Marriott saw the largest surge in demand since the start of the pandemic in the first quarter of 2022.
Chief executive Anthony Capuano reported that “robust demand” globally continued into April with revenue per available room [revpar] recovering to 2019 levels in the US and Canada.
“Going forward we expect leisure travel to remain strong, business travel to accelerate and cross border travel to gain momentum,” he said.
“While there is currently more volatility in our international regions, assuming no major change in the global economic environment or the behaviour of the virus, we are increasingly optimistic that the global revpar gap compared to pre-pandemic levels will continue to narrow meaningfully in 2022.”
Marriott’s operating income totalled $558 million in the first three months of the year, up from $84 million in the same period in 2021.
Net income reached $377 million against a loss of $11 million year-on-year.
Capuano said: “During the first quarter, we saw the largest surge in global demand since the pandemic began in 2020.
“Worldwide occupancy rose dramatically from 45% in January, impacted by the Omicron variant, to 64% in March, less than 10 percentage points below pre-pandemic levels.
“Rates further strengthened, with worldwide average daily rate for March exceeding the same month in 2019 by 5%.
“Internationally, revpar gains were notable during the quarter in every region except for Greater China given the stringent travel restrictions resulting from the country’s dynamic zero-Covid policy.
“The Middle East and Africa region was again the furthest recovered, with first quarter revpar up 12% compared to 2019.”