Priceline’s Q2 performance buoyed by global hotel reservations

Online travel company Priceline says its second quarter performance was once again driven by strong growth in its global hotel reservations, where it believes it gained market share for another quarter.

Jeffery H. Boyd, Priceline’s president and CEO shared that the group achieved a combined 48% year-over-year growth in hotel room nights booked. International gross travel bookings increased by 59% compared to prior year, or 67% on a local currency basis, due to increasing travel demand and an improvement in room rates.

Domestic gross travel bookings grew by 20% driven by strong growth in hotel reservations.

Growth in airline tickets and domestic rental car days was modest as its Name Your Own Price airline and rental car services were hampered by reductions in capacity by suppliers.

Gross travel bookings for the second quarter, which refers to the total dollar value, were $3.4 billion, an increase of 43.3% over a year ago.

Priceline.com had revenues in the second quarter of $767.4 million, a 27.1% increase over a year ago. The company’s international operations contributed revenues in the second quarter of $322.6 million, a 63.3% increase versus a year ago.

Second-quarter net income rose 72 percent to $115 million, from $67 million a year earlier.

The Priceline Group of Companies is composed of four primary brands – Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and TravelJigsaw.