Marriott CEO Tony Capuano — himself now fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and traveling for business again — is bracing for a summer travel boom as people venture back out after getting their shots.
"We are seeing a really strong rebound in demand in our biggest markets," Capuano said on Yahoo Finance Live. "In March, we saw a stronger demand recovery month-over-month than we have seen in any other month since the pandemic began. And in markets like China, we are seeing demand levels that are actually well above pre-pandemic. And the really exciting thing about that for us, it's not just leisure. In fact in March, we saw business travel in China 5% above where it was in March of 2019."
Capuano's upbeat reads on the business come in the wake of a challenging first quarter as the pandemic continued to weigh on travel demand globally. First quarter worldwide revenue per available room (RevPar) fell 50.3% from a year ago. Worldwide occupancy clocked in at 32.1%, down from 50.3% a year earlier.
The first quarter showed the varying pace in the recovery from the pandemic globally.
Marriott's revenue per available room in Greater China surged 80.4% from last as the country led the world into the pandemic and is now coming out of it first. Meanwhile, RevPar in Europe fell 80.4% as the country struggles through its vaccination efforts.
Here is how Marriott performed compared to Wall Street estimates for the first quarter:
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Net Sales: $2.32 billion vs. $2.37 billion
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Adjusted EBITDA: $296 million vs. $308.7 million
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Adjusted EPS: $0.10 vs. $0.03
Marriott shares fell 3% in Monday trading as investors digested the mixed quarter, positive comments from management and the company refraining from releasing full-year guidance. The company said it has 2,800 hotels in its development pipeline, or the equivalent of 491,000 rooms.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo! Finance.
