Growth in international markets helped hotel giant Marriott International to offset a downturn in North America during the key summer quarter, with worldwide business travel demand remaining “flat” year-on-year.
Marriott achieved a 0.5 per cent year-on-year increase in worldwide RevPAR (revenue per available room), which rose to $131.43 in the third quarter, ending on 30 September.
This increase was achieved thanks to a 2.6 per cent rise in international markets where RevPAR averaged $122.66, while RevPAR in North America fell by 0.4 per cent to $135.85 compared with the same quarter in 2024.
Marriott revealed that global growth was primarily led by leisure travel demand in Q3, with RevPAR rising by 1 per cent year-on-year, while business travel RevPAR was “flat” and group RevPAR declined 2 per cent “reflecting the timing of events”.
Anthony Capuano, Marriott’s president and CEO, said that global RevPAR had been impacted by “calendar shifts and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty”. He added that the drop in North America was “due to weaker demand in the lower chain scales, largely reflecting reduced government travel”, which declined by 14 per cent year-on-year.
Capuano highlighted Marriott's “strong performance” in markets such as Japan, Australia and Vietnam during the quarter, as well as the “out performance” of Marriott’s luxury brands, where demand was “driven by robust demand and strong rate performance”.
During a conference call with investors, Capuano added: “As we look into 2026...we’re seeing a little bit more of the same, with the larger companies that make up BT (business transient) there’s pretty encouraging strength, but you are seeing a bit of hesitancy from some of the SMEs as they try to navigate the volatile economic environment.”
In Europe, Marriott’s RevPAR rose by 0.8 per cent year-on-year in the quarter to $201.98 – the highest figure of all the global regions.
Occupancy in Europe also ticked up by 0.4 percentage points to 77.2 per cent, which was well ahead of the global average of 71.5 per cent, while the continent’s average daily rate was up 0.3 per cent to $261.49.
Marriott achieved a net profit of $728 million in the quarter, which was up by 25 per cent on Q3 of 2024, while revenue increased by 4 per cent to $6.49 billion.
“Our third quarter results demonstrated continued strong execution of our growth strategy, the power of our brands, and the cash flow benefits of our asset-light business model. We delivered another quarter of strong rooms growth, robust development signings and profit gains,” added Capuano.