Marriott CEO Outlines Company's 2019 Objectives

Hotel and lodging giant Marriott International Inc MAR unveiled on Tuesday its near-term growth plan, which implies an average of one new hotel opening somewhere in the world every 14 hours through 2019, or a total of 285,000 to 300,000 new rooms.

The company also introduced 2019 financial guidance, including a compounded earnings per share growth rate of up to 21 percent from 2016's results.

To some this may seem like an overly aggressive growth plan.

Arne Sorenson, President and CEO of Marriott, was interviewed by Bloomberg's Erick Schatzker and the first question asked was if the macro outlook is supportive of the company's plans.

Plan Involves 'Fairly Anemic' Growth

Sorenson was quick to point out it's difficult enough to forecast one quarter out. However, the company's 2019 outlook is in reality anything but bold as it implies "fairly anemic" same-store growth of just 1 to 3 percent.

Meanwhile, Sorenson stated that up to 90 percent of the planned 285,000 to 300,000 new rooms have already been identified, which does make his outlook "fairly predictable."

Finally, Sorenson suggested the stock market is sending an even clearer signal today than it did six months ago that the global economy will perform better in the years ahead.

See Also:

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