트래블주(TZOO) 2026년 3분기 실적발표 콘퍼런스 콜: 클럽 회원 수 65% 증가

트래블주(NASDAQ: TZOO)는 2026년 3분기 매출과 유료 클럽 회원 수가 증가했으나, 신규 회원 유치 지출이 가속화되면서 영업적자를 기록했습니다. 경영진은 구독 모델이 향후 지속적인 반복 매출과 수익성 강화를 뒷받침할 것으로 전망하고 있습니다.

핵심 요약

• 연결 매출은 전년 동기 대비 3% 증가한 2,290만 달러를 기록했으며, 고정환율 기준으로는 2,300만 달러입니다.
• 트래블주는 클럽 회원 유치를 위한 투자 확대의 영향으로 전년 동기 50만 달러 영업이익에서 적자 전환해 260만 달러의 영업손실을 기록했습니다.
• 클럽 회원 수는 전년 동기 대비 65% 증가했으며, 3분기 신규 회원 증가 수는 역대 분기 최대치를 기록했습니다.
• 미국 내 평균 회원 유치 비용은 마케팅 지출과 유치 규모가 늘어났음에도 2분기 62달러에서 54달러로 개선되었습니다.
• 경영진은 회원비가 12개월에 걸쳐 인식됨에 따라 2026년 4분기 및 향후 분기에도 전년 동기 대비 매출 성장이 이어질 것으로 예상합니다.
• 회사는 기존 회원, 예상 갱신율, 추가 회원 유치를 바탕으로 회원 매출이 약 1,700만 달러에서 2027년 약 3,000만 달러로 증가할 것으로 전망하고 있습니다.

주요 재무 데이터

사업 및 영업 성과

트래블주는 지속적인 회원비 매출 구조로의 전환을 가속화했습니다. 회원 유치 비용은 마케팅 비용으로 즉시 인식되는 반면, 연간 구독 매출은 12개월에 걸쳐 안분 인식됩니다. 이러한 시차로 인해 회원 수가 확대되었음에도 3분기 수익은 감소했습니다.

경영진이 제시한 미국 사례에서 연간 회원비는 50달러입니다. 트래블주는 또한 90일 이내에 회원 1인당 평균 15달러의 거래 매출을 창출했습니다. 향후 거래, 광고 및 갱신 매출이 추가되면 총 회원 회수금액은 더욱 늘어날 수 있습니다.

북미와 유럽 지역 모두 매출이 증가했습니다. 잭스 플라이트 클럽(Jack’s Flight Club) 매출은 1분기와 2분기 신규 유치 회원 수 감소로 인해 이연매출 인식이 줄어들면서 하락했습니다.

경영진은 3분기 회원 증가분의 절반을 소폭 상회하는 인원이 완전히 새로운 신규 회원이었으며, 나머지는 대부분 기존 회원의 전환에서 비롯되었다고 밝혔습니다. 마케팅 채널 전반에 걸친 강력한 혜택 덕분에 트래블주는 평균 비용을 낮추는 동시에 유치 규모를 확대할 수 있었습니다.

회사 측은 독점 클럽 혜택이 회원 유지 및 갱신의 핵심 동인으로 유지되고 있다고 설명했습니다. 추가 혜택에는 항공기 지연 시 공항 라운지 이용권과 알리안츠(Allianz)와 함께 출시한 24시간 연중무휴 여행 지원 핫라인이 포함됩니다.

트래블주는 첫 번째 트래블주 메타(Travelzoo META) 체험 상품이 2026년 4분기에 출품될 것으로 예상하고 있습니다. 해당 상품은 클럽 회원 혜택으로 포함될 예정이나, 경영진은 별도 구매도 가능하다고 언급했습니다.

경영진 가이던스

경영진은 2026년 4분기 및 이후 분기에도 전년 동기 대비 매출 성장을 예상하고 있습니다. 이러한 성장은 회원비의 안분 인식, 추가 클럽 회원 유치 및 기존 회원의 지속적인 전환을 바탕으로 이루어질 전망입니다.

회사는 회원 매출이 약 1,700만 달러에서 2027년 약 3,000만 달러 수준으로 증가할 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. 이 전망치는 현재 회원 수, 예상 갱신율 및 신규 회원 유치에 대한 가정을 반영한 것입니다.

또한 트래블주는 현재의 마케팅 투자가 2027년 주당순이익(EPS)에 1.20달러의 긍정적 영향을 미칠 것으로 추정합니다. 경영진은 갱신된 회원권의 경우 초기 유치 비용이 들지 않기 때문에, 갱신이 늘어남에 따라 영업이익률이 개선될 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. 다만 단기적으로 공시되는 순이익은 변동할 수 있다고 조언했습니다.

리스크 및 관전 포인트

• 구독 매출이 완전히 인식되기 전 선제적인 회원 유치 지출이 단기 실적에 부담으로 작용합니다.
• 대부분의 신규 회원은 초기에 미국 1달러 또는 영국 1파운드의 30일 체험을 통해 가입합니다. 정식 회원 결제 및 이연매출은 정식 전환 이후에 이루어져 시차가 발생합니다.
• 경영진은 회원 수가 확대되는 단계 동안 단기 영업이익률과 순이익의 변동성이 이어질 가능성이 높다고 밝혔습니다.
• 경영진이 직접적으로 비교할 만한 유사 제품이 없다고 판단함에 따라 트래블주 메타(Travelzoo META)의 수요를 수량화하기는 어렵습니다.
• 경영진은 저소득층 소비자의 지출이 감소하고 있음을 인정했으나, 트래블주 회원의 대부분은 소득 수준 상위층에 속해 있다고 덧붙였습니다.
• 유럽의 정세 불안이 일시적으로 여행 행태에 영향을 줄 수 있으나, 과거 사례를 볼 때 유사한 혼란의 영향은 단기에 그쳤다고 경영진은 밝혔습니다.

애널리스트 Q&A 하이라이트

회원 유지: 경영진은 독점 협상 혜택을 회원이 재계약하는 주요 이유로 꼽았습니다. 추가적인 여행 혜택 또한 지속적인 참여를 유도합니다.

이연매출 인식 시점: 대부분의 신규 회원이 30일 체험으로 시작하기 때문에 역대 최대의 회원 증가가 이연매출의 즉각적인 대폭 증가로 이어지지는 않았습니다. 경영진은 더 많은 회원이 연간 정식 구독으로 전환함에 따라 이연매출 성장이 가속화될 것으로 예상합니다.

유치 효율성: 미국 평균 유치 비용이 54달러로 하락한 것은 마케팅 채널 전반에서 큰 관심을 불러일으킨 매력적인 혜택 덕분이며, 이를 통해 트래블주는 비용 집행의 효율성을 제고할 수 있었습니다. 경영진은 유치 비용을 1분기 수준인 27달러로 낮추겠다고 확정 발표하지는 않았습니다.

매출채권 및 현금흐름: 경영진은 2분기 매출채권이 특정 사유로 인해 이례적으로 높았다고 설명했습니다. 잔액은 3분기에 정상 수준으로 회복되었으며, 향후에도 비슷한 수준을 유지할 것으로 예상됩니다.

AI 여행 에이전트: 트래블주는 혜택 탐색 및 맞춤화를 개선하기 위해 AI를 도입하고 있습니다. 경영진은 상세 혜택 내용이 유료 회원 공간에 제한되어 있더라도 AI 에이전트가 사용자에게 트래블주 혜택 정보를 알릴 수 있어 궁극적으로 클럽 가입을 유도할 가능성이 있다고 전했습니다.

실적 발표 전화회의 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Travelzoo Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The company would like to remind you that all statements made during this conference call and presented in the slides that are not statements of historical facts constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Legislation Reform Act of 1995.

Actual results could vary materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are described in the company's Forms 10-K and 10-Q and other SEC filings. Unless required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Please refer to the company's website for important information, including the company's earnings press release issued earlier today. An archived recording of this conference call will be made available on the company's Investor Relations website at travelzoo.com/ir.

You can also download a copy of the Q3 presentation in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Now it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to Travelzoo's Global CEO, Holger Bartel its Chair, Chief Membership Officer and General Counsel and CEO of Jack Slight Club, Christina Ciocca, and its Financial Controller, North America; Jeff Hoffman. Jeff will start with an overview.

Jeff Hoffman

Thank you, operator, and welcome to those of you joining us. Today, I'm stepping in Biljon, our Chief Accounting Officer. Please refer to the management presentation to follow along with our prepared remarks. The presentation in PDF format is available on our Investor Relations site at travelzoo.com/ir.

Let's begin with Slide 4. We Revenue increased again year-over-year. Consolidated revenue was $22.9 million, up 3% year-over-year. In constant currencies, revenue was $23 million. We still reported a loss due to our investment in growing club members.

The Q3 reported loss was $2.6 million compared to reported operating profit of $0.5 million in the prior year period. Slide 5 explains that we decided to accelerate the shift toward membership fee revenue by more quickly growing paid Club members.

The reported quarter loss came from higher investment in growing the number of club members. Our objective is to increase recurring membership fees revenue. Please turn to Slide 6. Club members drive recurring revenue from membership fees. In Q3, we added the largest number of club members yet.

The number of club members increased 65% year-over-year. Slide 7 explains as a reminder that with subscription businesses, membership fee revenue is recognized readily over the subscription period, whereas acquisition costs are expensed as marketing costs immediately.

Slide 8 shows that marketing costs reduced reported quarterly EPS in the short term are projected to drive better results in 2027 and beyond when deferred revenues and recurring revenues increased profitability. While marketing costs are negatively impacting EPS this year, we still estimate a positive impact on 2027 EPS of $1.20.

Please turn to Slide 9. Even though we invested even more than in Q2 and acquired more members, the average acquisition cost was lower, better in Q3. On the left side, you'll see that the average acquisition cost of a club member was $54 in Q3.

The member pays in the U.S. case here, their $50 annual membership fee right at the beginning of the membership period. Additionally, we generated an average of $15 per member in revenue from transactions within 90 days. In addition, there will be revenue from transaction and advertising and future membership fees from recurring renewals in future period.

We believe the total payback is attractive. Now please turn to Slide 10. I both in North America and Europe segments increased revenues. JAK Flight Club reported a decline due to a decrease in deferred revenue from less members acquired in Q1 and Q2. On Slide 11, you'll see the reported GAAP operating margins as a number of membership renewals, which do not have acquisition expenses grows, operating margins are expected to substantially improve. In the short term, fluctuations are likely.

Slide 12 shows an investment of club members of Travelzoo occur in all key markets. On Slide 13, we provide information on non-GAAP operating profit and operating loss as we believe it better explains how we evaluate financial performance. In Q3 2026, non-GAAP operating loss was $2.1 million compared with non-GAAP operating profit of $1.1 million in the prior year period.

Slide 14 provides information about the items that are excluded in the calculation of non-GAAP financial information. Please turn to Slide 15. As of September 30, 2026, our consolidated cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash was $8.8 million, an increase in $1.2 million compared with Q2.

We we repurchased [ 256,898 ] shares of our common stock. Now looking ahead, for Q4 2026, we expect year-over-year revenue growth we also expect revenue growth in the subsequent quarters as membership fees revenue is recognized ratably over the subscription period of 12 months as we blow correct numbers and as more legacy members become club members. Over time, we expect profitability to increase as recurring membership fees revenue will be recognized. In the short term, fluctuations in reported net income are likely. Now I'll turn the discussion over to Holger.

Holger Bartel

Thank you, Jeff. We will continue to leverage Travelzoo's global reach, our trusted brand and the strong relationships with top travel suppliers to negotiate more club offers for club members. Travelzoo members are affluent, active and open to new experiences. .

We inspire travel enthusiasts to travel to places they never match it they could. Travelzoo is the must-have membership for those who love to travel as much as we do. Please turn to Slide 17. Membership empowers travelers to live the life of a travel enthusiast to the fullest while respecting different cultures.

Membership provides access to high-quality and highly valuable club offers. Our global team negotiates and vet them rigorously. Club offers cannot be found anywhere else. Some examples, GBP 59 for Stage II at 115 English is a 60 nights for less four hours $60 per day, which includes your cabin food drinks, entertainment. Also exclusive offers like a cooking class with a Michelin star chef in Tasi or for those who want luxury and seclusion, an all-inclusive stay at a 5-star private island in the Maldives.

Membership also provides complementary access to airport launches worldwide in case of flight delays. And in Q1 2026, we launched in partnership with Allianz, the first travel enthusiast hotline. It provides 24/7 complementary assistance wherever you travel.

Culinary journeys curated for the travel enthusiasts are coming through. Slide 19 shows the worldwide complementary loss access in case of flight delays. It is perfect for the travel enthusiasts. Slide 20 provides information about sentiment and demographics of members travels with love by travel enthusiasts who are affluent, active and open to new experiences.

90% stated they are open to new destinations and travel ideas. Almost 90% are likely to book an unplanned trip with an attractive offer. 62% plan to take 2 or more international trips in 2027. Information about the median household income shows that they have the means to do so, especially given the outstanding value of our club offers.

Travelzoo members also go on to resatravel longer than the general population if household spending had to be cut. Finally, on Slide 27, we provide an overview of our management focus. We are working to grow the number of paying DAP members and accelerate revenue growth by converting legacy members and adding new club members, retain and grow our profitable advertising business, accelerate revenue growth, which drives future profits in spite of temporary lower EPS, growth checks flight clubs, subscription revenue and launched Travelzoo Meta. Now Christina will provide an update on Travelzoo Meta and Czech Flight Club.

Christina Ciocca

We expect the first travel Zimeta experiences to become available in Q4 of 2026. We Access to Travel Zimeta will be an exclusive benefit of Travelzoo Club membership. Project Flight Club to align with Travelzoo and other investment priorities, our focus is on revenue growth by growing members. Now handing over to the operator for questions for Jeff, Holger and me.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is from the line of Patrick Sholl at Barrington Research.

질의응답

Patrick Sholl

I guess just this point, I hearing almost 2 years into having moved from the legacy mercering them to pay. I was just kind of curious if you could talk about anything you've seen in terms of like main drivers of user subscriber churn and kind of efforts around retention and what those have looked like as you've gotten more experience with the product.

Holger Bartel

What we are hearing from the club members is what's mostly driving their retention and renewal are the great offers, the exclusive offers that we provide them. I gave a few examples that's really what's most important to our members. These are offers that you do not find anywhere else.

Some others also, of course, value the benefits we have added more benefits over time, just as I said, the travel enthusiast to line. These are also adding to continued interest in the membership. It allows us to growth number of members, as we said earlier, this quarter in Q3, we added the most club members ever. So we are confident in the future.

Patrick Sholl

Okay. And then I think earlier in the call, you said that this was a record quarter for new member additions. As kind of looking at the cash flow statement, there was kind of like a deceleration in the increase in deferred revenue. I was just kind of curious if you could like reconcile some of that disparity, if that's just having of member additions and trial starts and just maybe just some of the factors that go into that. .

Holger Bartel

Exactly, the quick answer is that most new members join with a trial, which in the U.S. is $1 in UK it's GBP 1. Only when they then convert after 30 days to the full manship that's when we recognize the revenue and when it creates deferred revenue. So it's exactly what you explained.

Patrick Sholl

Yes. No, I -- so would we be expecting like a significant acceleration in deferred revenue in Q4? Or is there just a difference between the conversion from that trial to a full year membership?

Holger Bartel

It's the 30-day delay, the more members we add, the higher and more fast deferred revenue will grow. It's exactly what you said. .

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Michael Kupinski from Noble Capital Markets. Please go ahead. .

Michael Kupinski

You highlighted the decline in average U.S. acquisition cost to $54 from $62 in the second quarter. What drove that improvement? And how sustainable -- is it that you can continue to accelerate membership growth at that rate? And I guess, is there an opportunity to bring those acquisition costs back down towards the $27 level that you reported in the first quarter?

Holger Bartel

You are correct, Michael. We added more members at a lower acquisition cost. We're very happy about that trend. Christina, do you want to add what's driving that?

Christina Ciocca

Sure. I think the main driving factors of the efficiencies that we found in Q3 is a combination of we had a lot of great offers that we use on various channels like book that drive a lot of interest in the membership. And so we were able to have large volumes of offers running, which allows us to scale our spend up. And then when we see that there's interest in those offers. It allows us to get the efficiencies down despite scaling up spend significantly.

Michael Kupinski

Got you. It certainly worked for me. I'm going on a trip next week. The follow-up the club members increased an impressive 65% as you mentioned year-over-year. Can you provide more color on how much of that growth came from converting existing legacy members versus attracting entirely new members? And then your presentation projected membership revenue increasing from approximately $17 million to more than $30 million in 2027. And how much of that growth is already supported by existing paid memberships and deferred revenue versus assumptions for new membership acquisition and renewals.

Holger Bartel

Michael, the answer to your first question is it's typically about half-half in Q3, it was more new members, a little bit more than half. And to answer your second question, that number of $30 million is based on members we have already what we are expecting. How many of them we are expecting to renew and new members that we are signing up. As Patrick mentioned earlier, there is already substantial deferred revenue around $13 million. On the balance sheet, that will continue to increase. And then with all the new revenue and payments that are coming in, that's how we get to around $30 million. That's our expectation for next year.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Ed Babu from Ascendi Capital.

Unknown Analyst

As we are heading into 2027, what's your travel outlook so far? What are you seeing out there? And there's a lot of news about unrest in Europe, a lot of protests do you think that's going to have any impact on your travel business?

Holger Bartel

What we are seeing in Travel Ad is similar to what we are seeing in other industries, on the one hand, people have money, continue to spend. They are spending even more. On the other hand, people at a very low income and have to cut things Fortunately, most of our members are in the upper end.

And I would even think most of them would pay a substantially higher membership fee than $50, but that's what we are -- that's what we have said it at right now. With regards to the situation in Europe, in the past, we have always seen that this impacts travel behavior rather short term, maybe someone might not be traveling to friends right now, but it quickly changes and then people travel again.

Unknown Analyst

My 1 follow-up question would be, obviously, you benefit and you thrive when hotels or tower suppliers have issued filling the rooms. Is that a flip side, you guys are getting more calls of people worried because people can't fill the hotel route because of the news press that you guys would be able to drive more deals?

Holger Bartel

Yes, that's the case. If the hotels are empty or are struggling, they come to us when it's low season, they come to us, and that's where we help. And as we've seen before, our travel in this as are very open to going wherever we give them good deals. So that's the great flexibility about our club and our members that they are not predetermined on where they want to go. They're open to new experiences. And that's what our entire business is benefiting from.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Steven Silver from Argus Research.

Steven Silver

So in the quarter, there was a sizable reduction in accounts receivable that supported the operational cash flow -- so it's now closer towards the levels that they were at, at the end of 2025. I'm just curious as to your thoughts on that level, whether it's kind of where you would expect it to be moving forward? Or you think there's a little bit more leverage in accounts receivable to support cash flows in the near term?

Holger Bartel

Good observation. Yes, Steve, we stated in Q2 that accounts receivable were exceptionally high for very specific reasons -- now we are back to normal, and we expect to remain at this level.

Steven Silver

Great. And one more, if I may. So with the expected launch of Meta in this quarter, I'm curious as to whether you guys have done any studies or just trying to size up, if there's any pent-up demand for Meta ahead of its launch? Or is it going to be the kind of thing where the product is going to launch within the club membership and then you would market it after launch? .

Holger Bartel

Christina.

Christina Ciocca

We would include it as a part of club membership and market it as we launch essentially. But in terms of your question of pent-up demand, there's no real -- anything comparable to what were what we want to do with travel Zimeta and what the plan is for travels you meta. So it's hard to say. But obviously, we've been working on this for some time and have been kind of assessing the market and the products and services that are smaller that are out there to optimize this as much as we could to make it a really valuable part of Travel Club membership.

Holger Bartel

We are traveling enthusiasts. We obviously love to travel all the time, but we can't. So we can't travel, why not traveling the metal worse. So we feel it's very complementary to what we have right now, and that's why we made the decision to make it part of the Travel to Club membership. You -- you can also purchase it separately, but our idea is really to make it part of the membership package for travel enthusiasts that comes with Travelzoo. .

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Theodore O'Neill from Litchfield Hills Research.

Unknown Analyst

So my question is about AI travel agents. And Metis platform introduced AI travel agent near the beginning of the month. And it's had some impact on Expedia and Booking and less so, I think, for Airbnb and for Travelzoo. And I was wondering a couple of things. Have you thought about integrating AI into your platform?

And second is, are these AI travel agents like the Mus has? They can't see into Chavellike they can't see into Airbnb because those offers are all contained within the platform itself. Is that -- am I understanding that correct? correctly?

Holger Bartel

Obviously, AI is on top of our minds every day. We are integrating it in the business in making it easier for our members to find offers in customization what's different between travel and OTAs, most of what you find with travel agents, OTAs, it's the same everywhere. We have stressed many times offers from Travelzoo are exclusive.

You cannot find them anywhere else. So when some people say, Travelzoo is not needed anymore. I can just use AI to find deals, No, you can because we are creating negotiating offers that you do not find anywhere else. With regards to your second question, yes, we are working on that very actively. There is a way to allow the AI agents to access travel through offers even though they are behind the wall of a paid membership.

Someone cannot access the full details of an offer but AI agents like CEPT or Google are able and will be able even more so to alert people who are searching for deals that deals with Travelzoo and it will explain that in order to take advantage of this deal, you just have to join the club.

And when you ask them, whether it's worth joining Travelzoo, the overall resounding answer is yes. most say it's worth it because once you are a member and you see what we are doing, you're very happy that you joined.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Holger Bartel for closing remarks.

Holger Bartel

Great. Dear investors, thank you again for your time and support. We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Have a great day.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.