Marriott International shared its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 performance metrics, along with projections for 2025, during a recent earnings call. CEO Anthony Capuano highlighted that business transient stays comprised 33% of global room nights in Q4. Looking ahead, the company anticipates continued “sturdy” growth in this segment for 2025, driven primarily by average daily rate increases rather than occupancy, according to CFO Leeny Oberg. She suggested that business transient volume has largely rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, albeit with some shifts in its composition.
While overall business transient activity has recovered, Oberg pointed out that the recovery has been uneven. Small and midsize businesses have shown stronger returns to travel than the largest corporations. Although some large corporate sectors, such as finance, have even surpassed 2019 levels, others are still lagging. This disparity is reflected in weekday (Monday-Wednesday) room night volumes, which remain below pre-pandemic levels. However, this deficit is being offset by increased travel on other days of the week. Oberg expressed optimism about continued recovery in large corporate travel throughout 2025, but acknowledged it hasn’t fully reached 2019 levels.
In terms of specific financial results, Marriott’s systemwide RevPAR for the fourth quarter of 2024 reached $126.26, a 5% year-over-year increase. This was driven by a 3.2% rise in average daily rate to $185.42 and a 1.2 percentage point increase in occupancy to 68.1%. For the US and Canada, Q4 RevPAR was $126.05, up 4.1% year-over-year, with a 2.8% ADR increase to $188.13 and a 0.8 percentage point occupancy increase to 67%.
For the full year 2024, systemwide RevPAR reached $128.23, reflecting a 4.3% year-over-year increase. ADR for the year was $183.58, up 2.8%, and occupancy increased by 1 percentage point to 69.8%. Within the US and Canada, full-year RevPAR was $131.26, a 3% increase, with ADR at $187.14 (up 2.4%) and occupancy at 70.1% (up 0.4 percentage points).
Looking forward, Marriott projects first-quarter 2025 global RevPAR growth of 3% to 4% year-over-year, with January showing a stronger 6% increase. For the full year 2025, the company anticipates RevPAR growth of 2% to 4%, with international growth outpacing that of the US and Canada. Fourth-quarter 2024 total revenue reached over $6.4 billion, a roughly 5% year-over-year increase. Net income for the quarter was $455 million, compared to $848 million the previous year. As of year-end 2024, Marriott’s portfolio encompassed 9,361 properties and over 1.7 million rooms. The company projects net room growth of 4% to 5% globally for 2025
