Group demand continues to be Marriott International’s darling guest set.
During the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings call, Marriott President and CEO Tony Capuano said group demand made up 23% of total roomnights for the year and was the “standout customer set.”
Group revenue in the fourth grew year over year by 9% globally and 7% in the U.S. and Canada, he said. By the end of the year, full-year 2024 group revenue was pacing up nearly 13% globally and 11% in the U.S. and Canada, driven by both robust growth in occupancy and average daily rate.
“Group is shaping up to have another solid year in 2024,” he said.
The leisure transient group segment accounted for 44% of Marriott’s roomnights during the fourth quarter, Capuano said. This segment grew the fastest coming out of the pandemic, and global leisure transient revenue during the quarter was nearly 50% above the fourth quarter of 2019.
The demand has been resilient as fourth-quarter global roomnights grew 5% compared to the fourth quarter last year, leading to 6% leisure transient revenue growth worldwide. In the U.S. and Canada, revenue was up 2%.
Business transient contributed 33% of Marriott’s global roomnights during the quarter. Demand from small and medium-sized corporate business remained robust. Large corporate business is still lagging but continues to grow. Gains in occupancy and ADR drove business transient revenue up 7% globally and 3% in the U.S. and Canada.
Portfolio Growth
By the end of 2023, Marriott’s worldwide development pipeline amounted to nearly 3,400 hotels with about 573,000 rooms, according to its earnings report. That includes more than 21,000 rooms that are approved but not yet subject to signed agreements. More than 232,000 rooms were under construction by the end of the year, and that includes about 37,000 rooms from its partnership with MGM Resorts International.
Marriott opened nearly 81,300 rooms around the world during the year. Of those, 17,500 were part of its acquisition of the City Express brand portfolio. More than 43,000 of the total rooms opened were in international markets. Overall, Marriott posted net room growth of 4.7% compared to full-year 2022.
The first set of rooms from its deal with MGM Resorts to be available through its Bonvoy loyalty program came online at the end of January for New York-New York Hotel & Casino, and the remaining properties are expected to be available by the middle of March, Capuano said.
“While it is very early days, we're incredibly pleased with the initial bookings,” he said. “We're excited about adding these amazing properties to our portfolio and enhancing our distribution in Las Vegas and other cities across the U.S.”
Marriott continues to make progress in expanding its offerings in the midscale space, he said. The company has been in discussions on numerous deals in Latin America and the Caribbean for its recently acquired City Express brand portfolio. It’s having similar success with its new Four Points Express by Sheraton brand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In the U.S., Marriott had a groundbreaking for its first StudioRes property in Fort Myers, Florida, in January. The new midscale extended-stay brand has more than 300 additional potential deals in the works in about 150 markets.
“As we strive to offer more options for our stakeholders, we're also working on a new U.S. transient midscale brand for both new build and conversions,” he said.
Marriott’s luxury distribution is more than 50% larger than its closest competitor, he said. It had record luxury signings with 58 new deals. It opened 29 new luxury hotels in 2023.
Outlook for 2024
Marriott’s full-year 2024 outlook assumes a steady but slower growing global economy, said Leeny Oberg, executive vice president of development and chief financial officer. It also reflects normalized lodging demand in most regions around the world, with the Asia-Pacific region seeing higher growth as it continues to benefit from the pandemic recovery as well as additional international airlift.
A meaningful increase in group revenue and continued improvement in business transient demand should drive full-year RevPAR growth in 2024, she said.
“We’re off to a strong start, with January RevPAR up 7% globally, reflecting continued strong demand around the world, particularly in international markets,” she said.
International RevPAR grew 14% in January, and RevPAR in the U.S. and Canada increased 4%, she said. With easier comparisons in January and Easter shifting from April to March, global RevPAR for the first quarter is projected to increase 4% to 5%.
For the full year, Marriott anticipates global RevPAR to grow 3% to 5%, Oberg said. Growth in international markets — particularly China — is expected to be higher than in the U.S. and Canada.
The sensitivity of a 1% change in full-year 2024 RevPAR compared to 2023 could equate to about $50 million to $60 million of RevPAR-related fees. Full-year gross fees could grow 6% to 8% of $5.1 billion to $5.2 billion.
By the Numbers
Marriott reported net income of $848 million during the fourth quarter, a 26% year-over-year increase, according to its earnings report. For the full year, the company reported net income of more than $3 billion, up from $2.5 billion at year-end 2022.
Fourth-quarter base management fees grew 12% year over year to $321 million, while franchise fees grew 7% to $705 million and incentive management fees increased by 17% to $218 million. Total revenues for the quarter grew 3% to nearly $6.1 billion. For full-year 2023, gross fee revenue amounted to $4.8 billion, an 18% increase; and total revenues reached $23.7 billion, a 14% year-over-year increase.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was nearly $1.2 billion during the fourth quarter, up from almost $1.1 billion a year ago.
By the end of the year, Marriott’s total debt was $11.9 billion. It’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $300 million. At year-end 2022, it held $10.1 billion in debt and had $500 million in cash and equivalents.
The company repurchased 4.7 million shares of common stock in the fourth quarter for $965 million. For the full year, it repurchased 21.5 million shares for $3.9 billion.
As of publication time, Marriott’s stock was trading at $235.14, up 4.3% year to date. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.9% for the same period.