By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- Marriott International stock (NASDAQ:MAR) traded 3% higher in premarket Tuesday as a receding pandemic helped the hotel chain beat revenue and profit estimates in the fourth quarter.
CEO Anthony Capuano said the company “could begin returning cash to shareholders later in 2022”, assuming there is no great setback in the global recovery.
Marriott signed around 92,000 rooms in 2021 and more than half of this were in international markets. Over 40% were in the upper upscale and luxury tiers, it said.
The chain expects to continue adding more rooms to its portfolio, having added 20,440 rooms in the fourth quarter.
Leisure demand boomed in the fourth quarter, with slower, yet continued improvement in business transient and group demand, according to the company.
The company said all regions barring China saw a noticeable recovery in the rates of available rooms. However, overall occupancy remained below 2019 levels.
China revenue suffered due to the country’s ‘zero-Covid’ policy.
The company said new bookings across customer segments have rebounded to pre-Omicron levels and that a global recovery should progress meaningfully throughout 2022.
Adjusted profit per share surged more than 10 times to $1.3 due to high impairment charges and loss on the sale of assets in the same quarter last year.