Strong performances in the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for Marriott International helped to offset lower results from its hotels in Egypt in the second quarter of the year.
The company financial release for the three months to the end of June showed total net income of US $192 million, up 7% year-on-year, from revenues of US $3.5 billion, up from US $3.3 billion during the same period in 2013.
Systemwide, revenue per available room (RevPAR) was up 5.8% to $116.63, while occupancy was up 1.7 percentage points to 77.0%. Meanwhile, the average daily rate (ADR) was up 3.5% to $151.39.
In the Middle East & Africa, RevPAR was up 4.9% to US $116.06, occupancy up 2.1 percentage points to 63.4% and ADR up 1.5% to $183.10.
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Speaking during an earnings call with analysts, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, Marriott International CFO and executive vice president Carl Berquist said: “In the Middle East and Africa, RevPAR increased 4.9%, a bit ahead of our expectation.
“Year-over-year, strong results in Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia offset lower results in Egypt. For the full year, we expect our comp hotels in the Middle East and Africa region to increase RevPAR at a mid-single-digit rate, reflecting easier comps for Egypt later in the year.”
Meanwhile, CEO and president Arne Sorenson was optimistic about the company’s propects in the region.
“Our pipeline in the Middle East and Africa is 35% ahead of last year,” he explained. “Even excluding the Protea deal, we have new full-service deals in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Our acquisition of Protea is big news in the region, and we expect it will enable us to accelerate our Sub-Saharan growth going forward.”
The acquisition of Protea, which was completed on April 1, more than doubled Marriott’s presence in the Middle East and Africa to over 160 hotels and 23,000 rooms.
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