(Reuters) -Hotel operator Marriott International forecast 2024 profit below Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, as room revenue in the United States normalizes from its post-pandemic highs.
Travel demand and costs in the U.S. have been returning to normal levels after seeing a post-pandemic spike from “revenge travel”. Travel companies are expecting their 2024 boost to come from international markets like China, the final region lagging in its recovery from the pandemic.
Marriott sees a full-year 2024 profit of between $9.18 and $9.52 per share, while analysts had expected $9.69 per share, LSEG data showed.
The company’s shares were down 1.7% in premarket trade.
Marriott’s revenue per available room, a closely watched industry metric for hotels’ top-line performance, rose 7.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, boosted by higher room rates and occupancy levels in China. Full-year room revenue rose 14.9% compared to 2022.
“With normalizing RevPAR growth around the world, we anticipate a worldwide full-year RevPAR increase of 3% to 5% and net rooms growth of 5.5% to 6%,” CEO Anthony Capuano said about the current year.
Marriott reported an adjusted fourth-quarter profit of $3.57 per share, above analysts’ estimate of $2.12 per share.
The Ritz-Carlton owner posted quarterly revenue of $6.1 billion, roughly in line with expectations of $6.2 billion.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; editing by Milla Nissi)
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