Marriott International Expects to Add 38,000 Rooms in 2009

Marriott International, Inc. reported that the company expects to add approximately 38,000 rooms to its worldwide lodging system in 2009, raising its guidance of 33,000 gross room additions for 2009 provided in its third-quarter earnings press release on Oct. 8, 2009.

The company also said that system-wide revenue per available room (RevPAR) outside North America for the fourth quarter of 2009 should decline 14 to 16 percent, which is 2 percentage points better than expected. Marriott expects that the decline in system-wide RevPAR inside North America to be within prior guidance.

On Oct. 8, the company provided guidance of a 16 to 18 percent RevPAR decline for the fourth quarter of 2009 year-over-year for comparable system-wide hotels outside North America on a constant dollar basis, and a 13 to 16 percent REVPAR decline for comparable system-wide hotels in North America.

For its timeshare business, Marriott expects contract sales of timeshare intervals in the fourth quarter of 2009 to be slightly better than the guidance of $185 million to $190 million the company provided on Oct. 8.

The successful completion of a note sale securitization during the current fourth quarter, which yielded a $37 million gain, and stronger-than-expected rental profits should enable Marriott’s timeshare segment to outperform its expectations. Marriott will issue fourth quarter and full-year 2009 results on Feb. 11, 2010.