Marriott CEO: Luxury And Limited Service Hotels Recovering

Marriott International Inc MAR declared first-quarter results following market close on Wednesday. Diluted EPS for the quarter rose 28 percent year-over-year to $0.73, while North American RevPAR rose 6.9 percent in the quarter.

Arne Sorenson, Marriott CEO and president, was on CNBC Thursday to weigh in on the results and to discuss the success of the company's Courtyard brand.

Same-Store Sales Steady

"We had a really good, strong quarter – on the high-end of what we anticipated for our same-stores sales growth," Sorenson said.

"And we see it steady as she goes, as far as we can see ahead of us."

Related Link: Marriott Posts Higher Q1 Earnings, But Revenue Misses Views

Courtyard

Sorenson was asked about the success of Marriott's Courtyard brand and the impact on occupancy due to the rise in the dollar. He replied, "Courtyard did very well, but all of our limited service brands did well.

"I think a piece of that is that the luxury hotels came out of the recession faster, and so the limited service hotels are catching up a little bit.

He continued, "I think when you look at Courtyard by itself, that brand has also been reinvented. All of the lobbies in the United States have been redone. Most of the guest rooms have been redone. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in those hotels, and I think we are getting some payback associated with that."

Travel To The United States

He went on, "There's a bit of question around this New York piece and [...] inbound travel to New York. One thing we were pleasantly surprised by in the first quarter is international arrivals to the United States were up about 1 percent notwithstanding the strong dollar.

"I think that's based on these strong global travel trends where we have got new travelers from China and India and Africa that are continuing to be on the road," Sorenson concluded.