Marriott International delivered a first-quarter 2026 earnings beat fueled largely by strengthening demand in the U.S. and Canada, prompting the company to raise its full‑year global RevPAR outlook even as geopolitical disruption weighed on parts of its international portfolio.
North America RevPAR rose 4 percent year over year in the quarter, with performance broadening across segments and chain scales, executives said on Marriott’s earnings call. Luxury and resort hotels continued to lead, but momentum also returned to select-service brands, where RevPAR increased 3.5 percent after posting a year‑over‑year decline in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve seen continued strength across the U.S. and Canada,” President and CEO Tony Capuano said. “What’s encouraging is that it’s really across segments—leisure remains strong, group is solid and business transient has stabilized.”
Leisure RevPAR increased 5 percent in the U.S. and Canada, while group RevPAR rose 5 percent, supported by improving booking pace for meetings and events. Business transient RevPAR grew 2 percent in the region as higher average daily rates helped offset slight declines in room nights, particularly in government travel.
Capuano attributed the improved mix partly to a shift toward domestic and drive‑to travel, ongoing prioritization of experiences over goods and relatively low new hotel supply in the U.S. and Canada.
Development Pipeline
The company added roughly 15,900 net rooms during the quarter, including approximately 7,500 net rooms in international markets. At the end of the quarter, Marriott’s global system totaled over 9,900 properties, with nearly 1,796,000 rooms.
At the end of the quarter, the company’s worldwide development pipeline totaled 4,107 properties with nearly 618,000 rooms, including 230 properties with nearly 34,000 rooms approved for development but not yet subject to signed contracts. The quarter-end pipeline included 1,699 properties with over 268,000 rooms under construction, including hotels that are in the process of converting to our system. Over half of the rooms in the quarter-end pipeline were located in international markets.
In the 2026 first quarter, worldwide RevPAR increased 4.2 percent (a 6.0 percent increase using actual dollars) compared to the 2025 first quarter. RevPAR in the U.S. & Canada increased 4.0 percent (a 4.3 percent increase using actual dollars), and RevPAR in international markets increased 4.6 percent (a 10.1 percent increase using actual dollars) compared to the 2025 first quarter.
On the call, new CFO Jen Mason alluded to the expected sale of a "long-held hotel in the United States that will stay in the portfolio under a new long term management agreement," later this year.
On the financial side, Mason highlighted strong flow‑through from North American performance into fee growth and earnings.
“Local RevPAR rose 4.2 percent in the first quarter and total gross fee revenues increased 12 percent year over year,” Mason said. “Adjusted EBITDA increased 15 percent to $1.4 billion, reflecting higher RevPAR, unit growth and strong results across our owned and managed portfolio.”
Outlook
Looking ahead, Marriott raised its full‑year 2026 global RevPAR guidance to 2 percent to 3 percent, citing first‑quarter outperformance and stronger‑than‑expected trends in the U.S. and Canada that extended into April.
“With the strength we’ve seen across chain scales in the first quarter continuing into April, we raised our outlook for the U.S. and Canada,” Mason said, adding that North America is now tracking toward the high end of the company’s global guidance range.
The outlook assumes continued pressure from the Middle East conflict, which is expected to reduce full‑year global RevPAR growth by 100 to 125 basis points. However, North America remains largely insulated from the disruption, executives said.
Marriott also reaffirmed expectations that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will provide a lift later in the year, contributing an estimated 30 to 35 basis points to global RevPAR growth, with a meaningful share of the benefit concentrated in U.S. markets.
Beyond demand, growth in the region continues to be supported by conversions and brand expansion. Conversions represented more than 40 percent of openings in the quarter, and Marriott said midscale brands—still relatively new to the company—are scaling rapidly in North America alongside continued strength in luxury and premium segments.
Technology and AI Focus
Marriott continued to invest heavily in technology, completing the transition of more than 1,000 hotels to its new tech ecosystem and expanding the use of AI across sales, marketing and guest engagement.
“Our investment priorities remain consistent—contracts, technology transformation and targeted brand growth,” Mason said. “The majority of our technology spend is expected to be reimbursed over time, and it’s designed to enhance owner returns while improving efficiency for associates.”
The company plans a phased rollout of natural-language search on Marriott.com and its app by the end of the second quarter, leveraging real-time inventory to enhance trip planning and direct bookings.
“We believe AI presents an exciting opportunity to connect directly and in a more personalized manner with our customers,” Capuano said, adding that it could help lower distribution costs and improve owner returns.