Marriott International has seen dollar RevPAR declined 22.5 per cent worldwide during the first quarter of 2020 as the Covid-19 outbreak takes a huge toll on the hospitality industry.

First quarter reported diluted earnings per share totalled $0.09, compared to $1.09 in the year-ago quarter.

The hotel giant reported a net income of $31 million for the period, compared to $375 million last year.

The full impact of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to be further revealed in the second quarter.

Arne Sorenson, chief executive officer of Marriott International, said, “In the last few months we have seen the impact of Covid-19 spread throughout our business in an unprecedented way.

“Worldwide RevPAR began the year with a strong 4.6 per cent growth rate for January, excluding Greater China, where Covid-19 was already impacting results.

“For the first two months of the year, worldwide RevPAR grew 3.2 per cent, excluding the Asia Pacific region.

“As the pandemic moved around the world, we saw global RevPAR fall sharply and, in April, worldwide RevPAR declined approximately 90 per cent.”

Marriott said roughly a quarter of its worldwide hotels are currently closed.

Adjusted EBITDA totalled $442 million in the 2020 first quarter, compared to first quarter 2019 adjusted EBITDA of $821 million.

At quarter-end, Marriott’s worldwide development pipeline totalled nearly 3,050 hotels and nearly 516,000 rooms, including more than 24,000 rooms approved, but not yet subject to signed contracts.

Over 230,000 rooms in the pipeline were under construction as of the end of the first quarter.

The company issued $1.6 billion of senior notes in April and raised $920 million in additional liquidity through amendments to its co-brand credit card agreements in early May.

Including these capital raises, net liquidity has increased to approximately $4.3 billion as of May 8th, representing roughly $3.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and $1.3 billion of unused borrowing capacity under its revolving credit facility, less $0.9 billion of commercial paper outstanding.

“As national, state and local restrictions around travel and business are gradually relaxed, we are preparing to welcome back our associates and guests,” added Sorenson.

“A large, and very important, part of that process is addressing their health and safety concerns while on property.

“To that end, we are rolling out a multi-pronged platform to elevate cleanliness standards and hospitality norms to respond to the new health and safety challenges presented by the current pandemic environment.”

Marriott’s earnings of $31 million compared to Hilton, which turned a profit of $18 million, and Wyndham, which announced a net income of $22 million.

With the lowest RevPAR decline and highest net earnings in relation to its close rivals, Marriott looks to be in a solid position to navigate through this pandemic.