Marriott CEO Expresses "Measured Optimism" for Hospitality Rebound

Smithtown, NY, April 28, 2021-Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano expressed ‘measured optimism’ on the current state of the U.S. lodging industry and a potential rebound, while acknowledging there is still some ‘heavy lifting’ for hoteliers to do, reports Hotel Interactive.

“The long-time Marriott executive-who took over the reins of the company in February following the death of previous CEO Arne Sorenson-began by explaining his positive outlook.

“I’m optimistic because I look at our data and I see strong week-over-week improvement in demand in many areas of the world. I hear from our customers every day and they are really anxious to get on the road. They’re thoughtful and they’re cautious, but the volume of pent-up demand is pretty extraordinary,’ he said.

“Capuano was also bullish regarding the company’s development numbers and what that means moving forward. While he acknowledged that for the overall industry the ‘pace is meaningfully lower than what we saw pre-pandemic’ when it comes to new construction projects he credited Marriott’s franchisees for having a long-term outlook and keeping development going.

“‘The really interesting thing as we look at our pipeline for the last number of quarters is that even with the pandemic raging we’ve seen the number of under-construction rooms globally stay pretty consistent. We’re at about 220,000 rooms under construction, plus or minus, as we sit here today. One of the really encouraging things is that number hasn’t moved much over the last several quarters,’ he commented.”