Marriott reports strong international RevPAR growth

BETHESDA, Maryland — Marriott International reported a worldwide RevPAR increase of 1.5% year-over-year with 5.3% growth in international markets, while U.S. and Canada RevPAR remained flat YOY as part of its second-quarter results.

The company added roughly 17,300 net rooms during Q2, and net rooms grew 4.7% YOY. At the end of the quarter, Marriott’s worldwide development pipeline reached a new record and totaled approximately 3,900 properties and over 590,000 rooms, with 50% of those rooms in international markets.

“Marriott delivered another solid quarter, highlighted by strong financial results and robust net rooms growth despite heightened macro-economic uncertainty,” said Anthony Capuano, president and CEO. “Our results in the second quarter underscore the resiliency of our cash-generating, asset-light business model and the strength of our brands.”

Capuano said that global RevPAR was primarily driven by the leisure segment and international RevPAR growth was primarily driven by growth in APEC (Asia Pacific excluding China) and EMEA. He said the U.S. and Canada saw continued strength in the luxury segment offset by a decline in select-service demand, largely reflecting reduced government travel and weaker business transient demand.

He also said development activity remained robust, with 70% of new signings in international markets conversions continuing to be a key driver of growth, representing approximately 30% of our room signings and openings in the first half of this year. He said Marriott still expects full-year net rooms growth to approach 5% in 2025.

For its full-year guidance, Marriott is projecting 1.5-2.5% RevPAR growth internationally, with third-quarter RevPAR projected to be flat to 1%. The company projects gross fee revenues of $5.365-5.420 billion for the whole year and an adjusted EBITDA of $5.31-5.395 billion. Marriott expects to spend between $1.355-1.455 billion in investment spending for full-year 2025, including $355 million for its acquisition of the citizenM brand in July.

In May, Marriott announced the global launch of Series by Marriott, its new collection brand for the midscale and upscale lodging segments.

Other Q2 results

• Q2 adjusted EBITDA totaled $1.415 billion
• Base management and franchise fees totaled $1.200 billion in Q2, up nearly 5% YOY
• Marriott’s reported operating income totaled $1.236 billion in Q2
• The company added roughly 17,300 net rooms in Q2, including more than 8,500 net rooms in international markets
• Through Q2, Marriott’s global system totaled over 9,600 properties, with approximately 1,736,000 rooms
• At the end of Q2, Marriott’s total debt was $15.7 billion and cash and equivalents totaled $0.7 billion
• The company repurchased 2.8 million shares of common stock in Q2 for $0.7 billion 

What the analysts said

Analyst Michael Bellisario of R.W. Baird said Marriott topped analyst and Wall Street expectations with gross fees up $8 million over Baird’s model.

“Looking ahead, 3Q25 guidance is below Baird/Street forecasts and the implied 2H25 outlooks – both for RevPAR and adjusted EBITDA – have been lowered to reflect a continuation of the current macroeconomic environment,” he said. “Net, net – 2026 estimates likely are biased a bit lower and we see no major surprises with Marriott's 2Q25 earnings or 2025E guidance updates, including an unchanged net rooms growth outlook of ‘approaching 5%.’”

Analyst Patrick Scholes of Truist Securities said unlike some of its peer companies that did not change full-year RevPAR guidance, Marriott took its full-year RevPAR projections down 100 basis points from +1.5-3.5% to +1.5-2.5%.

“Offsetting the RevPAR reduction and impact on fee revenue is higher earnings expectations for owned/leased/other profits,” he said. “Regarding the new rooms pipeline, at quarter end it was up 5.5% YOY (higher than Hilton’s +4% YOY despite MAR having lower expectations for net rooms/unit growth than Hilton), though as has been the industry trend this 5.5% growth rate was down from 1Q’s +7.4%.”