Starwood's second-quarter financial report showed that demand fell for rooms at its luxury hotels (St. Regis, Luxury Collection and W).
At constant dollars, W's revenue per available room
(RevPAR) fell 2.2% from a year earlier, while RevPAR for the St.
Regis and Luxury Collection hotels declined 0.5%.
Starwood's other brands performed better, enabling the company to increase overall RevPAR by 1.4%. Aloft (3.6%) and Westin (3.2%) led the way, followed by Four Points (2.3%) and Sheraton (1.6%). Le Meridien's RevPAR was essentially flat, falling 0.3%.
North America was Starwood's strongest region with a 3.4% RevPAR increase. Europe was up 1.1%, and Asia was up 2.9% when factoring out China.
RevPAR plunged 9.7% in Africa and the Middle East and 5.1% in Latin America. China was down 1.8%
Starwood reported that its
second-quarter revenue was little-changed at $1.25 billion. The company
had a net loss of $263 million, compared with net income of $136
million a year earlier. Starwood took a $241 million loss on dispositions and $114
million in impairment charges in this year's second quarter.
Starwood won’t host an earnings
conference call with analysts, citing its pending acquisition by Marriott
International. Starwood said that transaction is expected to close in
the coming weeks.
The company forecasted that third-quarter RevPAR growth
would accelerate to about 5%.