Booking Holdings (BKNG, Financial) was also a top contributor to performance. The Company reported accelerating travel trends into the beginning of 2023 with room night bookings up over +25% compared to 2019. Both domestic and, increasingly, international travelers have multiple years of pent-up travel aspirations as governments around the globe continue relaxing some of their most stringent, pandemic-related travel restrictions. We think populations are coming to grips with the risk of infection and will inevitably return to spending on travel well beyond pre-Covid levels. Booking Holdings represents a key source of demand for the small and medium sized hospitality industry and has the second largest global booking volume for alternative accommodations. We think the latter observation is particularly misunderstood by investors and represents substantial upside to the stock, regardless of the timing of the recovery of traditional hospitality spending.
From David Rolfe (Trades, Portfolio)'s Wedgewood Partners 1st-Quarter 2023 letter.
