(Reuters) – Marriott International Inc posted a quarterly profit on Wednesday, compared with a year-ago loss, as a rebound in travel demand boosted occupancy rates across its hotels.
The company, which owns brands including The Ritz-Carlton, reported comparable RevPAR, or revenue per available room, increase of 96.5% for the quarter.
The hotel operator announced a 30 cents per share quarterly cash dividend.
“Assuming the demand environment continues to improve and that we are within our target leverage ratio range, we also would expect to resume share repurchases in 2022,” Chief Executive Officer Anthony Capuano said in a statement.
Marriott’s shares rose 2.1% to $176.63 in light premarket trading.
The company reported a net income of $377 million, or $1.14 per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $11 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Sriraj Kalluvila)
