BKNG GS Communacopia 2025

Okay. So I know we're -- people are still going to be finding their seats. But in the interest of time, I think we're going to get started here. Our next fireside chat here in the Grand Ballroom is with Booking Holdings.

It's my pleasure to welcome back to the conference, Ewout Steenbergen, Executive Vice President and CFO.

I would like to start with something a little more fun. You asked me before we came on stage. And unfortunately, this conference didn't allow me a lot of summer travel.

But what did you do this summer? What was exciting for you, whether it was travel, something else? Like let's start on a lighter note before we get into the business.

Yes. Actually, on the personal side, travel is something that I really enjoy already much longer and before actually joining Booking. It was actually one of the reasons I joined was this is something I'm very passionate about. So yes, I spent a lot of time on planes.

I probably do this year 70-ish flights or so in a year. I've done years much, much higher. My wife is usually spending time over the summer in Europe. So I go a little bit back and forth and work from there and then back to the U.S. But we had time in the last week of August, my wife and I to have a personal trip to Japan.

And I love Japan, just the culture, and it's just such a beautiful country, so well organized. The food is fantastic. So we had a couple of very nice days just before and around the Labor Day weekend.

Well, I'm glad you got some time off. You have earnings, you go right into August, and then now you're here at this conference. So I'm glad you got a little bit of downtime. I wanted to kick us off with a big picture question.

There's always such interesting things going on in the company. What would you frame up as your key strategic priorities? I mean there's always the themes that we hear set for us like what are the big strategic priorities that you and Glenn are focused on?

Absolutely. So first of all, I think the good thing for us is we're, of course, in an industry where the product is a lot of fun. I mean it's nice to travel. It's nice to dine.

So it's a really good business to be in. Fortunately, for you, Eric, that you didn't have a lot of time together over the summer, but I hope the firm gives you more time