It's one of the cheapest ways to travel in terms of all inclusive meals, entertainment, etc. And you spend many times you can spend less than one hundred dollars per person per night, So it's great value there. We're seeing the same thing. We have shoppers coming into price lines specifically focused on our value offers, whether that's our vacation packages, express deals, etc. When you look at the flight industry, listen, TSA numbers continue to show that there's growth year on year. In fact, we're tracking five or six sent up year on year for the last month, and so consumers are still flying. I think what happened in the airline space is they added a little too much capacity and so they're removing that as they look forward over the next quarter, and that's going to put a little more pressure on pricing, as their prices have been down for most of the year.

I mean, what's your opinion there that maybe the airlines were betting that this post pandemic burst of travel that we saw was going to be sustained, whereas now it seems like maybe we're returning to more normal pre pandemic levels.

I mean, what's your opinion there that maybe the airlines were betting that this post pandemic burst of travel that we saw was going to be sustained, whereas now it seems like maybe we're returning to more normal pre pandemic levels.

Yeah, obviously travel has been very hot for the last year and a half. Consumers were really investing significantly in that part of their spend, and so we saw a lot of travel overseas, which is a very rich part of the travel experience for the airlines. And so I think what's happening is consumers are pumping the brakes just a little bit, but travel is still healthy. It continues to be one of the highest prioritized discretionary spend categories, and we're certainly seeing that. I think across the industry, but there are some pockets leisure travel in particular. Consumers are being a little more careful about how they're spending their dollar as they've kind of come through this peak of summer now in travel and they're looking forward to Labor Day and beyond.

Yeah, obviously travel has been very hot for the last year and a half. Consumers were really investing significantly in that part of their spend, and so we saw a lot of travel overseas, which is a very rich part of the travel experience for the airlines. And so I think what's happening is consumers are pumping the brakes just a little bit, but travel is still healthy. It continues to be one of the highest prioritized discretionary spend categories, and we're certainly seeing that. I think across the industry, but there are some pockets leisure travel in particular. Consumers are being a little more careful about how they're spending their dollar as they've kind of come through this peak of summer now in travel and they're looking forward to Labor Day and beyond.

Last year, brett AI was the buzzword in markets, and it's also something we heard a lot from companies. How have you worked AI into your product?

Last year, brett AI was the buzzword in markets, and it's also something we heard a lot from companies. How have you worked AI into your product?

Yeah, thank you for asking that, Listen. We were one of the innovators of AI. Over a year ago. We launched chatbot and put that to work, and we're finding that really across the consumer booking process, this is becoming more and more natural for consumers to interact with So they're using it not only to plan and think of itineraries ahead of booking their travel, but during the booking process itself, they're engaging in our chatbot, asking questions about the property that they want to stay at, the location, the activities nearby, and then post purchase, they're using it to service their product. It's a much easier way to very quickly cancel a reservation, make changes to a reservation, or find out more information about a refunder other things that are important to the consumer. So we're finding it to be a very useful and innovative tool to help the consumer just smooth out that travel process all along the way.

Yeah, thank you for asking that, Listen. We were one of the innovators of AI. Over a year ago. We launched chatbot and put that to work, and we're finding that really across the consumer booking process, this is becoming more and more natural for consumers to interact with So they're using it not only to plan and think of itineraries ahead of booking their travel, but during the booking process itself, they're engaging in our chatbot, asking questions about the property that they want to stay at, the location, the activities nearby, and then post purchase, they're using it to service their product. It's a much easier way to very quickly cancel a reservation, make changes to a reservation, or find out more information about a refunder other things that are important to the consumer. So we're finding it to be a very useful and innovative tool to help the consumer just smooth out that travel process all along the way.

How hard are consumers working to save money? I mean when you say refund it makes me think about sometimes it's not easy to get those You've got to do the legwork. When I look at, for example, car rental prices, it always doubles once I add all the insurance and fees, and then if I really want to save money, I'll actually call my credit card and say hey, am I insured for this rental car? Or figure out with my state farm agent. Like our customers doing the extra work to save the money.

How hard are consumers working to save money? I mean when you say refund it makes me think about sometimes it's not easy to get those You've got to do the legwork. When I look at, for example, car rental prices, it always doubles once I add all the insurance and fees, and then if I really want to save money, I'll actually call my credit card and say hey, am I insured for this rental car? Or figure out with my state farm agent. Like our customers doing the extra work to save the money.

Yes, consumers are absolutely, I think taking the time to not only shop ahead of their trip, to look at the various different players in the space who can deliver the best value in the lowest price, and two to your point, when it comes to add ons, whether that's insurance activities, even dining, they are making very specific decisions to fit that within their budget. And so Priceline, for example, offers an insurance product with the relicar. We've actually seen the insurance take rates go up meeting more people are adding insurance to their car. I think that's just a part of the post pandemic experience. People are really trying to protect their purchases, to ensure that if, for in fact, they have travel disruption or something happens on the trip, they're covered for that. Consumers are insted in that.

Yes, consumers are absolutely, I think taking the time to not only shop ahead of their trip, to look at the various different players in the space who can deliver the best value in the lowest price, and two to your point, when it comes to add ons, whether that's insurance activities, even dining, they are making very specific decisions to fit that within their budget. And so Priceline, for example, offers an insurance product with the relicar. We've actually seen the insurance take rates go up meeting more people are adding insurance to their car. I think that's just a part of the post pandemic experience. People are really trying to protect their purchases, to ensure that if, for in fact, they have travel disruption or something happens on the trip, they're covered for that. Consumers are insted in that.

Are they clicking on the insurance the airline insurance as well? Every time you buy a ticket the airline says, hey, if you've give me twenty more dollars, you know you can cancel on the day of Are more consumers using that?

Are they clicking on the insurance the airline insurance as well? Every time you buy a ticket the airline says, hey, if you've give me twenty more dollars, you know you can cancel on the day of Are more consumers using that?

Yeah, we have seen an increase in travel insurance associated with an airline ticket purchase, especially for the bigger transactions like a vacation package. People really do want to protect their investment, and insurance is a legitimate and a very good way to do that.

Yeah, we have seen an increase in travel insurance associated with an airline ticket purchase, especially for the bigger transactions like a vacation package. People really do want to protect their investment, and insurance is a legitimate and a very good way to do that.

I want to talk to about trends that we might be seeing when it comes to length of travel. There was a really interesting story on the Terminal a couple days ago that had data from Embark Beyond which found that the average trip length is down fourteen percent year over year, now averages six point tuesdays rather than seven point eight days. Now Embark beyond. It serves primarily US ultra high net worth individuals, But are you seeing similar trends when it comes to price lines customers?

I want to talk to about trends that we might be seeing when it comes to length of travel. There was a really interesting story on the Terminal a couple days ago that had data from Embark Beyond which found that the average trip length is down fourteen percent year over year, now averages six point tuesdays rather than seven point eight days. Now Embark beyond. It serves primarily US ultra high net worth individuals, But are you seeing similar trends when it comes to price lines customers?

Now, we service the value consumer, and in the data that we're looking at, we haven't seen a material difference in length of stay for our consumers. They continue to book at a fairly normal rate in terms of how far out they're looking, and so we're not seeing a significant collapse, for example, in last minute bookings and consumers, are you really taking the same types of trips? I think where we're seeing the focus now is on what type of trip am I going to take? And am I going to change that behavior based on what my budget's going to allow me to do? And so obviously last year and really earlier this year, we saw a lot of travel overseas, over to Europe, over to Asia. Now as we approach Labor Day, we're seen a lot more consumers interested in in more nearby destinations, so things like Mexico, the Caribbean, the Bahamas. People still want to take that vacation, they want to get to beaches and warm destinations, but they're sticking a little bit closer than they were, say six months ago, and I.

Now, we service the value consumer, and in the data that we're looking at, we haven't seen a material difference in length of stay for our consumers. They continue to book at a fairly normal rate in terms of how far out they're looking, and so we're not seeing a significant collapse, for example, in last minute bookings and consumers, are you really taking the same types of trips? I think where we're seeing the focus now is on what type of trip am I going to take? And am I going to change that behavior based on what my budget's going to allow me to do? And so obviously last year and really earlier this year, we saw a lot of travel overseas, over to Europe, over to Asia. Now as we approach Labor Day, we're seen a lot more consumers interested in in more nearby destinations, so things like Mexico, the Caribbean, the Bahamas. People still want to take that vacation, they want to get to beaches and warm destinations, but they're sticking a little bit closer than they were, say six months ago, and I.

Mean, it's interesting to tie it back into how we started this conversation. You think about how people are traveling. We've been talking about the trade down across industries really all year. When you think about sort of the shift from airlines now cruises are hot, really now you see people traveling by car more. I mean, is that part of that overall trade down narrative.

Mean, it's interesting to tie it back into how we started this conversation. You think about how people are traveling. We've been talking about the trade down across industries really all year. When you think about sort of the shift from airlines now cruises are hot, really now you see people traveling by car more. I mean, is that part of that overall trade down narrative.

Yeah, that's something we watched very closely because it's a very rational thing to do. Right, you would have stayed in a five star hotel, now you're going to stay a four. You would have stayed in the three, and now you're shifting down to a two. We haven't seen a material move in that trade down experience in the bookings and in the consumers that we're looking at here at Priceline. And again, I think people still want to travel, but they are looking for discounts, they're looking for deals to save. They want to do the same trip they did before, but they'd like to knock off a couple of dollars on that trip and bring the pricing down. And so again we're seeing a lot more interest in our value offers on our Priceline website.

Yeah, that's something we watched very closely because it's a very rational thing to do. Right, you would have stayed in a five star hotel, now you're going to stay a four. You would have stayed in the three, and now you're shifting down to a two. We haven't seen a material move in that trade down experience in the bookings and in the consumers that we're looking at here at Priceline. And again, I think people still want to travel, but they are looking for discounts, they're looking for deals to save. They want to do the same trip they did before, but they'd like to knock off a couple of dollars on that trip and bring the pricing down. And so again we're seeing a lot more interest in our value offers on our Priceline website.

All right, bred it's always a fascinating conversation with you, of course, as we monitor the consumer and the traveler, that of course is Priceline CEO Brett Keller

All right, bred it's always a fascinating conversation with you, of course, as we monitor the consumer and the traveler, that of course is Priceline CEO Brett Keller