Priceline 2015 Annual Report Download - page 61

Results of Operations
Year Ended December 31, 2014 compared to Year Ended December 31, 2013
Operating and Statistical Metrics
Gross bookings resulting from accommodation room nights, rental car days and airline tickets reserved through our international and U.S. operations for
the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 were as follows (numbers may not total due to rounding):
Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)
2014
2013
Change
International $ 43,639
$ 33,300
31.0%
U.S. 6,661
5,873
13.4%
Total $ 50,300
$ 39,173
28.4%
Gross bookings increased by 28.4% for the year ended December 31, 2014, compared to the year ended December 31, 2013 (growth on a constant
currency basis was approximately 30%), principally due to growth of 27.9% in accommodation room night reservations, 3% growth on a constant currency basis in
ADRs, growth of 18.1% in rental car day reservations and 12.0% growth in airline ticket reservations. International gross bookings grew by 31.0% (growth on a
constant currency basis was approximately 33%) for the year ended December 31, 2014, compared to the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily as a result of
growth in accommodation room night reservations for our Booking.com and agoda.com businesses, as well as growth in rental car day reservations for our
rentalcars.com business. The U.S. Dollar significantly strengthened against the Euro during 2014, moving from an exchange rate of 1.38 U.S. Dollars per Euro as
of January 1, 2014 to 1.21 U.S. Dollars per Euro as of December 31, 2014. The U.S. Dollar has also strengthened against many other currencies since January 1,
2014. We therefore believe that unit growth rates and total gross bookings, international gross bookings and gross profit growth on a constant currency basis,
excluding the impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations, are important measures to understand the fundamental performance of the business.
U.S. gross bookings increased by 13.4% for the year ended December 31, 2014, compared to the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily due to
increases in priceline.com's retail airline ticket, retail hotel, Express Deals ® hotel and retail rental car services, partially offset by declines in priceline.com's Name
Your Own Price ® reservation services. Travel service providers typically provide a limited amount of availability to opaque services like ours, especially during
periods of healthy travel demand. As a result, the recent healthy travel environment in the United States has had an adverse impact on our access to availability for
our opaque reservation services.
Gross bookings resulting from reservations of accommodation room nights, rental car days and airline tickets made through our agency and merchant
models for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 were as follows (numbers may not total due to rounding):
Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)
2014
2013
Change
Agency $ 42,892
$ 32,672
31.3%
Merchant 7,409
6,501
14.0%
Total $ 50,300
$ 39,173
28.4%
Agency gross bookings increased 31.3% for the year ended December 31, 2014, compared to the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily due to growth
in Booking.com accommodation room night reservations, priceline.com's retail airline ticket, rental car and hotel reservation services, and rentalcars.com rental car
reservation service. Merchant gross bookings increased 14.0% for the year ended December 31, 2014, compared to the year ended December 31, 2013, primarily
due to increases in agoda.com hotel reservation services, rentalcars.com rental car reservation services and priceline.com Express Deals ® hotel and retail hotel
reservation services, partially offset by declines in priceline.com's Name Your Own Price ® services.
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