Marriott chief executive, Arne Sorenson, has revealed the company has now reopened all of its properties in China, with business travel driving a recovery in the market.

The hotel giant has over 350 properties in the country.

Occupancy rates have risen to around 40 per cent, Sorensen said, having fallen as low as seven per cent at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“It is not just leisure travel growing, but it is business travel. Chinese are flying again,” Sorenson said at a Goldman Sachs conference.

In the United States, Marriott hotels that remain open crossed the 20 per cent occupancy threshold and continue to see an improvement, Sorenson added.

However, he warned that occupancy might not recover to pre-coronavirus levels for several years.

Marriott recorded occupancy rates of over 70 per cent last year.

The hotel group - which owns about 30 brands including Ritz-Carlton, St Regis and Sheraton - has extended furloughs for employees and reduced working weeks until early October.

Rival Hilton reopened all of its 255 hotels in China two weeks ago and introduced a CleanStay initiative to protect employees and guests.