Marriott Suffers as Travelers Stay Home

It's plain and simple. People are not traveling -- not for work and not for leisure -- and Marriott(MAR Quote) is continuing to feel the pain, reporting a 76% plunge in second-quarter earnings Thursday.

The hotelier, which operates the Ritz Carlton, Renaissance and Marriott brands, doesn't expect business to improve anytime soon, either. Marriott forecast third-quarter and full-year earnings well below analysts' predictions.

Investors sent the company's stock down 6% to $20.43 in the early going Thursday.

During the quarter the company earned $37 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with $157 million, or 42 cents, in the year prior. Excluding restructuring and other charges, profit was 23 cents, 2 cents better than analysts' expectations.

Revenue dropped 20% to $2.56 billion from $3.19 billion, while revenue per available room sank 26.1% as both business and leisure travel wane.

Going forward, Marriott expects third-quarter earnings in the range of 9 cents to 14 cents, drastically short of analysts' 20 cents per share estimate. It also predicts full-year earnings between 76 cents and 86 cents, below Wall Street's forecast of 91 cents.