Booking Holdings beats first quarter 2026 estimates with 15% gross bookings growth, overcoming geopolitical headwinds.

Booking Holdings reported first quarter 2026 revenue of $5.5 billion, up 16% year-over-year, and adjusted EPS of $1.14, a 14% increase. The results were driven by a 15% rise in gross bookings, though room night growth was slowed by geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, leading to a slight miss on that metric against analyst expectations.

Key Highlights

• Gross bookings increased 15% year-over-year to $53.8 billion, or approximately 8% on a constant currency basis.
• Room nights sold grew 6% to 338 million, with management attributing an approximate 2 percentage point negative impact from the conflict in the Middle East.
• Adjusted EBITDA grew 19% to $1.3 billion, with margins expanding to 23.3% from 22.9% in the prior year's quarter.