The boom in leisure travel that is driving the hospitality industry’s recovery from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to continue into the new year, according to Marriott International Inc.’s top executive, despite factors like the Delta variant that caused a summer slump.
Global occupancy at Marriott (NASDAQ: MAR) hotels topped 58% for the third quarter, CEO Tony Capuano told analysts on an earnings call Wednesday. That’s up 23.4% from the same period in 2020, driven largely by leisure demand, but down from 74% in 2019. The Bethesda-based hospitality giant also reported the average daily room rate, at $155.21, is just 4% below where it stood at this time in 2019 and has been recovering more quickly than in the past two economic downturns.
“We continue to be quite bullish about leisure,” Capuano said. ”We think there’s lots more run room in terms of the leisure-led recovery. We absolutely believe that leisure’s going to continue to grow into 2022.”
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