Allie Lynch ’24 pitched Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) on March 25, 2024. Booking Holdings is the leading online travel company globally offering over 28 million listings in over 220 different countries with five of the world’s leading online platforms: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Kayak, and OpenTable. The company has shown strong growth and outperformance in recent years following the COVID-19 pandemic as result of a surge in travel demand, coined ‘revenge travel’. Despite expectations of a normalized travel market moving forward, Allie highlighted the anticipated sustained growth of the travel industry, propelled by a shift in consumer behavior towards reprioritization of travel. Her thesis emphasized Booking Holdings’ competitive advantage including its dominant market position underpinned by its strong global brand presence, robust customer loyalty, and diverse travel-related service offerings. Additionally, she underscored the company’s prioritization of returning shareholder value and focus on strategic initiatives to fuel continued growth. The class voted to buy approximately $29,000 of BKNG, funded by the sale of 160 shares of XLY.