Leeny Oberg
Chief Financial Officer at Marriott International
Thank you, Tony. At this point in the process, we expect these efforts to yield $80 million to $90 million of annual pre-tax general and administrative cost reductions beginning in 2025. In addition, we expect to deliver cost savings to our owners and franchisees. This initiative is anticipated to result in roughly $100 million of charges, primarily in the fourth-quarter of 2024. The charges will be recorded in restructuring and merger-related charges and in reimbursed expenses. With meaningful growth opportunities around the world across our more than 30 brands, we're confident these efforts will make us even more competitive.
Now turning to our third-quarter results. Gross fee revenues rose 7% in the quarter to $1.28 billion. The increase reflects higher global RevPAR, rooms growth, an increase in residential branding fees helped by timing and higher co-brand credit card fees. IMFs grew 11% to $159 million. Growth in IMFs was led by higher fees in the US and Canada as well as strong growth in APAC and CALA, partially offset by a $5 million decline in Greater China. G&A in the quarter rose 15%, primarily due to $19 million operating profit guarantee reserve for a US hotel, which was negotiated in connection with the company's acquisition of Starwood, as well as an $11 million litigation reserve.
Even with these $31 million of reserves, third-quarter adjusted EBITDA grew faster than gross fees, rising 8% to $1.2 billion. Adjusted EPS increased 7% to $2.26. Now let's talk about our outlook for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2024. Global RevPAR is expected to grow 2% to 3% in the fourth-quarter, and we still assume 3% to 4% growth for the full-year. In the fourth-quarter, RevPAR growth is anticipated to be higher in most international markets than in the US and Canada. Fourth-quarter RevPAR growth in the US and Canada is currently expected to be generally in line with the third-quarter with strong leisure and BP trends in October, offsetting weakness in November due to tomorrow's election.
The election impact on US and Canada RevPAR is forecasted to be around negative 300 basis-points in November and negative 100 basis-points for the quarter, double that of past election cycles as we have meaningfully lower transient and group room nights on the books for both this week and next. Greater China is still expected to post negative RevPAR growth in the fourth-quarter and for the full-year as a result of current weak demand and pricing trends in the region. In the fourth-quarter, gross fee growth is expected to be in the 4% to 5% range. Compared to our July guidance, fees are expected to be impacted by softer performance at certain hotels under renovation and lower than previously forecasted residential branding fees due to timing.
Our owned, leased and other revenues net of expenses could total roughly $95 million. For the full-year, gross fees are anticipated to grow 6% to 7% to $5.13 billion to $5.15 billion. Owned, leased and other revenues net of expenses could total around $346 million, we now expect full-year G&A expense could rise 4% to 5% year-over-year. Full-year adjusted EBITDA is now expected to total $4.93 billion to $4.96 billion, a 6% to 7% increase over 2023. 2024 adjusted EPS is now anticipated to be between $9.19 and $9.27 with a 25% assumed tax-rate.
We're now forecasting full-year investment spending of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion. As a reminder, this year's spending includes higher than historical investment in technology associated with the multi-year transformation of our property management, reservations and loyalty systems, the vast majority of which is expected to be reimbursed over time. The rollout of these platforms is slated to begin later next year and we look forward to the many benefits that should accrue from elevating our three major tech platforms. Our powerful asset-light business model generates a great deal of cash and our philosophy on allocating that capital remains the same. We're committed to our investment-grade rating and investing in growth that is accretive to shareholder value.
Excess capital is returned to shareholders through share repurchases and a modest dividend, which has risen meaningfully over time. We now expect to return approximately $4.4 billion to shareholders for the full-year. This factors in the $500 million of required cash for the purchase of the Sheraton Grand Chicago expected to occur later this month. As Tony mentioned, we're very pleased with the robust development activity across our global portfolio. This summer, we raised our full-year 2024 net rooms guidance to 6% to 6.5% growth after signing the Sonder deal. With increased visibility, we now anticipate 2024 rooms growth at the top-end of this range or around 6.5%.
We still expect net rooms to grow at a solid three-year CAGR of 5% to 5.5% from year-end 2022 to year-end 2025. Thank you for your continued interest in Marriott, and Tony and I are now happy to take your questions. Operator?