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Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Marriott International, Hyatt Hotels, Hilton Worldwide, Choice Hotels and WyndhamWorldwide

Texas Capital (TCBI) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – June 13, 2018 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Industry: Hotels, Part 2, including Marriott International, Inc. MAR, Hyatt Hotels Corp. H, Hilton Worldwide HLT, Choice Hotels CHH and WyndhamWorldwide WYN.

Industry: Hotels, Part 2

Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/167251/can-the-us-hotel-industry-continue-its-robust-performance

Impressive performances by U.S. hotel companies in first-quarter 2018 has raised expectations for the remainder of the year.

Underpinning this favorable view is the positive outlook for the U.S. economy, thanks to healthy consumer spending, a strong labor market, rising government expenditures and increased consumer confidence.

The U.S. economy is anticipated to grow at an annualized rate of 4% in the second quarter, per the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model (as of May 25). This marks a sharp increase from 2.3% GDP growth registered in the first quarter of 2018.  Robust domestic data gives an indication that the industry will continue its bull run in the second half of 2018.

Thus, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the broader hotel industry over the short and the long term. Below, we discuss what investors can look forward to in the coming period:

Steady Growth in Demand

The supply-demand environment in the United States has been favorable since 2010 with growth in demand outpacing supply growth. Though, of late, the gap between demand and supply growth has narrowed considerably and occupancy growth has decelerated, higher average daily rates (ADRs) will continue to drive revenue per available room (RevPAR).

Given the positive economic outlook for the remainder of the year, which could result in the ninth successive year of occupancy growth for the U.S. lodging industry, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) projects demand (+2.4%) to outpace supply (+2.0%) in 2018. Further, in 2019, it anticipates demand and supply growth of 1.9% each. Occupancy in 2018 is likely to increase 0.3% to 66.3%.

International Expansion to Drive Growth

Most of the hotel companies are exploring international expansion, especially in relatively untapped emerging markets and the outlying areas surrounding major cities. Unsaturated markets in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Brazil, Russia and Africa are being targeted by hospitality companies.

China, which is the largest source market for outbound travel, is the most significant market for the hotel industry. In less than two decades China has become the world’s most powerful outbound market for hotels and leisure.

Interestingly, the country is a major revenue contributor for Marriott International, Inc. which entered into a joint venture with Alibaba with an aim to improve market share, expand membership of its loyalty programs and reduce distribution costs. India is also becoming a hot spot for U.S.-based hotel businesses as it gains precedence as a global business hub. Although economic growth rates are slightly lower than China, the country has great long-term growth potential as a tourism market.

In fact, Hyatt Hotels Corp.’s major target markets include India and China. Apart from these, the company also has expansion plans for diverse international markets including Australia, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand and the Netherlands, among others.

Meanwhile, Europe remains an attractive market despite repeated terror attacks and Brexit-induced uncertainties. Major players like Marriott, Hilton Worldwide, Choice Hotels and WyndhamWorldwide have a strong foothold in this region.

Several players in the space are also looking to leverage from rise in accommodation demand in Latin America. In this respect, WyndhamHotel Group acquired Latin America's leading Fen Hotels. Meanwhile, with an increasing number of managed and franchised limited service hotels in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, Marriott expects its distribution in the Caribbean and Latin American region to increase 75% by 2018.

Loyalty Programs Attract Customers

Loyalty programs are one of the major driving factors in the hotel industry. In order to survive in a tough economic environment, the companies continuously devise ways to enhance guest experience and raise occupancy. Given the fact that reward members stay longer than non-members and generate more revenues for their franchisees, hotel chains have been increasingly focusing on loyalty programs.

Hilton has created one of the largest loyalty programs, Hilton Honors. With about 74 million members, this network has created an extremely valuable asset for the company. In 2017, the company added over 11 million members to the program. Also, in the first quarter of 2018, more than 3 million members were added to Hilton Honors. Innovations such as the Hilton Honors app continue to drive growth in the program.

With about 52 million members, Wyndham Rewards offers one of the most generous reward program payouts in the industry. In fact, per a recent study conducted by Ideaworks Company, Wyndham Rewards is touted as the most-rewarding loyalty program in the U.S. hotel industry.

Recently, Marriott International announced its plans to unify its loyalty program benefits across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) in August. The combined loyalty program is expected to provide richer perks to the company’s loyalty members by enabling them to earn roughly 20% points for every dollar spent.

The new loyalty program will provide members more than what was offered under the prior programs. Under this global loyalty program, members can book stays, and earn or redeem points across 29 brands covering 6,500 hotels in 127 countries and territories.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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Marriott International (MAR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Hyatt Hotels Corporation (H) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (CHH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (HLT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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