Booking Holding Beats Q1 Forecasts but Middle East Travel Risk Cuts Its 2026 View

Booking Holdings reported a strong first quarter, but lowered its full-year outlook because the Middle East conflict is now affecting travel demand.

The company, which owns Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable, said:

• Room nights rose 6 percent year over year to 338 million
• Gross bookings increased 15 percent to $53.8 billion
• Revenue grew 16 percent to $5.5 billion
• Net income reached $1.1 billion, up from $333 million a year earlier

Still, the company said the conflict reduced room-night growth by about 2 percentage points in the first quarter. Booking now expects full-year revenue growth in the high single digits, down from its earlier forecast for low double-digit growth.

Strong results came with a more cautious forecast

Booking’s first-quarter performance was better than analysts expected. Adjusted earnings reached $1.14 per share, above the $1.08 expected by analysts. Adjusted EBITDA also rose 19 percent to $1.3 billion, showing that the company still managed demand and costs well during a difficult period.

The weaker part of the update was the outlook. Booking now expects second-quarter room nights to grow only 2 percent to 4 percent. Gross bookings and revenue are expected to increase 4 percent to 6 percent.

Middle East disruption is affecting wider travel routes

Booking said the conflict is hurting travel into, out of, and within the Middle East. It is also disrupting major transit corridors, especially routes between Europe and Asia.

The Middle East represented about 7 percent of Booking’s global room nights in 2025.

Broader Middle East pressure is already reaching hotels

Booking’s warning also fits a wider pattern across the travel industry. Accor opened 48 hotels in the first quarter, but its results also showed pressure in the UAE, where RevPAR fell 9 percent as the Middle East conflict started affecting activity more clearly from mid-March.

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash