Marriott International's fourth-quarter business transient
and group travel volume increased year over year, executives said Tuesday on an
earnings call, and the company projects that trend to continue through 2024, at
higher corporate rates.
Fourth-quarter systemwide business transient travel revenue
per available room increased 7 percent year over year and 3 percent in the
United States and Canada, Marriott president and CEO Anthony Capuano said.
"Demand from small and medium-sized corporates remained robust, and while
large corporates are still lagging, they continue to post volume increases,"
he said. Large corporate accounts' business transient volume increased quarter
over quarter as well, he said.
The increased business transient revenue was driven in part
by higher rates. Corporate rates in 2023 increased by a "high single-digit
growth rate" year over year, CFO Leeny Oberg said, and the company
projects "strong mid-single-digit rate growth in that segment in 2024."
Business transient travel represented 33 percent of
systemwide Marriott room nights in the fourth quarter, Capuano said.
Capuano added the company anticipated "continued
improvement in business transient demand" in 2024, along with increased
group bookings. Fourth-quarter group revenue increased 9 percent globally year
over year and 7 percent in the U.S. and Canada.
Q4 Performance, 2024 Outlook
Marriott's systemwide fourth-quarter RevPAR increased 7.2
percent year over year to $126.06, and U.S. and Canada REVPAR increased 3.3
percent to $121.68. Global occupancy increased 2.6 percentage points to 67
percent and in the U.S. and Canada increased 0.2 percentage points to 66
percent. Systemwide average daily rate increased 3 percent to $180.69 and in
the U.S. and Canada increased 3.1 percent to $184.28.
Total fourth-quarter revenue increased 3 percent year over
year to nearly $6.1 billion, and net income increased 26 percent to $848
million.
Marriott projected a first-quarter global RevPAR increase of
4 percent to 5 percent year over year and a full-year increase of 3 percent to
5 percent.
The company's net rooms at the end of 2023 increased by
about 81,300, about a 4.7 percent increase year over year. Marriott added about
17,500 rooms from its acquisition
of the City Express brand. The company projected net room growth at 5.5
percent to 6 percent in 2024.
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