Broad demand levels across the globe and guest demographics drove better-than-expected first-quarter results for Marriott International, leading it to upgrade its full-year outlook.
During the first quarter, Marriott’s global revenue per available room grew 4.2%, Marriott President and CEO Tony Capuano said on the company’s earnings call with analysts. In the U.S. and Canada, it grew by 4%, and while luxury and resort properties lead in the region, there was broad strength across all segments and chain scales. Luxury RevPAR grew nearly 7% while select-service RevPAR increased 3.5%, an improvement compared to a 1% decline in the fourth quarter.
Leisure RevPAR grew 6% globally and by 5% in the U.S. and Canada, he said. Group RevPAR grew 5% both globally and in the U.S. and Canada specifically. Business transient RevPAR grew 1% globally and by 2% in the U.S. and Canada, but there was a mid-single-digit decline in government roomnights and slight declines in other business travel roomnights offset by higher average daily rate.
The global first-quarter results are encouraging, but the strength in the U.S. and Canada is a main point, he said. Leisure and group continue to be solid as is the business transient segment when excluding government-related travel.
“We're also seeing strength across sectors, which I think is quite exciting to me,” he said. “We have talked for the last number of quarters about the continued strength in luxury, but over the course of a quarter to go from relative weakness in the select-service tiers to about 3.5% RevPAR growth in the first quarter — I think it's a really, really encouraging sign about continued strength really across all the tiers where we operate.”
The conflict in the Middle East weighed on results in March, but international RevPAR grew by 4.6% during the quarter, he said. RevPAR in the Asia-Pacific grew over 7%, driven by strong ADR growth and an increase in demand from Chinese guests. The disruption in the Middle East travel corridor in March affected select APAC markets, including India and the Maldives.
In Greater China, Marriott’s hotels continued to gain market share and stronger leisure demand through the first quarter. The nearly 6% increase in RevPAR was led by Hong Kong and Hainan Island, both of which were up about 20% year over year.
RevPAR grew 2% in the Caribbean and Latin America, driven by record leisure demand in the Caribbean, Capuano said. That was partially offset by a decline in RevPAR in luxury resorts in Mexico.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, RevPAR grew over 3% with increases in Europe and Africa partially offset by a decline in the Middle East due to the war in Iran, he said. In March, Middle East RevPAR dropped over 30% while it grew 4% in Europe.
Upgraded outlook
For the full year, Marriott expects 2% to 3% global RevPAR growth, said Jen Mason, executive vice president and chief financial officer. That new outlook, up from 1.5% to 2.5% last quarter, incorporates the outperformance during the first quarter and the higher-than-anticipated RevPAR growth in the U.S. and Canada as well as the strength seen across the chain scales continuing into April.
The FIFA World Cup matches in the U.S., Canada and Mexico are still expected to add 30 to 35 basis points to global RevPAR growth this year, she said.
Marriott is also raising its outlook in Greater China where it now projects full-year RevPAR growth in the low single-digit range, reflecting strong first-quarter performance, she said. At the same time, it expects RevPAR growth for the near-term in the Asia-Pacific region to be lower than previously anticipated due to softer long-haul demand in certain markets that rely on Persian Gulf hub connectivity.
The company is also slightly reducing its outlook in the Caribbean and Latin America for the rest of the year primarily due to conditions in Mexico, she added.
Due to the ongoing war with Iran, Marriott is also lowing its RevPAR outlook for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, reflecting a year-over-year decline in its Middle East properties, with the greatest decline occurring in the second quarter, Mason said. The new outlook assumes the conflict could affect full-year global RevPAR growth by 100 to 125 basis points.
“We assume that air capacity and travel sentiment will continue to be impacted, particularly in the Middle East, through the end of the year,” Mason said, noting that the region accounts for 3% of Marriott’s open rooms and 7% of its pipeline rooms.
There are signs of booking activity showing some signs of recovery from the lows experienced in March, but the company expects the impact to Middle East properties will continue through the end of the year, she said. It’s anticipating a 15% reduction in RevPAR during the second quarter, and while it believes that will continue into the third and fourth quarters, conditions should improve as the year goes on.
The Middle East had an incredible fourth quarter last year, driven by some large city-wide events that drove higher rates, so Marriott expects recovery during the second half of the year, she said.
Development update
During the quarter, Marriott added approximately 15,900 net rooms, of which 7,500 net rooms were in international markets, according to the company’s earnings release. As of March 31, its global portfolio had more than 9,900 hotels with nearly 1.8 million rooms.
First-quarter deals signings increased by 9% year over year, Capuano said. Some of those include a 10-hotel deal with Vietnam’s Sun Group, an 11-hotel deal in Italy and the United Kingdom to debut its Series by Marriott brand in Europe, and its joint venture with luxury wellness hospitality brand Lefay.
The company’s global pipeline increased by 5% year over year to a new record of nearly 618,000 rooms by the end of the quarter, he said. Forty-three percent of the pipeline rooms are under construction, including those that are pending conversions.
Conversions, including multi-unit deals, represent over 35% of signings and over 40% of openings in the quarter, he said.
Marriott expects net rooms growth between 4.5% and 5%, which includes its typical assumption of between 1% and 1.5% room deletions, he added.
By the numbers
For the first quarter, Marriott reported revenue of $6.65 billion, a 6% increase over the first quarter of 2025, according to its earnings release. It reported net income of $648 million, a 3% year-over-year decrease.
The company achieved adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of nearly $1.4 billion during the quarter, a 15% increase compared to last year.
As of March 31, Marriott's total debt was $16.5 billion. Its cash and equivalents totaled $500 million. This is compared to $16.2 billion in debt and $400 million of cash and equivalents at year-end 2025.
During the first quarter, it repurchased 2.1 million shares of common stock for $700 million. Year-to-date through April 29, it has repurchased 3.1 million shares for $1.1 billion.
As of press time, Marriott's stock was trading at $356.70 per share, up 14.98% year to date and 41.6% year over year. The NASDAQ Composite was up 10.2% and 44.8% for the same respective periods.