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| Statement |
|---|
| Finally, Jamaica had another solid quarter with occupancy increasing slightly year-over-year, along with mid-single-digit ADR growth, despite a significant headwind from lower MICE group mix year-over-year |
| We continue to believe that our significant free cash flow generation is underappreciated, given the modest amount of ROI-driven CapEx expected in the near term and continued healthy business fundamentals |
| The better-than-expected results were broad-based across our segments, driven by strong demand during the high season |
| On the comp front, food and beverage cost continue to be favorable as a result of lower input prices and cost efficiency efforts by our operations team |
| These efforts are really just beginning to bear fruit from the heavy lifting undertaken thus far in ‘23 and we expect the benefits to accelerate at the company moves into ‘24 and beyond as our cost savings are averaging currently mid-single digits to high-single-digit improvements per category |
| Nice results |
| Our results in the Yucatan were quite exceptional on a currency-adjusted basis with occupancy nearing fourth quarter 2018 and 2019 levels, our fourth quarter 2022 Yucatan ADR reflected multiple favorable true up adjustments |
| Looking at demand as a whole, demand for the fourth quarter of 2023 and beyond improved in July of last year, continued to accelerate through the third quarter and remained healthy in the fourth quarter |
| Most remarkable aspects of our fourth quarter of the Yucatan however was the continued execution by our operations teams in Mexico which were able to grow currency neutral margins approximately 100 basis points year-over-year on modest reported ADR growth |
| We've got a lot of moving pieces here and it's hard to kind of discern it, but I think if you just kind of forget about like, so many of the moving pieces and if you can just focus on the underlying fundamentals, I think it's a positive story |
| We believe we can hold FX neutral margins steady year-over-year in the Yucatan in 2024 on positive low-single-digit to mid-single-digit ADR growth, despite underlying wage pressure continuing |
| And what we did in December, what we're seeing so far in the first quarter is incredibly positive for our business |
| Similar to the Yucatan, the Pacific was able to grow margins on the currency neutral basis by approximately 290 basis points year-over-year, despite significant wage pressure |
| Our fourth quarter results exceeded our expectations, coming in well above the high end of our expected range |
| In the DR, fundamental strength during the fourth quarter was led by the Hyatt Cap Cana, which continues to be the preeminent resort in one of the top resort markets in the world and was our best performing resort in Q4 |
| And so I think that bodes well for our business |
| So, if you take that normal which I do think, it's kind of the low-single-digit kind of mystical digit increases are normal and then you add 100, 200, 300 basis points with some of these projects not it may be on the whole portfolio, but in individual resorts, no, I think you'll start to see very healthy and attractive growth opportunities |
| We will continue to redeploy the significant free cash flow we generate in share repurchases and our market-leading assets setting us up to accelerate growth beyond 2024 |
| So I am optimistic our Canadian guest mix will improve in the coming months |
| The business is incredibly solid as we've said |
| And then the final one, is something that it's kind of less sexy, but it's very beneficial and that's really kind of things that save us cost in the biggest area there |
| And, it's a pretty significant value enhancer, as well |
| So, hopefully by either the next earnings call of the one after that, you will see us laying out things that we're going to be focused on in order to drive growth, because it's critical, during the pandemic a lot of projects that put on the back shelf in the world was so uncertain and now, it's pretty clear that, our business is very, very robust |
| It's really strong |
| However, our focus on execution and the stellar fundamentals should shine brighter in the near future as the profit headwinds are expected to abate |
| This year largely came to fruition during the fourth quarter of 2023, as closer demand during the high season, particularly in Mexico exceeded our expectations and aided our ADR growth, as these peak season bookings came at healthy rates |
| But I think they'll be like the Playa Collection, nice incremental growth to our core portfolio |
| As we outlined earlier in 2023, our expectation was that the first quarter would represent the highest year-over-year ADR and EBITDA growth in 2023 as we’ve lapped the impact from Omicron in early 2022 and growth would normalize as we enter the second half of 2023, as the base comparison period had less noise |
| So, , we're optimistic and at the same time, we will continue to repurchase our stock if kind of the stock price stays in the range as it's been in the last, 18, 24 months, I think you'll see us continue to do that |
| Now, how do we just kind of continue to improve, improve our revenues, improve our EBITDA growth, improve our margins, I think that's where the focus is going to be |
| Statement |
|---|
| Results in the segment were hindered by the Jewel Resorts, which posted a modest loss in Q4 |
| Secondly, the Mexican peso had a very large year-over-year change during the fourth quarter of 2023, which negatively impacted our EBITDA by approximately $5.5 million and resort margins by 250 basis points |
| Right? We had our bookings are negative for about a week |
| And lastly, as we mentioned the DR Jewels, these resorts continued to weigh on the performance of the portfolio in ‘23 negatively impacting owned resort EBITDA margins by over 250 basis points for the fourth quarter and for the full year ‘23, the two resorts recorded an EBITDA loss of approximately $15 million and negatively impacted owned resort margins by approximately 280 basis points |
| We expect owned resort EBITDA margins to decline year-over-year given the continuing FX headwinds in Mexico, which are expected to negatively impact margins by approximately 200 basis points at today's spot rates |
| So, I mean, I would say, if you look back, a couple quarters ago, right, everybody's concern was that the leisure bubble has burst and particularly on our business that the benefits that we got in ‘21 and ’22 were diminishing, right |
| The segment was off to a good start in 2024, that US State Department's Travel Advisory notice for Jamaica on January 23, has had a negative impact on the second year term as cancellations picked up meaningfully |
| Given the warning level was not based on any new instance or data, the impact to this while unfortunate, will likely to be confined to lost bookings in March through June |
| We estimate that Hurricanes Norma and Lidia negatively impacted segment EBITDA by approximately $1 million to $1.25 million in the quarter |
| The two resorts combined for an EBITDA loss of approximately $15 million in 2023 with the Jewel Palm Beach’s loss in the fourth quarter narrowing to just under $1 million |
| Additionally, based on our pacing and bookings data, we were of the believe that the brief slow down in bookings experienced ahead of the summer travel season was likely the result of pent-up demand for European travel, and not indicative of weak demand for traditional winter travel to beach and warm weather destinations |
| And it's also going to relatively adverse to the climate |
| In aggregate, during the fourth quarter of 2023, 47.4% of Playa owned and managed transient revenues booked were booked direct down 460 basis points year-over-year |
| The decline was driven by fewer World of Hyatt redemption bookings, following a spike during the first quarter of 2023 ahead of a change in the conversion rate for point redemptions, which pulled forward quite a bit of demand |
| For the first quarter of ’24, we expect reported occupancy to be in the low to mid 80% and reported package ADR to decline low-single-digits year-over-year basis, again due to the Jewel Palm Beach |
| Obviously, the first quarter have some comparability issues because the Jewels were a drag in Q1 of last year and the Jewel Palm Beach wasn't open |
| Playa’s owned resort EBITDA of $73.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 included a significant year-over-year, foreign currency exchange headwind of approximately $5.6 million due to the appreciation of the Mexican peso; a benefit from business interruption proceeds of approximately $900,000 and negative EBITDA at the Jewel Resorts in the Dominican Republic |
| First, Hurricane Fiona hit the Dominican Republic towards the end of Q3 2022 and caused significant disruption at the Hilton La Romana, the Hyatt Cap Cana, which we chose to temporarily close for a small portion of Q3 ‘22 and over half of Q4 oof ’22 |
| Our Canadian guest mix has remained relatively muted as approximately 60% recovered versus pre-pandemic levels |
| Bookings in Jamaica have since stabilized, but the majority of the cancellations were for states in the coming months and will be difficult to backfill |
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