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Emily might be in Paris, but she and her fellow Americans this summer can also be found en masse<\/a> in Rome, London, Thailand and many other international destinations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marriott International reported Tuesday a $726 million profit for the second quarter that was driven by revived travel demand in China as well as the ongoing recovery of business travel and group travel demand in the U.S. and Canada. City hotels that lagged in recovery relative to leisure destinations are also roaring back to life. It was a strong showing for Marriott, as the company’s profitability was up from the $678 million haul seen in the same quarter last year.<\/p>\n If there were any dings on the otherwise perfect report card, it’s that the company’s leisure business in Canada and the U.S. basically remained unchanged from a year ago \u2014 only rising 1%. You can look to the packed planes heading out of the country<\/a> this summer as to what’s driving this trend.<\/p>\n “It’s clear when you look at the travel patterns this year, there is a big exodus of Americans going over to Europe and other places in the world,” Leeny Oberg, Marriott’s chief financial officer and executive vice president of development, said on a company investor call.<\/p>\n Leisure room nights booked from American and Canadian travelers to Marriott-affiliated hotels in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 90% from a year ago, added Marriott’s CEO Anthony Capuano. It was a more than 20% increase in Europe.<\/p>\n Luxury hotel performance for Marriott (this includes brands like JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and W Hotels) in the U.S. and Canada from April through the end of June was actually down 1.4%, but the company isn’t chalking this up to a loss. This is part of a broader industry trend \u2014 and rates are still expensive here in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n “Certainly we do attribute it to the reality that a year ago in the second quarter, there were meaningfully fewer choices for travel,” Oberg said. “There really were consistent restrictions for going overseas.”<\/p>\n But don’t take the softness in luxury hotel performance, or that the company is still down 3% from global pre-pandemic occupancy levels, as a signal Marriott might start discounting room rates to boost demand. Capuano pointed to ongoing recovery in business and international travel as well as China still not being back to its pre-pandemic airline capacity as various signs there is still more demand out there to fill up hotel rooms.<\/p>\n Further, both Capuano and Oberg noted the second quarter of last year in the U.S. was particularly robust because of the limited options of going abroad. Flat performance means rates are still high, and deals aren’t exactly appearing for travelers. Luxury hotel performance in the U.S. is actually strengthening in major cities, which lagged compared to leisure markets like South Florida and elsewhere in the Sun Belt.<\/p>\n