Marriott International shares traded higher Wednesday after the hotel giant reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, showing that people are still willing to pay for a room even when the world feels a bit wobbly.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.72, beating the $2.55 analysts were looking for. Revenue rose 6% year over year to $6.65 billion, also topping expectations of $6.59 billion. Reported diluted EPS ticked up to $2.43 from $2.39, while adjusted net income climbed to $726 million from $645 million. Adjusted EBITDA jumped 15% to $1.40 billion, and adjusted operating margin expanded to 64% from 63%.

The headline number that hotel investors care about most — RevPAR, or revenue per available room — rose 4.2% worldwide, coming in above the high end of Marriott's own expectations. In the U.S. and Canada, RevPAR was up 4%, while international RevPAR grew 4.6%.

Asia Pacific (excluding China) was the standout, with RevPAR up more than 7%. Greater China wasn't far behind, with nearly 6% growth driven by leisure demand in Hong Kong and Hainan. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) grew more than 3%, as gains in Europe and Africa partly offset weakness in the Middle East tied to regional conflict.

Marriott's fee business continues to be a nice little earner. Franchise and base management fees rose 13% to $1.21 billion, helped by higher co-branded credit card fees, room growth, and stronger RevPAR. Incentive management fees increased to $222 million from $204 million.

The company added roughly 15,900 net rooms during the quarter, pushing net rooms growth to 4.5%. Its development pipeline hit a record 4,107 properties and nearly 618,000 rooms, up more than 5% year over year. Conversions — where existing hotels switch to Marriott flags — accounted for more than 35% of signings and more than 40% of openings.

Marriott Bonvoy, the loyalty program that keeps travelers coming back, grew to nearly 283 million members at quarter-end.

CEO Anthony Capuano said, “We delivered excellent first quarter results, reflecting the strength of our brands, our unmatched global footprint, and the resilience of demand for travel.”

Marriott ended the quarter with $16.5 billion in debt and $0.5 billion in cash. The company repurchased 2.1 million shares for $0.7 billion during the quarter and has returned more than $1.2 billion to shareholders year-to-date through dividends and buybacks.

Looking ahead, Marriott's updated outlook assumes the Middle East conflict and related travel disruptions will continue through the end of 2026, mainly affecting the Middle East region. The guidance also excludes any impact from ongoing negotiations tied to its U.S. co-branded credit card agreements.

For full-year 2026, the company expects worldwide comparable systemwide constant-dollar RevPAR growth of 2% to 3%, while net rooms growth is projected at 4.5% to 5%. It raised its full-year gross fee revenue outlook to $5.93 billion to $5.99 billion (up 9% to 10%) and adjusted EBITDA to $5.88 billion to $5.97 billion. Adjusted diluted EPS is expected between $11.38 and $11.63, versus analyst estimates of $11.60.

Investment spending is projected at $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion, while capital returns to shareholders are expected to exceed $4.4 billion.

For the second quarter, Marriott expects adjusted EPS of $2.99 to $3.06, compared with analyst estimates of $3.06. The outlook assumes continued Middle East travel disruption, including an expected roughly 50% RevPAR decline in the region during the second quarter, which would reduce full-year global RevPAR growth by 100 to 125 basis points.

Marriott International shares were up 1.95% at $361.43 at the time of publication on Wednesday.