Excerpt from PhocusWire
On the heels of a difficult past 12 months, Marriott International suffered another blow earlier this week with the unexpected passing of president and CEO Arne Sorenson.
As the industry mourns the loss of an important figure in hospitality – Sorenson joined the company in 1996 and was first appointed CEO of the group in 2012 - Marriott is tasked with moving forward following what Stephanie Linnartz, group president, consumer operations, technology and emerging businesses, calls “the most challenging year in our 93-year history.”
In the fourth quarter 2020, Marriott reported a net loss of $164 million compared to a reported net income of $279 million year-over-year.
Fourth quarter adjusted net income totaled $39 million compared to $498 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Marriott’s reported operating loss totaled $128 million in Q4 2020 compared to reported operating income of $274 million year-over-year.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter totaled $317 million compared to fourth quarter 2019 adjusted EBITDA of $901 million.
Fourth quarter 2020 comparable systemwide constant dollar RevPAR declined 64.1% globally, 64.6% in North America and 62.7% in international markets, compared to the fourth quarter 2019.
“In April, we experienced the sharpest worldwide RevPAR decline on record, down 90% year-over-year with just 12% occupancy. Demand around the world improved from this trough at varying rates, with China leading the way. RevPAR in mainland China saw a meaningful rebound through the year and was down less than 10% year-over-year in December,” Linnartz says.
"While China has shown that demand can be quite resilient when the virus is perceived to be contained, we have also seen that progress can be slowed by significant spikes in virus cases, such as we saw in the U.S. and Europe towards the end of 2020.
“Global occupancy remained at 35% in the fourth quarter, in line with the third quarter, and still substantially above the trough in April. While no one can know how long this pandemic will last, we are seeing some small, early signs that the acceleration of vaccine rollouts around the world will help drive a significant rebound in travel and lodging demand."
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