Booking Holdings' third-quarter financial results released Thursday were improved over its second-quarter results, but CEO Glenn Fogel warned rockier times are still ahead.
"We believe that travel will continue to be greatly affected by infection trends and governments' public health responses," Fogel said on a call with analysts, with evidence already starting to shake out in this, the fourth quarter.
In the third quarter, Booking Holdings' reported room nights -- which includes the impact of cancellations -- were down 43% year over year. Comparatively, in the second quarter, reported room nights were down 82% year over year.
However, Fogel said, in October, reported room nights were down about 58% compared with October 2019. For the seven-day period ending Nov. 4, reported room nights declined by around 70%.
Fogel said the company believed that was driven by increased Covid-19 infections in some parts of the world as well as governments' public health responses.
Overall, Booking Holdings reported gross travel bookings of $13.4 billion, a 47% year-over-year decrease. Revenue fell 48%, to $2.6 billion. Net income fell 59%, to $801 million.
Fogel said third-quarter results were likely bolstered by pent-up demand following mandatory lockdowns in Q2.
It is difficult to predict what the coming months will bring, Fogel said, but considering the rising number of cases in North America headed into the winter months, "it will be very challenging for us to reach profitability in Q4."
While the company will face challenges in the near term, the CEO said he was confident in Booking Holdings' ability to endure as well as in people's innate desire to travel.
But, he warned, "It will likely be years, and not quarters, before the travel market returns to pre-Covid volumes."
Booking Holdings has been right-sizing the company to decrease expenses. The workforce at Booking.com is currently being reduced by up to 25%, which will result in savings of $250 million to $300 million. The company has already reduced its workforce at Kayak, OpenTable, Agoda and Priceline, for an annual savings of around $80 million.
Fogel called the decision to cut employees sad but necessary.