Marriott International has reported full year net income of $1,907 million for 2018, a 31 per cent increase compared to prior year results.

Full year 2018 adjusted net income totalled $2,201 million at the hotel giant, a 38 per cent increase over prior year adjusted results.

Arne Sorenson, president and chief executive officer of Marriott International, said, “Our team delivered solid results in 2018 even as we worked to complete the integration of Starwood Hotels & Resorts.”

The company added more than 80,000 rooms during 2018, including over 9,900 rooms converted from competitor brands and nearly 36,400 rooms in international markets.

In 2018, Marriott signed agreements for a record 125,000 rooms, increasing the company’s worldwide development pipeline to a record 478,000 rooms as of year-end, including nearly 23,000 rooms approved, but not yet subject to signed contracts.

Sorenson added: “Our rooms grew by nearly 5 per cent, net; worldwide revenue per available room, or RevPAR, increased nearly three percent; general and administrative expenses rose only one percent; and adjusted earnings per share surged 48 per cent. 

“We ended the year with a record 1.3 million rooms operating under our 30 leading lodging brands.”

Adjusted EBITDA totalled $3,473 million at Marriott for full year 2018, an 11 per cent increase over full year 2017 adjusted EBITDA.

Looking ahead, Sorensen added: “For the full year 2019, we expect North America and worldwide RevPAR growth of one-to-three per cent and rooms growth of roughly 5.5 per cent, net. 

“This should yield an increase in total fee revenue of five-to-seven per cent, despite foreign exchange headwinds. 

“It should also enable us to return at least $3 billion to shareholders in share repurchases and dividends in 2019, even assuming no asset sales for the year.”