Marriott's Sorenson believes "the worst is now behind us"
Marriott International saw global RevPAR drop 84.4% in the second quarter, with Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson telling investors that the three months through June "will mark the bottom, and that the worst is now behind us."
"Since April, occupancy levels have increased each month in every region around the world, albeit at varying rates," Sorenson said during Marriott's Q2 earnings call on Monday. "There's still no visibility around when RevPAR could return to 2019 levels, however the global industry trends experienced over the past couple of months give us confidence that people will continue to increase their travel."
Around 9% of Marriott's properties worldwide currently remain closed, versus a high of more than 25% shuttered hotels back in April.
Globally, occupancy has hit 31% across the Marriott portfolio. For hotels that remained open for each of the past four months, occupancy is averaging 39%.
By region, Greater China saw the most dramatic recovery trends in the second quarter, with occupancy up from single digits in February to a current level of approximately 60%. RevPAR in the market for July was down 34% on the year prior.
Sorenson attributed much of Greater China's resilience to robust domestic travel demand. He estimated that pre-Covid, close to 80% of the market's room nights were sourced from guests within China.
