Marriott International Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) executives said the company delivered “excellent results” in 2025 and entered 2026 with momentum in development, loyalty growth, and continued technology investment, while noting mixed demand trends across segments and geographies.

Portfolio expansion and pipeline growth

Chief Executive Officer Tony Capuano said rooms growth remains a top priority, with Marriott ending December with nearly 1.78 million rooms across more than 9,800 properties in 145 countries and territories. Conversions continued to be a major driver, representing about a third of signings and openings in 2025.

Capuano said the company signed nearly 1,200 deals representing 163,000 rooms during 2025 (excluding M&A). Marriott’s pipeline reached a record 610,000 rooms at year-end, up 2% from the prior quarter and 6% from the prior year. Nearly 265,000 rooms in the pipeline were under construction (including rooms pending conversion), up 15% year over year. Management highlighted that 75% of conversion rooms in 2025 began contributing to fee growth within 12 months of signing.

For 2026, Marriott expects net rooms growth of 4.5% to 5%, including an assumption of 1% to 1.5% room deletions. In response to analyst questions, management said the growth outlook is organic and pointed to conversion-friendly brands, dedicated conversion resources, and accelerating midscale growth as key contributors.

RevPAR trends: 2025 performance and fourth-quarter regional results

For full-year 2025, Marriott reported global RevPAR up 2%, with U.S. and Canada RevPAR up 0.7% and international RevPAR up more than 5%. By segment, leisure RevPAR rose 3%, group RevPAR increased 2%, and business transient RevPAR was flat for the year. Luxury RevPAR increased more than 6%, while select service RevPAR declined 30 basis points.

In the fourth quarter, worldwide RevPAR rose 1.9%, which management said landed at the high end of guidance and was helped by a stronger-than-expected December. December global RevPAR increased 2.8%, with management citing strong leisure demand, particularly in luxury and resort hotels.

• APAC: Fourth-quarter RevPAR increased nearly 9%, with double-digit gains in markets including India, Japan, and Australia.
• EMEA: RevPAR rose 7%, led by 17% growth in the UAE.
• CALA: RevPAR increased over 2%, with resilient leisure demand partly offset by comparisons to citywide events in 2024. Management said City Express hotels are benefiting from integration into Marriott’s ecosystem.
• Greater China: Management said macro conditions remain challenged, but RevPAR returned to growth in the quarter, up over 3% driven by ADR, with stronger rates in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hainan, and Tier One markets offsetting softness in tertiary mainland markets.
• U.S. and Canada: Fourth-quarter RevPAR was “around flat.” Leisure transient RevPAR rose 2% and group RevPAR increased 1%, but business transient RevPAR fell 3% largely due to a decline in government-related demand during a 43-day U.S. government shutdown. Management said government RevPAR was down over 30% during the shutdown and has since moderated to down around 15%.

Brand expansion and loyalty program growth

Capuano said Marriott continued expanding across customer tiers, highlighting luxury openings including the St. Regis Aruba, the Lake Como EDITION, and Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Costa Rica. The company also signed a record 114 luxury deals in 2025, and management noted that 10% of open rooms globally and 10% of pipeline rooms are in the luxury segment.

In midscale, Marriott cited growth in Four Points Flex, StudioRes, and City Express by Marriott, ending the year with more than 450 open and pipeline properties across those brands in 26 countries and territories, along with 100 open and pipeline Series by Marriott properties. New additions during 2025 included lifestyle brand citizenM (fully integrated onto Marriott platforms in November), Series by Marriott, and the Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy.

Marriott Bonvoy added 43 million new members in 2025, bringing total membership to 271 million worldwide at year-end. Management also referenced collaborations with Uber and Starbucks, a third consecutive Points Guy award for Best Hotel Loyalty Program, and Marriott Bonvoy’s role as the official hotel supporter of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Fees, profitability, reclassification, and shareholder returns

Chief Financial Officer Leeny Oberg said fourth-quarter total gross fee revenues grew 7% to $1.4 billion, ahead of expectations, driven by higher RevPAR, room additions, and an 8% increase in credit card fees, partially offset by a 20% decline in residential branding fees. Oberg said the increase in credit card fees reflected higher co-brand card spending, with particularly strong increases in international markets including Japan and the UAE.

Incentive management fees (IMFs) rose 16% to $239 million, driven by the U.S. and Canada where IMFs increased more than 30%, led by New York City and Florida resorts. Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA rose 9% to $1.4 billion. Oberg noted adjusted results excluded one-time charges related to Sonder exiting the system in November.

For full-year 2025, Marriott reported gross fee revenues up 5% to $5.4 billion, with IMFs up 3%. Co-branded credit card fees rose more than 8% to $716 million, while residential branding fees declined 10% to $72 million. The company returned over $4 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks in 2025, and Oberg said Marriott expects more than $4.3 billion of capital returns in 2026.

Oberg also discussed a fourth-quarter presentation change that reclassified certain costs (including guarantee expense, bad debt expense, and certain brand- or property-related expenses) out of the G&A line and into owned, leased, and other expense. She said the change was intended to make G&A reflect “only true general and administrative expenses.” Full-year G&A declined 8% to $870 million, though management noted G&A was a bit above prior expectations due to compensation expenses. Marriott also cited more than $90 million of above-property cost savings in 2025 from an enterprise-wide productivity initiative.

2026 outlook: RevPAR, fees, credit card economics, and technology investment

For 2026, management guided to global RevPAR growth of 1.5% to 2.5%, assuming a relatively steady macro environment. The company expects international RevPAR growth (excluding Greater China) to remain higher than the U.S. and Canada, while U.S. and Canada RevPAR growth is expected to improve versus 2025. Marriott anticipates Greater China RevPAR to be roughly flat year over year. Management said the World Cup is expected to contribute about 30 to 35 basis points of global RevPAR growth for the year, and noted a sensitivity of about $55 million to $65 million of RevPAR-related fees for each 1% change in full-year RevPAR versus 2025.

Marriott forecast gross fee revenues of $5.9 billion to $5.96 billion (up 8% to 10%), with IMFs expected to be flat to up slightly. Oberg said the company is in discussions with Visa, Chase, and American Express and expects new U.S. deals to be in place later in 2026, but guidance does not include any impact from new deals.

A major topic on the call was an expected year-over-year increase of about 35% in co-branded credit card fees going into the franchise fees line. Management attributed the increase to continued spending growth across the global card portfolio and an increase in Marriott’s royalty rate (its share of payments recognized in franchise fees). Oberg said the company amended a long-standing contractual limitation affecting the royalty rate and that the increase is supported by GAAP-required third-party valuation analyses performed when credit card deals were signed. Management emphasized the royalty-rate change is separate from ongoing U.S. credit card negotiations.

Marriott expects residential branding fees to increase around 40% in 2026, while noting the fees can be “very lumpy” depending on unit-sale timing. Timeshare fees are expected at $110 million to $115 million. Owned, leased, and other revenue net is expected to be $230 million to $240 million, impacted by renovations at hotels including W Barcelona and the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo.

For the first quarter, Marriott expects global RevPAR growth of 1% to 2%, with Olympics-related benefit in EMEA offset by the timing of Easter and Chinese New Year and tough comparisons in the U.S. and Canada versus last year’s U.S. inauguration. First-quarter gross fee revenue is expected to rise 7% to 8%.

On technology, Capuano said Marriott is advancing a multi-year transformation of its property management, reservations, and loyalty systems, moving from development into deployment with test hotels and broader rollout planned through 2026. He also described early work with Google on a hotel search experience for Google’s forthcoming AI Mode travel product and participation in OpenAI’s ad pilot program. Marriott plans to deploy natural language search on Marriott.com and the Bonvoy app in the first half of the year.

The call also marked Oberg’s final earnings call, as executives and analysts noted her upcoming retirement and the company’s transition planning.

About Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR)

Marriott International is a global lodging company that develops, manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Its core activities include hotel and resort management, franchise operations, property development and the provision of centralized services such as reservations, marketing and loyalty program management. The company’s brand architecture spans market segments from luxury and premium to select-service and extended-stay, enabling it to serve a wide range of business and leisure travelers as well as corporate and group customers.

The company traces its roots to the hospitality business founded by J.