Marriott International projects "healthy rate growth"
in corporate transient accounts when negotiations begin later this summer, said
president and COO Arne Sorenson today.
"We'll have to see the way the economy develops,"
Sorenson said in the company's second-quarter earnings call. "We've
generally seen good rate growth but we still see special corporate rates that
are down double digits from peak levels."
Sorenson said business travel demand is strong, noting that
corporate transient occupancy during the second quarter rebounded to the peak
levels seen in 2007.
Group demand recovery also continued during the quarter,
particularly advance bookings, said Marriott CFO Carl Berquist. Such bookings
for later this year were up 18 percent year over year, up 19 percent for 2012 and
up 13 percent for 2013. Additionally, about a quarter of the group business
booked during the quarter was for 2014 or later, he said.
June rollouts of new Marriott Sales Force One sales teams—an
initiative designed to move corporate and group sales out of individual hotels
and into regional centers—completed the program's coverage of the United
States, Sorenson said. The company is waiting to see its full impact on sales.
"We've been encouraged by early anecdotes,"
Sorenson said, "but you will not see us on an aircraft carrier deck
claiming victory yet."