Marriott reports 7% increase in earnings
Marriott International has reported a 7% increase in earnings to $821m (£630m) in its financial results for the first quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, its revenue per available room (revpar) rose 1.1% worldwide. Marriott Bonvoy membership rose by five million to reach nearly 130 million members.
The company added 114 new properties worldwide during the first quarter, including roughly 3,000 rooms converted from competitor brands, while 15 hotels exited. At the end of the first quarter, Marriott's worldwide development pipeline totalled nearly 2,900 hotels and approximately 475,000 rooms.
At quarter-end, Marriott's worldwide portfolio encompassed 7,003 properties and its development pipeline totaled 2,853 properties with approximately 475,000 rooms, including 1,166 properties with nearly 216,000 rooms under construction and 146 properties with roughly 25,000 rooms approved for development, but not yet subject to signed contracts.
Arne Sorenson, president and chief executive, said: "Marriott's performance in the first quarter was solid… Despite modest revpar growth and higher labour costs, we increased North American house profit margins by 30 basis points and held worldwide house profit margins flat at our company-operated hotels through cost synergies, leading to strong incentive management fee performance in the quarter.
"We continue to build our company for the future… Our results in the first quarter highlight the resiliency of our business model and the strength of our brands."
For 2019's second quarter, Marriott expects revpar increase of 1-3% worldwide and earnings of $940-$965m (£722-741m). For the full year 2019, Marriott expects revpar increase of 1-3% and earnings of around $3.6-3.7b (£2.8-2.9b).
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