Hotel Earnings: What We Learned This Week – in 2 Minutes

Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt joined other hotel companies in releasing earnings or giving financial updates this week. Here are the highlights. Note: All numbers are for the first quarter.

🇺🇸 U.S. hotel demand is softening

• The surging wave of post-pandemic travel demand in the U.S. may have crested. Marriott International said its U.S. and Canadian hotels saw their revenue-per-available room, or RevPAR — a key performance metric — rise only 1.5% year-over-year. 

• IHG, owner of Holiday Inn and other brands, said U.S. room revenue growth was down 0.3% year-over-year.

💰 U.S. hotel profits are normalizing

• Truist Securities research analysts examined over 1,000 U.S. hotels using data from HotStats, a benchmarking service.

• They found an average gross operating profit margin of 35%. That figure was the same as in the first quarter of 2023 — but it was down from the post-pandemic boom.

🌏 Asia Pacific is booming

• Marriott saw a 16.5% spike in revenue-per-available room there thanks to strong economic winds, ongoing growth in leisure and business travel demand, and an uptick in cross-border demand, particularly from Mainland China.

🆕 More hotel brands are on the way

• Marriott teased that it plans to add “a conversion-friendly midscale brand” within about a month’s time.

😎 Expect more all-inclusives

• Hyatt provided a financial update ahead of its earnings call next week that showed it sees all-inclusive resorts as a growth area. It plans to expand all-inclusive resort inventories.

🏅 Competition is intensifying among loyalty programs

• Expedia Group said membership in its loyalty program jumped 40%, without disclosing a figure. (Last July, the online travel giant said its program had 163 million members.)

• Marriott said Wednesday it had “around 203 million members” in its program as of the end of March.

• Back in January, Skift was the first to note that Hilton’s pace of adding loyalty members was faster than Marriott’s. Analyst Richard Clarke of Bernstein on Wednesday asked Marriott execs about that dynamic. They seemed to concede they could get overtaken.

• “A number is a number but it can actually not be a true guide for the power of a program,” said Leeny Oberg, chief financial officer.

• IHG didn’t say how many members it currently has but noted that members would likely buy about $50 million in points this year to top-up their accounts and meet redemption thresholds.

• Hyatt separately said it planned to enhance benefits for loyalty members who earn or redeem stays at its all-inclusive resorts.

Accommodations Sector Stock Index Performance Year-to-Date

What am I looking at? The performance of hotels and short-term rental sector stocks within the ST200. The index includes companies publicly traded across global markets, including international and regional hotel brands, hotel REITs, hotel management companies, alternative accommodations, and timeshares.

The Skift Travel 200 (ST200) combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. See more hotels and short-term rental financial sector performance.

Read the full methodology behind the Skift Travel 200.