Marriott International reported March quarter net income of $83 million compared with a net loss of $23 million the year before

. Systemwide North American average daily rate declined 6.8 percent to $120, whereas occupancy grew 3.3 percentage points to 63 percent. During the quarter, rooms booked by corporate travelers increased 16 percent and during the month of March, corporate bookings rose 21 percent year over year, according to Arne Sorenson, president and COO of Marriott. Group room night bookings increased 1 percent during the quarter, but increased 10 percent in March, Sorenson continued. "The special corporate accounts, for most of those travelers, they’ve got pricing that was put in place last fall. There is not a lot we can do about that pricing until we get to next year, so we will continue to suffer, if you will, even though volume is up significantly" compared with rates, said Sorenson. Marriott expects to begin increasing systemwide rates "reasonably soon" and it "wouldn't be surprising for it to happen in the second quarter" as occupancy and revenue per available room numbers brighten, according to Sorenson. For the second quarter Marriott expects RevPar to increase worldwide 5 percent to 7 percent and full year 2010 RevPar to increase 3 percent to 6 percent.