Marriott International Inc. said demand for business and leisure travel continued to grow in the holiday quarter despite a setback from the spread of the Omicron variant.
Marriott, whose portfolio encompasses nearly 8,000 properties worldwide, said Tuesday that its quarterly revenue more than doubled to $4.45 billion from a year earlier, when Covid-19 cases were surging and health officials warned against travel.
"Weekly bookings around the end of last year were impacted by Omicron, but they have recovered since the trough in early January," chief executive Anthony Capuano said on a conference call with analysts.
Rising vaccinations globally and the easing of travel restrictions boosted comparable systemwide revenue per available room, a closely watched industry metric known as RevPAR, globally except for in Greater China, he said.
Systemwide RevPAR for the quarter came in at $90.86, more than double what it was a year earlier but about 19% below 2019 levels.
The Bethesda, Maryland-based company could begin returning cash to shareholders once again later this year if there is no further meaningful slowdown in the global economic recovery, Mr. Capuano said.
This would likely start with the resumption of a dividend, potentially in the back half of 2022, followed by share repurchases in 2023 and beyond, chief financial officer Kathleen Oberg said.
With the pick up in travel, Marriott is seeing greater demand for luxury properties, Mr. Capuano said, with luxury rooms making up more than 10% of the company's bookings pipeline.
Ongoing work-from-home policies have also boosted demand, he said.
"Working from anywhere has been an accelerant for leisure demand. And if anything, we expect further acceleration in that regard," Mr. Capuano said.
Work-from-home policies are making it easier for travelers to extend weekend trips for a couple of days, a Marriott spokeswoman said. "People are working on the front or back end of a weekend leisure trip."
Hotels, like other businesses, are grappling with the effects of rising costs amid labor shortages across different sectors of the economy.
Marriott's total costs ballooned 66% over the past year to $3.81 billion. General, administrative and other expenses for the quarter rose 16% to $213 million, mostly due to higher compensation and legal costs.
The company said base management and franchise fees roughly doubled to $737 million.
Marriott expects full-year 2022 general, administrative and other expenses to be between $860 million and $880 million, a year-over-year increase, mostly due to higher compensation costs and assumed higher travel expenses, Ms. Oberg said.
Many hotels, after suspending housekeeping at the start of the pandemic, now clean only when guests request it.
The practice began over infection concerns, and some guests still prefer not to have staff in their rooms during stays. The cutbacks also reflect staffing shortages, lower occupancies and hotel owners' desire to reduce expenses, hotel analysts say.
Marriott has resumed daily housekeeping at its luxury properties, Mr. Capuano said, but it remains an opt-in service at select-tier hotels, which include the Courtyard, AC, Springhill Suites and other brands.
"We're using those learnings to try and strike the right balance between guest expectations and economic realities for the owners," he said.
And in markets where demand has recovered faster, the company has resumed normal food and beverage offerings, which includes opening up hotel restaurants and bars.
"We just had our board meeting down in South Florida. Most of us had to order in-room dining because the restaurants couldn't offer us reservations prior to 10.45 p.m.," Mr. Capuano said.
In markets where the recovery has been slower, he said, the company is bringing back some offerings but trying to match services to the pace of the recovery in demand.
The company said systemwide occupancy came in at 58%, up 23% from a year earlier but still 12% below pre-pandemic levels.
Marriott posted net income of $468 million, or $1.42 a share, compared with a loss of $164 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted for merger-related costs and other one-time charges, earnings were $1.30 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting $1 a share.
Marriott's quarterly revenue of $4.45 billion beat the $3.99 billion that analysts expected, according to FactSet.
