Marriott International Group CEO Anthony Capuano told CNBC on Monday that Marriott International Group’s business operations and growth are solid despite the layoff of more than 800 corporate employees and the continued downturn in the Chinese travel market.
“We’re firing on all cylinders in every region,” he said.
The company’s third-quarter financial report showed that global RevPar (revenue per available room) increased by 3%, although RevPar in China, the company’s second largest market, fell by 8%.
Capuano said he does not believe sluggish domestic demand in China will be a long-term problem, noting that early 2024 will see a record number of hotel signings.
“We signed more deals in the first half of 2024 than any six months in China’s history. To me, this shows that both public and private real estate entities in China are betting on the long-term viability of Chinese real estate. Travel and Tourism field,” he said.
He said that China’s domestic tourism industry is slowly growing, and the performance of inbound tourism in the third quarter of 2024 is better than pre-epidemic levels.
“Before the outbreak, about 18% to 19% of our total room nights were cross-border travel,” he said. “By the third quarter, we had surpassed 20% and were restoring airline seats in Greater China.” Capacity-wise, there’s going to be more recovery. So we see more and more upside for international inbound flights.”
Marriott International reported 6% year-over-year net room growth and 2.5% room rate growth, driven by a strong return to group travel, which Capuano called the “bright, shining star” of the business today.
The company raised its year-end net room growth guidance and added 9 million Bonvoy members in the third quarter. Marriott’s loyalty program now has 219 million members, which Capuano attributes to the work of hotel front-desk employees and new partnerships Marriott has signed with companies like Uber and Starbucks.
Layoffs ‘not a traditional cost-cutting measure’
During Marriott’s third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 4, Capuano mentioned “enterprise-wide processes to improve our effectiveness and efficiency,” a move CFO Leeny Oberg later estimated would reduce the company’s Cost $80 million Starting in 2025, it will increase to $90 million per year.
The result of this measure is that companies lay off employees, First reported by travel media company Skift November 14, later linked to Notice News of “massive layoffs” of 833 Marriott employees was posted on the Maryland state government’s labor website.
Capuano denies that the company – which has doubled in size over the past decade – is growing too big, too fast, at least in terms of its employees, instead calling the move a much-needed “restructuring” of its global corporate structure .
“This is not a traditional corporate cost-cutting measure,” he said. “The team on the continent has matured over the[past]decade; we’ve also grown tremendously. We’re in 60 new countries. So we’ve thought about this effort to try to shift more of the decision-making power to African continent.
Capuano said decentralized decision-making means the global headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, will be affected by the heaviest layoffs.
He said most of the layoffs occurred “above the hotel” – in corporate offices – meaning the layoffs would “absolutely not” affect service levels at any Marriott-branded hotels.
Instead, the cuts “should make us more nimble and allow us to make decisions on the fly through the lens of local markets.”
Entering the mid-range market
Capuano said occupancy and average room rate growth were strong across much of the Asia-Pacific region, especially in Japan, where Marriott this week opened its 100th hotel, the Four Points by Sheraton Flex Hotel (formerly Four Points by Sheraton). Express hotel).
The brand is leading Marriott’s push into the mid-market in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and is partnering with City Express in North America in an effort to attract budget-conscious consumers who want simple, comfortable rooms with modern needs like Wi-Fi.
The company plans to open a dozen more Four Points Flex by Sheraton hotels in Japan over the next six weeks, according to a press release issued Monday.
