Airbnb, Expedia Are Latest to Signal Holiday-Season Uptick

(Bloomberg) — Three months ago, travel companies warned that the great post-pandemic boom in consumer travel was losing steam.

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Over the past week, three of some of the largest online reservation companies — Airbnb Inc., Booking Holdings Inc. and Expedia Group Inc. — painted a less dramatic picture: They all issued strong outlooks that suggested growth isn’t slowing as fast as expected.

Airbnb said Thursday it expects an acceleration on the key metric of nights and experiences booked, with the growth rate expected to exceed the 8.5% achieved in the third quarter. Wall Street had projected a 7.7% gain. Expedia, which also reported results on Thursday, said it was raising its full-year gross bookings growth guidance to 5% from 4%.

Expedia was up 4.8% in after-hours trading. Airbnb shares fell 3.5% after initially rising when the company’s results were first announced. Just a week earlier, Booking, the parent to brands like Kayak and Priceline,…