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• | Risks Related to Revenue: COVID-19 has negatively impacted, and will in the future negatively impact to an extent we are unable to predict, our revenues from managed and franchised hotels, which are primarily based on hotels’ revenues or profits. In addition, COVID-19 and its impact on global and regional economies, and the hospitality industry in particular, has made it difficult for hotel owners and franchisees to obtain financing on attractive terms, or at all. Combined with the significant decline in revenues for most hotels, this increases the probability that owners and franchisees will be unable to fund working capital and to service, repay or refinance indebtedness. This may cause hotel owners or franchisees to declare bankruptcy or cause lenders to declare a default, accelerate the related debt, or foreclose on the property. Such bankruptcies, sales or foreclosures could, in some cases, result in the termination of our management or franchise agreements and eliminate our anticipated income and cash flows, which could negatively affect our results of operations. Hotel owners or franchisees in bankruptcy may not have sufficient assets to pay us termination fees, other unpaid fees or reimbursements we are owed under their agreements with us. Even if hotel owners or franchisees do not declare bankruptcy, they may be unable or unwilling to pay us amounts that we are entitled to on a timely basis or at all, which would adversely affect our liquidity. If a significant number of hotels exit our system as a result of COVID-19, whether as a result of an owner or franchisee bankruptcy, failure to pay amounts owed to us, a negotiated termination, or otherwise, our revenues and liquidity could be adversely affected. COVID-19 could also materially impact other non-hotel related sources of revenues for us, including for example our fees from our co-brand credit card arrangements. To the extent COVID-19 significantly impacts spending patterns of co-brand cardholders or acquisition of new co-brand cardholders, we will receive lower fees and less funding from the financial institutions party to our co-brand card arrangements. Also, we could be required to test our intangible assets or goodwill for impairments due to reduced revenues or cash flows.
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• | Risks Related to Owned and Leased Hotels: COVID-19 and its impact on travel has reduced demand at nearly all hotels, including our owned and leased hotels. As a result, most of our owned and leased properties are not generating revenue sufficient to meet operating expenses, which is adversely affecting our income and could in the future more significantly adversely affect the value of our owned and leased properties, potentially requiring us to recognize significant additional non-cash impairment charges to our results of operations.
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• | Risks Related to Operations: Because of the significant decline in the demand for hotel rooms, we have taken steps to reduce operating costs and improve efficiency, including furloughing a substantial number of our personnel and implementing reduced work weeks for other personnel. Such steps, and further changes we may make in the future to reduce costs for us or our hotel owners or franchisees, may negatively impact guest loyalty, owner preference, or our ability to attract and retain associates, and our reputation and market share may suffer as a result. For example, if our furloughed personnel do not return to work with us when COVID-19 subsides, including because they find new jobs during the furlough, we may experience operational challenges that impact guest loyalty, owner preference, and our market share, which could limit our ability to grow and expand our business and could reduce our profits. Further, reputational damage from, and the financial impact of, reduced work weeks could lead associates to depart the Company and could make it harder for us or the managers of our franchised properties to recruit new associates in the future. In addition, if we or our hotel owners or franchisees are unable to access capital to make physical improvements to our hotels, the quality of our hotels may suffer, which may negatively impact our reputation and guest loyalty, and our market share may suffer as a result. We have received demands or requests from labor unions that represent our associates and may face additional demands, whether in the course of our periodic renegotiation of our collective bargaining agreements or otherwise, for additional compensation, healthcare benefits or other terms as a result of COVID-19 that could increase costs, and we could experience labor disputes or disruptions as we continue to implement our COVID-19 mitigation plans. COVID-19 could also negatively affect our internal control over financial and other reporting, as many of our personnel are on furlough, and our remaining personnel are on reduced work weeks and largely required to work from home. Accordingly, new processes, procedures and controls could be required to respond to changes in our business environment.
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• | Risks Related to Expenses: COVID-19 may cause us to incur additional expenses. For example, depending on the length of the furloughs, we may need to make severance payments to some of our furloughed associates, even if we intend to have the associates return to work in the future. Also, if a hotel closes and has employees covered by an underfunded multi-employer pension plan, we may need to pay a withdrawal liability to the plan if we do not continue making sufficient contributions to the plan for other covered hotels, and we may be unable to collect reimbursement from the hotel owner. In addition, COVID-19 could make it more likely that we have to fund shortfalls in operating profit under our agreements with some hotel owners beyond the additional guarantee reserves that we recorded in the 2020 first quarter. COVID-19 also makes it more likely our hotel owners or franchisees will default on loans we have made to them or will fail to reimburse us for any payments we make to third-party lenders to whom we made financial guarantees for the timely repayment of all or a portion of the hotel owners’ or franchisees’ debt related to hotels that we manage or franchise. Our ability to recover loans and guarantee advances from hotel operations or from owners or franchisees through the proceeds of hotel sales, refinancing of debt or otherwise may also affect our ability to recycle and raise new capital. Even in situations where we are not obligated to provide funding to hotel owners, franchisees or joint ventures, we may choose to provide financial or other types of support to certain of these parties, which could materially increase our expenses. While governments have and may continue to implement various stimulus and relief programs, it is uncertain whether and to what extent we or our hotel owners or franchisees will be eligible to participate in such programs, whether conditions or restrictions imposed under such programs will be acceptable, and whether such programs will be effective in avoiding or sufficiently mitigating the impacts of COVID-19. As a result of COVID-19, we could experience other short or longer-term impacts on our costs, for example, related to enhanced health and hygiene requirements, such as our recently announced multi-pronged platform to elevate cleanliness standards and hospitality norms to respond to the new health and safety challenges presented by COVID-19.
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• | Risks Related to Growth: Our growth may also be harmed by COVID-19. Many current and prospective hotel owners and franchisees are finding it difficult or impossible to obtain hotel financing on commercially viable terms. If COVID-19 or general economic weakness causes further deterioration in the capital markets for hotels, some projects that are in construction or development, including a few in which we have minority equity investments, may be unable to draw on existing financing commitments, and replacement financing may not be available or may only be available on less favorable terms. COVID-19 is also causing construction delays due to government restrictions on non-essential activities and shortages of supplies caused by supply chain interruptions. As a result, some of the properties in our development pipeline will not enter our system when we anticipated, or at all, and the rate at which new hotels enter our pipeline may significantly decrease. Delays, increased costs and other impediments to restructuring projects under development will reduce our ability to realize fees, recover loans and guarantee advances, or realize returns on equity investments from such projects. In addition, to the extent that existing hotels exit our system as a result of COVID-19, the overall growth of our system could be negatively impacted.
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• | Risks Related to Funding: We have made significant borrowings under our $4.5 billion Credit Facility to increase our cash position and preserve financial flexibility in light of the impact on global markets resulting from COVID-19. In addition, on April 16, 2020, we completed our offering of the Series EE Notes. Accordingly, our long-term debt has increased substantially since December 31, 2019 and it could increase further. The increase in our level of debt may adversely affect our financial and operating activities or ability to incur additional debt. In addition, as a result of the risks described above, we may be required to raise additional capital, and our access to and cost of financing will depend on, among other things, global economic conditions, conditions in the global financing markets, the availability of sufficient amounts of financing, our prospects, our credit ratings, and the outlook for the hotel industry as a whole. As a result of COVID-19, some credit agencies have downgraded our credit ratings. If our credit ratings were to be further downgraded, or general market conditions were to ascribe higher risk to our credit rating levels, our industry, or our Company, our access to capital and the cost of debt financing will be further negatively impacted. The interest rate we pay on many of our existing debt instruments, including the Credit Facility and our Series EE Notes, is affected by our credit ratings. Accordingly, a downgrade may cause our cost of borrowing to further increase. Additionally, certain of our existing commercial
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•Risks Related to Revenue: COVID-19 has negatively impacted, and will in the future negatively impact to an extent we are unable to predict, our revenues from managed and franchised hotels, which are primarily based on hotels’ revenues or profits. In addition, COVID-19 and its impact on global and regional economies, and the hospitality industry in particular, has made it difficult for hotel owners and franchisees to obtain financing on attractive terms, or at all, and increased the probability that hotel owners and franchisees will be unable or unwilling to service, repay or refinance existing indebtedness. This has caused, and may in the future continue to cause, some lenders to declare a default, accelerate the related debt, foreclose on the property or exercise other remedies, and some hotel owners or franchisees to declare bankruptcy. If a significant number of our management or franchise agreements are terminated as a result of bankruptcies, sales or foreclosures, our results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Hotel owners or franchisees in bankruptcy may not have sufficient assets to pay us termination fees or other unpaid fees or reimbursements we are owed under their agreements with us. Even if hotel owners or franchisees do not declare bankruptcy, the significant decline in revenues for most hotels has impacted the timely payment of amounts owed to us by some hotel owners and franchisees, and could in the future materially impact the ability or willingness of hotel owners and franchisees to fund working capital or pay us other amounts that we are entitled to on a timely basis or at all, which would adversely affect our liquidity. If a significant number of hotels exit our system as a result of COVID-19, whether as a result of a hotel owner or franchisee bankruptcy, failure to pay amounts owed to us, a negotiated termination, the exercise of contractual termination rights, or otherwise, our revenues and liquidity could be materially adversely affected. COVID-19 has also materially impacted, and could in the future materially impact, other non-hotel related sources of revenues for us, including for example our fees from our co-brand credit card arrangements, which have been and may continue to be affected by COVID-19’s impact on spending patterns of co-brand cardholders and acquisition of new co-brand cardholders. Also, testing our intangible assets or goodwill for impairments due to reduced revenues or cash flows could result in additional charges, which could be material.
•Risks Related to Owned and Leased Hotels and Other Real Estate Investments: COVID-19 and its impact on travel has reduced demand at most hotels, including our owned and leased hotels and properties owned by entities in which we have an equity investment. As a result, most of our owned and leased hotels and properties in which we have an investment are not generating revenue sufficient to meet expenses, which is adversely affecting our income and could in the future more significantly adversely affect the value of our owned and leased properties or investments. In addition, we have seen and could continue to see entities in which we have an investment experience challenges securing additional or replacement financing to satisfy maturing indebtedness. As a result of the foregoing, we have recognized, and may in the future be required to recognize, significant non-cash impairment charges to our results of operations.
•Risks Related to Operations: As a result of COVID-19 and its impact on travel and demand for hotel rooms, we have taken steps to reduce operating costs and improve efficiency, including furloughing a substantial number of our associates and implementing reduced work weeks for other associates, implementing a voluntary transition program for certain associates, eliminating a significant number of above-property and on-property positions, and modifying food and beverage offerings and other services and amenities. Such steps, and further changes we could make in the future to reduce costs for us or our hotel owners or franchisees (including ongoing property-level restructuring plans), may negatively impact guest loyalty, owner preference, or our ability to attract and retain associates, and our reputation and market share may suffer as a result. For example, loss of our personnel may cause us to experience operational challenges that impact guest loyalty, owner preference, and our market share, which could limit our ability to maintain or expand our business and could reduce our profits. Further, reputational damage from, and the financial impact of, position eliminations, furloughs or reduced work weeks could lead additional associates to depart the Company and could make it harder for us or the managers of our franchised properties to recruit new associates in the future. In addition, if we or our hotel owners or franchisees are unable to access capital to make physical improvements to our hotels, the quality of our hotels may suffer, which may negatively impact our reputation and guest loyalty, and our revenue and market share may suffer as a result. We have received claims, demands and requests from associates and from labor unions that represent our associates and may face additional demands, whether in the course of our periodic renegotiation of our
collective bargaining agreements or otherwise, for additional compensation, healthcare benefits or other terms as a result of COVID-19 or related to our restructuring activities, which could lead to increased costs. We could also experience labor disputes or disruptions as we continue to operate under our COVID-19 mitigation and recovery plans. COVID-19 could also negatively affect our internal control over financial and other reporting, as many of our personnel have departed the Company as a result of our voluntary transition program and position eliminations, and our remaining personnel are often working from home. In addition, new processes, procedures and controls could be required to respond to changes in our business environment.
•Risks Related to Expenses: COVID-19 has caused us to incur additional expenses and will continue to cause us to incur additional expenses in the future which are not fully reimbursed or offset by revenues. For example, we have already incurred certain expenses related to furloughs, our voluntary transition program and position eliminations, and we expect additional charges related to our property-level restructuring activities discussed in Note 2 in future periods. Claims by associates or others in respect of our restructuring activities could result in increased costs, fines, litigation or other proceedings, and increased risk of damage to our reputation. Also, if a hotel closes and has employees covered by an underfunded multi-employer pension plan, we may need to pay withdrawal liability to the plan as result of such closure if it is determined that there has been a complete or partial withdrawal from the plan, and we may be unable to collect reimbursement from the hotel owner. In addition, COVID-19 could make it more likely that we have to fund shortfalls in operating profit under our agreements with some hotel owners or fund financial guarantees we have made to third-party lenders for the timely repayment of all or a portion of certain hotel owners’ or franchisees’ debt related to hotels that we manage or franchise, beyond the amounts funded or the additional guarantee reserves recorded in 2020. COVID-19 also makes it more likely our hotel owners or franchisees will default on loans we have made to them or will fail to reimburse us for guarantee advances. Our ability to recover loans and guarantee advances from hotel operations or from hotel owners or franchisees through the proceeds of hotel sales, refinancing of debt or otherwise may also affect our ability to recycle and raise new capital. Even in situations where we are not obligated to provide funding to hotel owners, franchisees or entities in which we have a noncontrolling interest, we may choose to provide financial or other types of support to certain of these parties, which could materially increase our expenses. While governments have and may continue to implement various stimulus and relief programs, it is uncertain whether existing programs will be effective in mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 and, with respect to future programs, to what extent we or our hotel owners or franchisees will be eligible to participate and whether conditions or restrictions imposed under such programs will be acceptable. As a result of COVID-19, we and our hotel owners and franchisees have experienced and could continue to experience other short or longer-term impacts on costs. These effects have impacted our ability to generate profits and could continue to impact our ability to generate profits even after revenues improve.
•Risks Related to Growth: Our growth has been, and may continue to be, harmed by COVID-19 and its various impacts as discussed above. Many current and prospective hotel owners and franchisees are finding it difficult or impossible to obtain hotel financing on commercially viable terms. COVID-19 has caused and may continue to cause some projects that are in construction or development to be unable to draw on existing financing commitments or secure additional or replacement financing to complete construction, and additional or replacement financing that is available may be on less favorable terms. COVID-19 has caused and may continue to cause construction delays due to government restrictions and shortages of workers or supplies. As a result, some of the properties in our development pipeline will not enter our system when we anticipated, or at all. We have seen, and may continue to see, opening delays and a decrease in the rate at which new projects enter our pipeline, and we may see an increase in the number of projects that fall out of our pipeline as a result of project cancellations or other factors. These effects on our pipeline have reduced and will continue to reduce our ability to realize fees or realize returns on equity investments from such projects. We have seen and expect we could potentially see more existing hotels exit our system as a result of COVID-19, and a significant number of such exits could negatively impact the overall growth of our system and our business prospects.
•Risks Related to Liquidity: Since the first quarter of 2020, we have made significant borrowings under our $4.5 billion Credit Facility and completed offerings of $4.7 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes to preserve financial flexibility in light of the impact on global markets resulting from COVID-19 and to repay maturing debt. We may be required to raise additional capital again in the future to fund our operating expenses and repay maturing debt. In 2020, we raised $920 million of cash through amendments to agreements with the U.S. issuers of our co-brand credit cards associated with our Loyalty Program, and this option to raise capital will likely not be available again to us in the near future and has reduced and will in the future reduce the amount of cash we receive from these card issuers, which may increase the need for us to raise additional capital from other sources. In addition, we have seen increases in our cost of borrowing as a result of COVID-19 and such costs may increase even further for a time we are unable to determine. If we are required to raise additional capital, our access to and cost of financing will depend on, among other things, conditions in the global financing markets, the availability of sufficient amounts of financing, our prospects, our credit ratings, and the outlook for the hotel industry as a whole, and such financing may not be available to us on terms consistent with our expectations. As a result of COVID-19, credit agencies have downgraded our credit ratings. If our credit ratings were to be further downgraded, or general market conditions were to ascribe higher risk to our credit rating levels, our industry, or our Company, our access to capital and the cost of debt financing will be further negatively impacted. The interest rate we pay on many of our existing debt instruments, including the Credit Facility and some of our senior notes, is affected by our credit ratings. Accordingly, a further downgrade may cause our cost of borrowing to further increase. Additionally, certain of our existing commercial agreements may require us to post or increase collateral in the event of further downgrades. In addition, our latest amendments to our Credit Facility increase the minimum liquidity we are required to maintain for the duration of the waiver period as discussed in Note 8, and the terms of future debt agreements could include more restrictive covenants, or require incremental collateral, which may further restrict our business operations or cause future financing to be unavailable due to our covenant restrictions then in effect. Also, if we are unable to comply with the covenants under our Credit Facility, the lenders under our Credit Facility will have the right to terminate their commitments thereunder and declare the outstanding loans thereunder to be immediately due and payable. A default under our Credit Facility could trigger a cross-default, acceleration or other consequences under other indebtedness, financial instruments or agreements to which we are a party. There is no guarantee that debt financings will be available in the future to fund our obligations, or will be available on terms consistent with our expectations. Additionally, the impact of COVID-19 on the financial markets is expected to adversely impact our ability to raise funds through equity financings.
COVID-19, and the volatile regional and global economic conditions stemming from COVID-19, as well as reactions to future pandemics or resurgences of COVID-19, could also give rise to, aggravate or affectand impact our ability to allocate resources to mitigatingmitigate the other risk factorsrisks that we identify below, which in turn could materially adversely affect our business, liquidity, financial condition, liquidity,and results of operations (including revenues and profitability) and/or stock price.operations. Further, COVID-19 may also affect our operating and financial results in a manner that is not presently known to us or that we currently do not consider to present significant risks to our operations.
Risks Relating to Our Industry
Our industry is highly competitive, which may impact our ability to compete successfully for guests with other hotel properties and home sharing or rental services.services. We operate in markets that contain many competitors. Each of our hotel brands and our home rental offering competes with major hotel chains, regional hotel chains, independent hotels, and home sharing and rental services across national and international venues. Our ability to remain competitive and attract and retain business and leisure travelers depends on our success in distinguishing the quality, value, and efficiency of our lodging products and services, including our Loyalty Program, direct booking channels, and consumer-facing technology platforms and services, from those offered by others. If we cannot compete successfully in these areas or if our approach is subject to challenge, our operating margins could contract, our market share could decrease, and our earnings could decline. Further, new lodging supply in individual markets could have a negative impact on the hotel industry and hamper our ability to increase room rates or occupancy in those markets.
Economic downturns and other global, national, and regional conditions could further impact our financial results and growth. growth. Because we conduct our business on a global platform, changes in global, national, or regional
economies, governmental policies (including in areas such as trade, travel, immigration, healthcare, and related issues), and geopolitical and social conditions impact our activities. Our business is impacted by decreases in travel resulting from weak economic conditions, changes in energy prices and currency values, political instability, heightened travel security measures, travel advisories, disruptions in air travel, and concerns over disease, violence, war, or terrorism.
As discussed in “Risks Relating to COVID-19”,COVID-19,” our performance has been materially affected by some of these conditions and could be further materially affected if these conditions worsen, arise in the future, or extend longer than anticipated, or in other circumstances that we are not able to predict or mitigate. Even after COVID-19 subsides, our business, markets, growth prospects and business model could continue to be materially impacted or altered.
In addition, U.S. government travel and travel associated with U.S. government operations are a significant part of our business, which can suffer due to U.S. federal spending cuts, government hiring restrictions, or other spending limitations that may result from presidential or congressional action or inaction, including for example, a U.S. federal government shutdown, such as the partial shutdown that occurred in December 2018 and January 2019.
Risks Relating to Our Business
Operational Risks
Premature termination of our management or franchise agreements could hurt our financial performance. performance. Our hotel management and franchise agreements may be subject to premature termination in certain circumstances, such as the bankruptcy of a hotel owner or franchisee, the failure of the hotel owner or franchisee to comply with its
payment or other obligations under the agreement, a failure under some agreements to meet specified financial or performance criteria, that are subject to the risks described in this section, which we fail or elect not to cure, or in certain limited cases, other negotiated contractual termination rights. Some courts have also applied agency law principles and related fiduciary standards to managers of third-party hotel properties, including us (or have interpreted hotel management agreements to be “personal services contracts”). Property owners may assert the right to terminate management agreements even where the agreements provide otherwise, and some courts have upheld such assertions about our management agreements and may do so in the future. When terminations occur for these or other reasons, we may need to enforce our right to damages for breach of contract and related claims, which may cause us to incur significant legal fees and expenses. We may have difficulty collecting damages from the hotel owner or franchisee, and any damages we ultimately collect could be less than the projected future value of the fees and other amounts we would have otherwise collected under the management or franchise agreement. As a result of COVID-19, we may determine that it is in our best interest to agree with hotel owners or franchisees to a negotiated early termination of certain management and franchise agreements. A significant loss of these agreements could hurt our financial performance or our ability to grow our business.
Disagreements with owners of hotels that we manage or franchise may result in litigation or delay implementation of product or service initiatives. Consistent with our focus on management and franchising, we own very few of our lodging properties. The nature of our responsibilities under our management agreements to manage each hotel and enforce the standards required for our brands under both management and franchise agreements may be subject to interpretation and will from time to time give rise to disagreements, which may include disagreements over the need for or payment for new product, service or systems initiatives, the timing and amount of capital investments, and reimbursement for operating costs, system costs, or other amounts. Such disagreements may become more likely in the current environment and during other periods when hotel returns are weaker. We seek to resolve any disagreements to develop and maintain positive relations with current and potential hotel owners, franchisees, and real estate investment partners, but we cannot always do so. Failure to resolve such disagreements has resulted in litigation, and could do so in the future. If any such litigation results in an adverse judgment, settlement, or court order, we could suffer significant losses, our profits could be reduced, or our future ability to operate our business could be constrained.
An increase in the use of third-party Internet services to book online hotel reservations could adversely impact our business. Some of our hotel rooms are booked through Internet travel intermediaries such as Expedia.com, Priceline.com, Booking.com, Travelocity.com, and Orbitz.com, as well as lesser-known online travel service providers. These intermediaries initially focused on leisure travel, but now also provide offerings for corporate travel and group meetings. Although our Best Rate Guarantee and Member Rate programs have helped limit guest preference shift to intermediaries and greatly reduced the ability of intermediaries to undercut the published rates at our hotels, intermediaries continue to use a variety of aggressive online marketing methods to attract guests, including the purchase by certain companies of trademarked online keywords such as “Marriott” from Internet search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu to steer guests toward their websites (a practice
that has been challenged by various trademark owners in federal court). Our business and profitability could be harmed to the extent that online intermediaries succeed in significantly shifting loyalties from our lodging brands to their travel services, diverting bookings away from our direct online channels, or through their fees, increasing the overall cost of Internet bookings for our hotels. In addition, if we are not able to negotiate new agreements on satisfactory terms when our existing contracts with intermediaries (which generally have 2- to 3- year terms) come up for renewal, our business and prospects could be negatively impacted in a number of ways. For example, if newly negotiated agreements are on terms less favorable to our hotels than the expiring agreements, or if we are not able to negotiate new agreements and our hotels no longer appear on intermediary websites, our bookings could decline, our profits (and the operating profits of hotels in our system) could decline, and customers and owners may be less attracted to our brands. We may not be able to recapture or offset any such loss of business through actions we take to enhance our direct marketing and reservation channels or to rely on other channels or other intermediary websites.
Our growth strategy depends upon attracting third-party owners and franchisees to our platform, and future arrangements with these third parties may be less favorable to us, depending on the terms offered by our competitors. Our growth strategy for adding lodging facilities entails entering into and maintaining various arrangements with property owners. The terms of our management agreements and franchise agreements for each of our lodging facilities are influenced by contract terms offered by our competitors, among other things. We cannot assure you that any of our current arrangements will continue or that we will be able to enter into future arrangements, renew agreements, or enter into new agreements in the future on terms that are as favorable to us as those that exist today.
The growing significance of our operations outside of the U.S. makes us increasingly susceptible to the risks of doing business internationally, which could lower our revenues, increase our costs, reduce our profits, disrupt our business, or damage our reputation. reputation. A significant number of rooms in our system are located outside of the U.S. and its territories, andterritories. To the extent that our international operations and resulting revenues, could continue to grow. Thisgrow, this increasingly exposes us to the challenges and risks of doing business outside the U.S., many of which are outside of our control, and which could materially reduce our revenues or profits, materially increase our costs, result in significant liabilities or sanctions, significantly disrupt our business, or significantly damage our reputation. These challenges and risks include: (1) compliance with complex and changing laws, regulations and government policies that may impact our operations, such as foreign ownership restrictions, import and export controls, trade restrictions, and health and safety requirements; (2) compliance with U.S. and foreign laws that affect the activities of companies abroad, such as competition laws, cybersecurity and privacy laws, data localization requirements, currency regulations, national security laws, trade and economic sanctions, and other laws affecting dealings with certain nations; (3) the difficulties involved in managing an organization doing business in many different countries; (4) uncertainties as to the enforceability of contract and intellectual property rights under local laws; and (5) rapid changes in government policy, political or civil unrest, acts of terrorism, war, pandemics or other health emergencies, border control measures or other travel restrictions, or the threat of international boycotts or U.S. anti-boycott legislation; and (6) currency exchange rate fluctuations, which may impact the results and cash flows of our international operations.legislation.
Any failure by our international operations to comply with anti-corruption laws or trade sanctions could increase our costs, reduce our profits, limit our growth, harm our reputation, or subject us to broader liability. liability. We are subject to restrictions imposed by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti-corruption laws and regulations of other countries applicable to our operations, such as the U.K. Bribery Act. Anti-corruption laws and regulations generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making certain payments to government officials or other persons in order to influence official acts or decisions or to obtain or retain business. These laws also require us to maintain adequate internal controls and accurate books and records. We have properties in many parts of the world where corruption is common, and our compliance with anti-corruption laws may potentially conflict with local customs and practices. The compliance programs, internal controls and policies we maintain and enforce to promote compliance with applicable anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws may not prevent our associates, contractors, or agents from acting in ways prohibited by these laws and regulations. We are also subject to trade sanctions and regulations administered by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the U.S. Department of Commerce, and other U.S. government agencies, and authorities in other countries where we do business. OurThe compliance programs, and internal controls and policies we maintain and enforce also may not prevent conduct that is prohibited under these rules. The U.S. or other countries may impose additional sanctions at any time against any
country in or with which, or against persons or entities with whom, we do business. Depending on the nature of the sanctions imposed, our operations in the relevant country or with the relevant individual or entity could be restricted or otherwise adversely affected. Any violations of anti-corruption laws and regulations or trade sanctions could result in significant civil and criminal penalties, reduce our profits, disrupt or have a material adverse effect on our business, damage our reputation, or result in lawsuits or regulatory actions being brought against the Company or its officers or directors. In addition, the operation of these laws and regulations or an imposition of further restrictions in these areas could increase our cost of
operations, reduce our profits, or cause us to forgo development opportunities, or cease operations in certain countries, or limit certain business operations that would otherwise support growth.
Exchange rate fluctuations and foreign exchange hedging arrangements could result in significant foreign currency gains and losses and affect our business results. results. We earn revenues and incur expenses in foreign currencies as part of our operations outside of the U.S. Accordingly, fluctuations in currency exchange rates may significantly increase the amount of U.S. dollars required for foreign currency expenses or significantly decrease the U.S. dollars we receive from foreign currency revenues. We are also exposed to currency translation risk because the results of our non-U.S. business are generally reported in local currency, which we then translate to U.S. dollars for inclusion in our Financial Statements. As a result, exchange rate changes between the foreign exchange ratescurrencies and the U.S. dollar affect the amounts we record for our foreign assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and could have a negative effect on our financial results. We expect that our exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations will grow as the relative contribution of our non-U.S. operations increases. We enter into foreign exchange hedging agreements with financial institutions to reduce exposuresmitigate exposure to some of the principal currencies in which we receive management and franchise fees,foreign currency fluctuations, but these efforts may not be successful. These hedging agreements also do not cover all currencies in which we do business, do not eliminate foreign currency risk entirely for the currencies that they do cover, and involve costs and risks of their own in the form of transaction costs, credit requirements and counterparty risk.
Some of our management agreements and related contracts require us to make payments to owners if the hotels do not achieve specified levels of operating profit. Some of our contracts with hotel owners require that we fund shortfalls if the hotels do not attain specified levels of operating profit. We may not be able to recover any fundings of such performance guarantees, which could lower our profits and reduce our cash flows.
Our new programs and new branded products may not be successful. We cannot assure you that new or newly acquired brands, or any other new programs or products we have recently launched or may launch in the future, will be accepted by hotel owners, potential franchisees, or the traveling public or other guests. We also cannot be certain that we will recover the costs we incurred in developing or acquiring the brands or any new programs or products, or that those brands, programs, or products will be successful.
Risks relating to natural or man-made disasters, contagious disease, violence, or war have reduced the demand for lodging, which has adversely affected our revenues. We have seen a decline in travel and reduced demand for lodging due to so called “Acts of God,” such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcanic activity, wildfires, and other natural disasters, as well as man-made disasters and the spread of contagious diseases in locations where we own, manage, or franchise significant properties and areas of the world from which we draw a large number of guests, and these circumstances could continue or worsen in the future to an extent and for durations that we are not able to predict. Actual or threatened war, terrorist activity, political unrest, civil or geopolitical strife, and other acts of violence could have a similar effect. As with the effects we have already experienced from the COVID-19 situation, any one or more of these events may reduce the overall demand for lodging, limit the prices that we can obtain, or increase our operating costs, all of which could adversely affect our profits. If a terrorist event or other incident of violence were to involve one or more of our branded properties, demand for our properties in particular could suffer, which could further hurt our revenues and profits.
Disagreements with owners of hotels that we manage or franchise may result in litigation or delay implementation of product or service initiatives. Consistent with our focus on management and franchising, we own very few of our lodging properties. The nature of our responsibilities under our management agreements to manage each hotel and enforce the standards required for our brands under both management and franchise agreements may be subject to interpretation and will from time to time give rise to disagreements, which may include disagreements over the need for or payment for new product, service or systems initiatives, the timing and amount of capital investments, and reimbursement for operating costs, system costs, or other amounts. Such disagreements may be more likely in the current environment. We seek to resolve any disagreements to develop and maintain positive relations with current and potential hotel owners, franchisees, and joint venture partners, but we cannot always do so. Failure to resolve such disagreements has resulted inlitigation, and could do so in the future. If any such litigation results in an adverse judgment, settlement, or court order, we could suffer significant losses, our profits could be reduced, or our future ability to operate our business could be constrained.
Our business depends on the quality and reputation of our Company and our brands, and any deterioration could adversely impact our market share, reputation, business, financial condition, or results of operations.operations Certain events, including those that may be beyond our control, could. Many factors can affect the reputation and value of one or more of our properties or more generally impact the reputation ofbrands, including our brands. Many other factors also can influence our reputationability to protect and the value ofuse our brands includingand trademarks; our hotels’ adherence to service standards; our approach to matters such as food quality and safety, safety of our guestsguest and associates, our approach toassociate safety, health and cleanliness, availabilitymanaging and managementreducing our carbon footprint and our use of scarce natural resources, supply chain management, and diversity, human rights, and support for local communities.communities; and our compliance with applicable laws. Reputational value is also based on perceptions, and broad access to social media makes it easy for anyone to provide public feedback that can influence perceptions of us, our brands and our hotels, and it may be difficult to control or effectively manage negative publicity, regardless of whether it is accurate. While reputations may take decades to build, negative incidents can quickly erode trust and confidence, particularly if they result in adverse mainstream and social media publicity, governmental investigations, proceedings or penalties, or litigation. Negative incidents could lead to tangible adverse effects on our business, including lost sales, boycotts, reduced enrollment and/or participation in our Loyalty Program, disruption of access to our websites and reservation systems, loss of development opportunities, adverse government attention, or associate retention and recruiting difficulties. Any material decline in the reputation or perceived quality of our brands or corporate image could affect our market share, reputation, business, financial condition, or results of operations.
Actions by our franchisees and licensees or others could adversely affect our image and reputation. We franchise and license many of our brand names and trademarks to third parties for lodging, timeshare, and residential properties, and with respect to our credit card programs. Under the terms of their agreements with us, these third parties interact directly with guests and others under our brand and trade names. If these third parties fail to maintain or act in accordance with applicable brand standards; experience operational problems, including any data or privacy incident involving guest information or a circumstance involving guest or associate health or safety; or project a brand image inconsistent with ours, then our image and reputation could suffer. Although our agreements with these parties provide us with recourse and remedies in the event of a breach, including termination of the agreements under certain circumstances, it could be expensive or time-consuming for us to pursue such remedies and even if we are successful in pursuing such remedies, that may not be sufficient to mitigate reputational harm to us. We also cannot assure you that in every instance a court would ultimately enforce our contractual termination rights or that we could collect any awarded damages from the defaulting party.
Collective bargaining activity and strikes could disrupt our operations, increase our labor costs, and interfere with the ability of our management to focus on executing our business strategies. A significant number of associates at our managed, leased, and owned hotels are covered by collective bargaining agreements. If relationships with our organized associates or the unions that represent them become adverse, then the properties we operate could experience labor disruptions such as strikes, lockouts, boycotts, and public demonstrations. Numerous collective bargaining agreements are typically subject to negotiation each year, and our ability in the past to resolve such negotiations does not mean that we will be able to resolve future negotiations without strikes, disruptions, or on terms that we consider reasonable. Labor disputes and disruptions have in the past, and could in the future, result in adverse publicity and adversely affect operations and revenues at affected hotels. In addition, labor disputes and disruptions could harm our relationship with our associates, result in increased regulatory inquiries and enforcement by governmental authorities, harm our relationships with our guests and customers, divert management attention, and reduce customer demand for our services, all of which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, or results of operations.
In addition, labor regulation and the negotiation of new or existing collective bargaining agreements could lead to higher wage and benefit costs, changes in work rules that raise operating expenses and legal costs, and could impose limitations on our ability or the ability of our third-party property owners to take cost saving measures during economic downturns. We do not have the ability to control the negotiations of collective bargaining agreements covering unionized labor employed by the operators of our franchised properties. Increased unionization of our workforce, new labor legislation or changes in regulations could disrupt our operations, reduce our profitability or interfere with the ability of our management to focus on executing our business strategies.
Our business could suffer as the result of the loss of the services of our senior executives or if we cannot attract and retain talented associates. We compete with other companies both within and outside of our industry for talented personnel. If we cannot recruit, train, develop, and retain sufficient numbers of talented associates, we could experience increased associate turnover, decreased guest satisfaction, operational challenges, low morale, inefficiency, or internal control failures. Insufficient numbers of talented associates could also limit our ability to grow and expand our businesses. Labor shortages could also result in higher wages that would increase our labor costs, which could reduce our profits. In addition, the efforts and abilities of our senior executives are important elements of maintaining our competitive position and driving future growth, and the loss of the services of one or more of our senior executives could result in challenges executing our business strategies or other adverse effects on our business. The impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry, and actions that we and others in the hospitality industry have taken and may take in the future with respect to our associates and executives in response to COVID-19, may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain associates and executives in the future.
Risks relating to natural or man-made disasters, contagious diseases, violence, or war have reduced the demand for lodging, which has adversely affected our revenues. We have seen a decline in travel and reduced demand for lodging due to so-called “Acts of God,” such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcanic activity, wildfires, and other natural disasters, as well as man-made disasters and the spread of contagious diseases in locations where we own, manage, or franchise properties and areas of the world from which we draw a large number of guests, and these circumstances could continue or worsen in the future to an extent and for durations that we are not able to predict. Actual or threatened war, terrorist activity, political unrest, civil or geopolitical strife, and other acts of violence could have a similar effect. As with the effects we have already experienced from the COVID-19 pandemic, any one or more of these events may reduce the overall demand for lodging, limit the room rates that can be charged, and/or increase our operating costs, all of which could adversely affect our profits. If a terrorist event or other incident of violence were to involve one or more of our branded properties, demand for our properties in particular could suffer disproportionately, which could further hurt our revenues and profits.
Insurance may not cover damage to, or losses involving, properties that we own, manage, or franchise, or other aspects of our business, and the cost of such insurance could increase. We require comprehensive property and liability insurance policies for our managed, leased, and owned properties with coverage features and insured limits that we believe are customary. We also require our franchisees to maintain similar levels of insurance. Market forces beyond our control may nonetheless limit the scope of the insurance coverage we, our hotel owners, or our franchisees can obtain, or our or their ability to obtain coverage at reasonable rates. Certain types of losses,
generally of a catastrophic nature, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, terrorist acts, pandemics, or liabilities that result from incidents involving the security of information systems, may result in high deductibles, low limits, or may be uninsurable, or the cost of obtaining insurance may be unacceptably high. As a result, we, our hotel owners, and our franchisees may not be successful in obtaining insurance without increases in cost or decreases in coverage levels, or may not be successful in obtaining insurance at all. For example, over the past several years following the severe and widespread damage caused by the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season and other natural disasters, coupled with continued large global losses, the property, liability and other insurance markets have seen significant cost increases. Also, due to the data security incident involving unauthorized access to the Starwood reservations database, which we initially reported in November 2018 (the “Data Security Incident”), and the state of the cyber insurance market generally, the costs for our cyber insurance increased with both our 2019 and 2020 renewals, and the cost of such insurance could continue to increase for future policy periods. Further, in the event of a substantial loss, the insurance coverage we, our hotel owners, or our franchisees carry may not be sufficient to pay the full market value or replacement cost of any lost investment or in some cases could result in certain losses being totally uninsured. As a result, our revenues and profits could be adversely affected, and for properties we own or lease, we could lose some or all of the capital that we have invested in the property and we could remain obligated for guarantees, debt, or other financial obligations.
If our brands, goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record significant non-cash charges to earnings.earnings. As of March 31, 2020,2021, we had $17.4$18.0 billion of goodwill and other intangible assets. We review goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually or whenever events or circumstances indicate impairment may have occurred. Estimated fair values of our brands or reporting units could change if, for example, there are changes in the business climate, unanticipated changes in the competitive environment, adverse legal or regulatory actions or developments, changes in guests’ perception and the reputation of our brands, or changes in interest rates, operating cash flows, or market capitalization. Because of the significance of our goodwill and other intangible assets, any future impairment of these assets could require material non-cash charges to our results of operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our reported financial condition and results of operations.
Actions by our franchisees and licensees or others could adversely affect our image and reputation. We franchise and license many of our brand names and trademarks to third parties for lodging, timeshare, residential, and our credit card programs. Under the terms of their agreements with us, these parties interact directly with guests and others under our brand and trade names. If these third parties fail to maintain or act in accordance with applicable brand standards; experience operational problems, including any data incident involving guest information or a circumstance involving guest or associate health or safety; or project a brand image inconsistent with ours, our image and reputation could suffer. Although our agreements with these parties provide us with recourse and remedies in the event of a breach, including termination of the agreements under certain circumstances, it could be expensive or time consuming for us to pursue such remedies. We also cannot assure you that in every instance a court would ultimately enforce our contractual termination rights or that we could collect any awarded damages from the defaulting party.
Collective bargaining activity and strikes could disrupt our operations, increase our labor costs, and interfere with the ability of our management to focus on executing our business strategies. A significant number of associates at our managed, leased, and owned hotels are covered by collective bargaining agreements. If relationships with our organized associates or the unions that represent them become adverse, the properties we operate could experience labor disruptions such as strikes, lockouts, boycotts, and public demonstrations, as we saw in the fourth quarter of 2018. Numerous collective bargaining agreements are typically subject to negotiation each year, and our past ability to resolve such negotiations does not mean that we will resolve future negotiations without strikes, disruptions, or on terms that we consider reasonable. Labor disputes and disruptions have in the past, and could in the future, result in adverse publicity and adversely affect operations and revenues at affected hotels. In addition, labor disputes and disruptions could harm our relationship with our associates, result in increased regulatory inquiries and enforcement by governmental authorities, harm our relationships with our guests and customers, divert management attention, and reduce customer demand for our services, all of which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, or results of operations.
Labor regulation and the negotiation of new or existing collective bargaining agreements could lead to higher wage and benefit costs, changes in work rules that raise operating expenses, legal costs, and limitations on our ability or the ability of our third-party property owners to take cost saving measures during economic downturns. We do not have the ability to control the negotiations of collective bargaining agreements covering unionized labor employed by our third-party property owners and franchisees. Increased unionization of our workforce, new labor legislation or changes in regulations could disrupt our operations, reduce our profitability or interfere with the ability of our management to focus on executing our business strategies.
If we cannot attract and retain talented associates, or if we lose the services of senior executives, our business could suffer. We compete with other companies both within and outside of our industry for talented personnel. If we cannot recruit, train, develop, and retain sufficient numbers of talented associates, we could experience increased associate turnover, decreased guest satisfaction, low morale, inefficiency, or internal control failures. Insufficient numbers of talented associates could also limit our ability to grow and expand our businesses. A shortage of skilled labor could also result in higher wages that would increase our labor costs, which could reduce our profits. In addition, the efforts and abilities of our senior executives are important elements of maintaining our competitive position and driving future growth, and if we lose the services of one or more of our senior executives, we could experience challenges executing our business strategies or other adverse effects on our business. The impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry and employment actions that we and others in the hospitality industry have taken in response to COVID-19 may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain associates and executives in the future.
Damage to, or losses involving, properties that we own, manage, or franchise may not be covered by insurance, or the cost of such insurance could increase. We require comprehensive property and liability insurance policies for our managed, leased, and owned properties with coverage features and insured limits that we believe are customary. We require managed hotel owners to procure such coverage or we procure such coverage on their behalf. We also require our franchisees to maintain similar levels of insurance. Market forces beyond our control may nonetheless limit the scope of the insurance coverage we, our hotel owners, or our franchisees can obtain, or our or their ability to obtain coverage at reasonable rates. Certain types of losses, generally of a catastrophic nature, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, terrorist acts, pandemics or liabilities that result from breaches in the security of information systems, may result in high deductibles, low limits, or may be uninsurable or the cost of obtaining insurance may be unacceptably high. As a result, we, our hotel owners, and our franchisees may not be successful in obtaining insurance without increases in cost or decreases in coverage levels, or may not be successful in obtaining insurance at all. For example, in 2018, 2019 and 2020 substantial increases in property insurance costs occurred due to the severe and widespread damage caused by the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season and other natural disasters coupled with continued large global losses in the property market in the following two years. Also, due to the Data Security Incident and the state of the cyber insurance market generally, the costs for our cyber insurance increased for our policy period beginning in the 2019 third quarter, and the cost of such insurance could continue to increase for future policy periods. Further, in the event of a substantial loss, the insurance coverage we, our hotel owners, or our franchisees carry may not be sufficient to pay the full market value or replacement cost of any lost investment or in some cases could result in certain losses being totally uninsured. As a result, our revenues and profits could be adversely affected, and for properties we own or lease, we could lose some or all of the capital that we have invested in the property and we could remain obligated for guarantees, debt, or other financial obligations.
Development and Financing Risks
While we are predominantly a manager and franchisor of hotel properties, our hotel owners and franchisees depend on capital to buy, develop, and improve hotels, and our hotel ownersthey may be unable to access capital when necessary.necessary. Both we and current and potential hotel owners and franchisees must periodically spend money to fund new hotel investments, as well as to refurbish and improve existing hotels. The availability of funds for new investments and improvement of existing hotels by our current and potential hotel owners and franchisees depends in large measure on their ability to access the capital markets, and liquidity factors, over which we exerthave little control. Obtaining financing on attractive terms has been, and may in the future be further, constrained by the capital markets for hotel and real estate investments. In addition, owners of existing hotels that we franchise or manage may have difficulty meeting required debt service payments or refinancing loans at maturity.
Our growth strategy depends upon third-party owners/operators, and future arrangements with these third parties may be less favorable. Our growth strategy for adding lodging facilities entails entering into and maintaining various arrangements with property owners. The terms of our management agreements and franchise agreements for each of our lodging facilities are influenced by contract terms offered by our competitors, among other things. We cannot assure you that any of our current arrangements will continue or that we will be able to enter into future collaborations, renew agreements, or enter into new agreements in the future on terms that are as favorable to us as those that exist today.
Our ability to grow our management and franchise systems is subject to the range of risks associated with real estate investments.investments. Our ability to sustain continued growth through management or franchise agreements for new hotels and the conversion of existing facilities to managed or franchised Marriott brands is affected, and may potentially be limited, by a variety of factors influencing real estate development generally. These include site availability, financing availability, planning, zoning and other local approvals, and other limitations that may be imposed by market and submarket factors, such as projected room occupancy and rate, changes in growth in demand compared to projected supply, territorial restrictions in our management and franchise agreements, costs of construction, demand for construction resources, and other disruptive conditions in global, regional, or local markets.
Our renovation activities expose us to project cost, completion, and resale risks.risks. We occasionally acquire and renovate hotel properties, both directly and through partnerships joint ventures, and other business structures with third parties. This presents a number of risks, including that: (1) weakness in the capital markets maylimit our ability, or that of third parties with whom we partner, to raise capital for completion of projects; (2) properties that we renovate could become less attractive due to decreases in demand for hotel properties, market absorption or oversupply, with the
result that we may not be able to sell such properties for a profit or at the prices or time we anticipate, or we may be required to record additional impairment charges; and (3) construction delays or cost overruns, including those due to general market conditions, shortages or increased costs of skilled labor and/or materials, lender financial defaults, or so calledso-called “Acts of God” such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, or fires may increase project costs. We could face similar risks to the extent we undertake development activities again in the future.
Our owned properties and other real estate investments subject us to numerous risks. We have a number of owned and leased properties, which are subject to the risks that generally relate to investments in real property. We may seek to sell some of these properties over time; however, equity real estate investments can be difficult to sell quickly and COVID-19 has disrupted the transaction markets for hospitality assets. We may not be able to complete asset sales at prices we find acceptable, or at all. Moreover, the investment returns available from equity investments in real estate depend in large part on the amount of income earned and capital appreciation generated, if any, by the related properties, and the expenses incurred. A variety of other factors also affect income from properties and real estate values, including local market conditions and new supply of hotels, availability and costs of staffing, governmental regulations, insurance, zoning, tax and eminent domain laws, interest rate levels, and the availability of financing. For example, new or existing real estate or tax laws can make it more expensive to acquire, develop, or operate and/or expand, modify, or renovate hotels. When interest rates increase, the cost of acquiring, developing, expanding, or renovating real property increases and real property values may decrease as the number of potential buyers decreases. Similarly, as financing becomes less available, it becomes more difficult both to acquire and to sell real property. Finally, under eminent domain laws, governments can take real property, sometimes for less compensation than the owner believes the property is worth. Our real estate properties have been, and could in the future be, impacted by any of these factors, resulting in a material adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition. If our properties continue to not generate revenue sufficient to meet operating expenses, including needed capital expenditures, our income could be further adversely affected and we could be required to record additionalsignificant non-cash impairment charges to our results of operations.
Development and other investing activities that involve our co-investment with third parties may result in disputes and may decrease our ability to manage risk. We have from time to time invested, and may continue to invest, in partnerships, joint ventures, and other business structures involving our co-investment with third parties. These investments generally include some form of shared control over the development of the asset or operations of the business and create added risks, including the possibility that other investors in such ventures could become
bankrupt or otherwise lack the financial resources to meet their obligations, could have or develop business interests, policies, or objectives that are inconsistent with ours, could take action without our approval (or, conversely, prevent us from taking action without our partner’s approval), or could make requests contrary to our policies or objectives. Should a venture partner become bankrupt we could become liable for our partner’s share of the venture’s liabilities. Actions by a co-venturer might subject the assets owned by the venture or partnership to additional risk, such as increased project costs, project delays, or operational difficulties following project completion. Disagreements with our venture partners may result in litigation. These risks may be more likely to occur in difficult business environments like we are currently experiencing. We cannot assure you that our investments through partnerships or joint ventures will be successful in light of these risks.
Risks associated with development and sale of residential properties associated with our lodging properties or brands may reduce our profits.profits. We participate, through licensing agreements, or directly or through noncontrolling interests, in the development and sale of residential properties associated with our brands, including residences and condominiums under many of our luxury and premium brand names and trademarks. Such projects pose further risks beyond those generally associated with our lodging business, which may reduce our profits or compromise our brand equity, including risks thatthat: (1) weakness in residential real estate and demand generally may reduce our profits and could make it more difficult to convince future development partnersproject developers of the value added by our brands; (2) increases in interest rates, reductions in mortgage availability or the tax benefits of mortgage financing or residential ownership generally, or increases in the costs of residential ownership could prevent potential customers from buying residential products or reduce the prices they are willing to pay; and (3) residential construction may be subject to warranty and liability claims or claims related to purchaser deposits, and the costs of resolving such claims may be significant.
SomeMore hotel openingsprojects in our development pipeline and approved projects may be cancelled or delayed or not result in new hotels,opening, which could adversely affect our growth prospects.prospects. We report a significant number of hotels in our development pipeline, including hotels under construction, and underhotels subject to signed contracts, as well asand hotels approved for development but not yet under contract. The eventual opening of such pipeline hotels and, in particular, the approved hotels that are not yet under contract, is subject to numerous risks, including the risks described above in the risk factors entitled “Our“Our ability to grow our management and franchise systems is subject to the range of risks associated with real estate investments” and “COVID-19“COVID-19 has had a material detrimental impact on our business and financial results, and liquidity, and such impact could worsencontinue and lastmay worsen for an unknown period of time; Risks Related to Growth.” We have seen construction timelines for pipeline hotels lengthen due to various factors, including competition for skilled construction labor, andchallenges related to financing, disruption in the supply chain for materials, and the impact of COVID-19 generally, and these circumstances could continue or worsen in the future. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that all of our development pipeline will result in new hotels entering our system, or that those hotels will open when we anticipate.
Losses on loans or loan guarantees that we have made to third parties impact our profits. profits. At times, we make loans for hotel development, acquisition or renovation expenditures when we enter into or amend management or franchise agreements. From time to time we also provide third-party lenders with financial guarantees for the timely repayment of all or a portion of debt related to hotels that we manage or franchise, generally subject to an obligation that the owner reimburse us for any fundings. We have suffered losses, and could suffer losses ifin the future, when hotel owners or franchisees default on loans that we provide or fail to reimburse us for loan guarantees that we have funded.
If owners of hotels that we manage or franchise cannot repay or refinance mortgage loans secured by their properties, our revenues and profits could decrease and our business could be harmed. harmed. The owners of many of our managed or franchised properties have pledged their hotels as collateral for mortgage loans that they entered into when those properties were purchased or refinanced. If those owners cannot repay or refinance maturing indebtedness on favorable terms or at all, the lenders could declare a default, accelerate the related debt, and foreclose on the property.property, or the owners could declare bankruptcy, as we have seen in the past and could see in the future. Such salesforeclosures or foreclosuresbankruptcies have in the past and could in the future, in some cases, result in the termination of our management or franchise agreements and eliminate our anticipated income and cash flows, which could negatively affecthave a significant negative effect on our results of operations.
Changes affecting the availability of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) may have consequences that we cannot yet reasonably predict. fully predict. We are a party to various agreements and other instruments where obligations by or to us are calculated based on or otherwise dependent on LIBOR. In July 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct
Authority (“FCA”) announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit rates for calculation of LIBOR as early as the end of 2021. In March 2021, the FCA confirmed its intention to cease publication of the one week and two month USD LIBOR tenors and all tenors for EUR, CHF, JPY and GBP LIBOR after 2021.December 31, 2021 and to cease publication of all other USD LIBOR after June 30, 2023. As a result, LIBOR may perform differently thanfor particular currencies and tenors will not be available for use in agreements and other instruments after the pastrelevant cessation date and may ultimately cease to be utilized orprior to exist, either before or after 2021.the date publication ceases. Alternative benchmark rate(s) may replace LIBOR and could affect our agreements that rely onreference LIBOR, not all of which contain alternative rate provisions. Certain of our agreements rely onreference LIBOR, including, for example, our Credit Facility and atcertain other financial agreements like loans, guarantees, and derivatives. At this time, it is not possibledifficult for us to predict the full effect of any changes from LIBOR to LIBOR, anyan alternative benchmark rate upon or prior to the cessation of publication, the phase out of LIBOR generally, or anythe establishment and use of particular alternative benchmark rates.rates to replace LIBOR. There is uncertainty about how we, the financial markets, applicable law and the courts will address the replacement of LIBOR with alternative benchmark rates onfor contracts that do not include fallback provisions to provide for such alternative rate provisions.benchmark rates. In addition, any changes from LIBOR to an alternative benchmark ratesrate may have an uncertain impact on our cost of funds, our receipts or payments under agreements that rely onreference LIBOR, and the valuation of derivative or other contracts to which we are a party, any of which could impact our results of operations and cash flows.
Technology, Information Protection, and Privacy Risks
Any disruption in the functioning of our reservation systems could adversely affect our performance and results. We manage global reservation systems that communicate reservations to our hotels from individuals who book reservations directly with us online, through our mobile apps, through our telephone call centers, or through intermediaries like travel agents, Internet travel websites, and other distribution channels. The cost, speed, accuracy and efficiency of our reservation systems are critical aspects of our business and are important considerations for hotel owners when choosing our brands. Our business may suffer if we fail to maintain, upgrade, or prevent disruption to our reservation systems. Disruptions in or changes to our reservation systems could result in a disruption to our business and the loss of important data.
A failure to keep pace with developments in technology could impair our operations or competitive position.position. The lodging industry continues to demand the use of sophisticated technology and systems, including those used for our reservation, revenue management, property management, human resources and payroll systems, our Loyalty Program, and technologies we make available to our guests and for our associates. These technologies and systems must be refined, updated, and/or replaced with more advanced systems on a regular basis, and our business could suffer if we cannot do that as quickly or effectively as our competitors or within budgeted costs and time frames. We also may not achieve the benefits that we anticipate from any new technology or system, and a failure to do so could result in higher than anticipated costs or could impair our operating results.
An increase in the use of third-party Internet services to book online hotel reservations could adversely impact our business. Some of our hotel rooms are booked through Internet travel intermediaries such as Expedia.com®, Priceline.com®, Booking.com™, Travelocity.com®, and Orbitz.com®, as well as lesser-known online travel service providers. These intermediaries initially focused on leisure travel, but now also provide offerings for corporate travel and group meetings. Although our Best Rate Guarantee and Member Rate programs have helped limit guest preference shift to intermediaries and greatly reduced the ability of intermediaries to undercut the published rates at our hotels, intermediaries continue to use a variety of aggressive online marketing methods to attract guests, including the purchase by certain companies of trademarked online keywords such as “Marriott” from Internet search engines such as Google®, Bing®, Yahoo®, and Baidu® to steer guests toward their websites (a practice that has been challenged by various trademark owners in federal court). Our business and profitability could be harmed to the extent that online intermediaries succeed in significantly shifting loyalties from our lodging brands to their travel services, diverting bookings away from our direct online channels, or through their fees, increase the overall cost of Internet bookings for our hotels. In addition, if we are not able to negotiate new agreements on satisfactory terms when our existing contracts with intermediaries (which generally have 2- to 3- year terms) come up for renewal, our business and prospects could be negatively impacted in a number of ways. For example, if newly negotiated agreements are on terms less favorable to our hotels than the expiring agreements, or if we are not able to negotiate new agreements and our hotels no longer appear on intermediary websites, our bookings could decline, our profits (and the operating profits of hotels in our system) could decline, and customers and owners may be less attracted to our brands. We may not be able to recapture or offset any such loss of business through actions we take to enhance our direct marketing and reservation channels or to rely on other channels or other intermediary websites.
We are exposed to risks and costs associated with protecting the integrity and security of Company, associate, and guest data.data. In the operation of our business, we collect, store, use, and transmit large volumes of data regarding associates, guests, customers, owners, licensees, franchisees, and our own business operations, including credit card numbers, reservation and loyalty data, and other personal information, in various information systems
that we maintain and in systems maintained by third parties, including our owners, franchisees, licensees, and service providers. The integrity and protection of this data is critical to our business. If this data is inaccurate or incomplete, we could make faulty decisions.
Our guests and associates also have a high expectation that we, as well as our owners, franchisees, licensees, and service providers, will adequately protect and appropriately use their personal information. The information,
security, and privacy requirements imposed by laws and governmental regulation, our contractual obligations, and the requirements of the payment card industry are also increasingly demandingbecoming more stringent in the U.S., the European Union, Asia, and othermany jurisdictions wherein which we operate. Our systems and the systems maintained or used by our owners, franchisees, licensees, and service providers may not be able to satisfy these changing legal and regulatory requirements and associate and guest expectations, or may require significant additional investments or time to do so. We may incur significant additional costs to meet these requirements, obligations, and expectations, and in the event of alleged or actual noncompliance, we may experience increased operating costs, increased exposure to fines and litigation, and increased risk of damage to our reputation and brand.
The Data Security Incident, and other information security incidents, could have numerous adverse effects on our business. business. As a result of the Data Security Incident, we are a party to or have been named as a defendant in numerous lawsuits, primarily putative class actions, brought by consumers and others in the U.S. and Canada, one securities class action lawsuit in the U.S., and three shareholder derivative lawsuits in the U.S., and one purported representative action brought by a purported consumer class in the U.K. We may be named as a party in additional lawsuits and other claims may be asserted by or on behalf of guests, customers, hotel owners, shareholdersstockholders or others seeking monetary damages or other relief related to the Data Security Incident. A number of federal, state and foreign governmental authoritieshave also made inquiries, opened investigations, or requested information and/or documents related to the Data Security Incident, including under various data protection and privacy regulations, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.regulations. Responding to and resolving these lawsuits, claims and/or investigations could resulthas resulted in material remedial and other expenses which may not be covered by insurance, including any fines, such as the fine imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom (the “ICO”), as discussed in Note 6,our 2020 Form 10-K, and could result in material additional fines or remedial or other expenses. These fines and other expenses may not be covered by regulatory authorities in various other jurisdictions.insurance. Governmental authorities investigating or seeking information about the Data Security Incident also may seek to impose undertakings, injunctive relief, consent decrees, or other civil or criminal penalties, which could, among other things, materially increase our data security costs or otherwise require us to alter how we operate our business. Significant management time and Company resources have been, and maywill continue to be, devoted to the Data Security Incident. Future publicity or developments related to the Data Security Incident, including as a result of subsequent reports or regulatory actions or developments, could have a range of other adverse effects on our business or prospects, including causing or contributing to loss of consumer confidence, reduced consumer demand, reduced enrollment and/or participation in our Loyalty Program, loss of development opportunities, and associate retention and recruiting difficulties. Insurance coverage designed to limit our exposure to losses such as those related to the Data Security Incident may not be sufficient or available to cover all of our expenses or other losses (including the final amount offine imposed by the Proposed ICO Fine and any other fines or penalties) related to the Data Security Incident. In addition, two lawsuits have been filed against us related to, and various governmental authorities are investigating or seeking information about, the incident we announced onfollowing our March 31, 2020 announcement of an incident involving information for up to approximately 5.25.5 million guests that we believe may have been improperly accessed through an application using the login credentials of two franchise employees at a franchise property (the “Unauthorized Application Access Incident”)., various governmental authorities opened investigations or requested information about the incident, and two lawsuits were filed against us related to the incident. The Unauthorized Application Access Incident or publicity related to it could negatively affect our business or reputation.
Additional cybersecurity incidents could have adverse effects on our business. business. We have implemented security measures to safeguard our systems and data, and we intend to continue implementing additional measures in the future, but, as we have seen in the past, our measures may not be sufficient to maintain the confidentiality, security, or availability of the data we collect, store, and use to operate our business. Measures taken by our service providers or our owners, franchisees, licensees, other business partners or their service providers also may not be sufficient. Efforts to hack or circumvent security measures, efforts to gain unauthorized access to, exploit or disrupt the operation or integrity of our data or systems, failures of systems or software to operate as designed or intended, viruses, “ransomware” or other malware, “supply chain” attacks, “phishing” or other types of business communications compromises, operator error, or inadvertent releases of data have impacted, and may in the future impact, our information systems and records or those of our owners, franchisees, licensees, other business partners, or service providers. Our reliance on computer, Internet-based, and mobile systems and communications, and the frequency and sophistication of efforts by third parties to gain unauthorized access or prevent authorized access to
such systems, have greatly increased in recent years. Our increased reliance on cloud-based services and on remote access to information systems in response to COVID-19 increases the Company’s exposure to potential cybersecurity incidents. We have experienced cyberattacks, attempts to disrupt access to our systems and data, and attempts to affect the operation or integrity of our data or systems, and the frequency and sophistication of such efforts could continue to increase. Any additional significant theft of, unauthorized access to, compromise or loss of,
loss of access to, or fraudulent use of guest, associate, owner, franchisee, licensee, or Company data could adversely impact our reputation and could result in legal, regulatory and other consequences, including remedial and other expenses, fines, or litigation. Depending on the nature and scope of the event, future compromises in the security of our information systems or those of our owners, franchisees, licensees, other business partners, or service providers or other future disruptions or compromises of data or systems could lead to an interruption in or other adverse effects on the operation of our systems or those of our owners, franchisees, licensees, other business partners, or service providers, resulting in operational inefficiencies and a loss of profits, and could result in negative publicity and other adverse effects on our business, including lost sales, loss of consumer confidence, boycotts, reduced enrollment and/or participation in our Loyalty Program, litigation, loss of development opportunities, or associate satisfaction, retention and recruiting difficulties, all of which could materially affect our market share, reputation, business, financial condition, or results of operations.
Because we have experienced cybersecurity incidents in the past, additional incidents or the failure to detect and appropriately respond to additional incidents could magnify the severity of the adverse effects on our business. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage information systems change frequently, can be difficult to detect for long periods of time, and can involve difficult or prolonged assessment or remediation periods even once detected, which could also magnify the severity of these adverse effects. We cannot assure you that all potential causes of past significant incidents have been identified and remediated; additional measures may be needed to prevent significant incidents in the future. The steps we take may not be sufficient to prevent future significant incidents and as a result, such incidents may occur again. Although we carry cyber insurance that is designed to protect us against certain losses related to cyber risks, that insurance coverage may not be sufficient or available to cover all expenses or other losses (including fines) or all types of claims that may arise in connection with cyberattacks, security compromises, and other related incidents. Furthermore, in the future such insurance may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.
Changes in privacy and data security laws could increase our operating costs and increase our exposure to fines and litigation and adversely affect our ability to market our products effectively.. We are subject to numerous, complex, and frequently changing laws, regulations, and contractual obligations designed to protect personal information, including in the U.S., the European Union, Asia, and other jurisdictions.information. Non-U.S. data privacy and data security laws, various U.S. federal and state laws, (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and the New York Shield Act), payment card industry security standards, and other information privacy and security standards are all applicable to us. Significant legislative, judicial, or regulatory changes could be adoptedissued in the future, including in reaction to the Data Security Incident or data breaches experienced by other companies.future. Compliance with changes in applicable data privacy laws and regulations (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and the New York Shield Act) and contractual obligations, including responding to investigations into our compliance, may restrict our business operations, increase our operating costs, increase our exposure to fines and litigation in the event of alleged non-compliance,noncompliance, and adversely affect our reputation. Following the Data Security Incident, the ICO and certain other regulators also opened investigations into our privacy practices, including the representations in our privacyand security policies and how we handle individual rights requests.practices. As a result of these investigations, we could be exposed to significant fines and remediation costs in addition to anythose imposed as a result of the Data Security Incident, and adverse publicity related to the investigations could adversely affect our reputation.
Additionally, weChanges in laws could adversely affect our ability to market our products effectively. We rely on a variety of direct marketing techniques, including email marketing, online advertising, and postal mailings. Any further restrictions in laws such as the CANSPAM Act, and various U.S. state laws, (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and the New York Shield Act), or new federal or state laws on marketing and solicitation or international privacy, e-privacy, and anti-spam laws that govern these activities could adversely affect the continuing effectiveness of email, online advertising, and postal mailing techniques and could force further changes in our marketing strategy. If this occurs, we may not be able to develop adequate alternative marketing strategies, which could impact the amount and timing of our sales of certain products. We also obtain access to potential guests and customers from travel service providers or other companies with whom we have substantial relationships, and we market to some individuals on these lists directly or by including our marketing message in the other companies’ marketing materials. If access to these lists were to be prohibited or otherwise restricted, our ability to develop new guests and customers and introduce them to our products could be impaired.
Any disruption in the functioning of our reservation systems could adversely affect our performance and results. We manage global reservation systems that communicate reservations to our hotels from individuals who book reservations directly with us online, through our mobile apps, through our telephone call centers, or through intermediaries like travel agents, Internet travel websites, and other distribution channels. The cost, speed, accuracy and efficiency of our reservation systems are critical aspects of our business and are important considerations for hotel owners when choosing our brands. Our business may suffer if we fail to maintain, upgrade, or prevent disruption to our reservation systems. Disruptions in or changes to our reservation systems could result in a disruption to our business and the loss of important data.
Ineffective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our financial statements, reduce investor confidence, and adversely impact our stock price. As discussed in Part II, Item 9A “Controls and Procedures” of our 2019 Form 10-K, in the 2018 fourth quarter, we identified a material weakness in internal control related to our accounting for our Loyalty Program, which resulted in errors in our previously issued financial statements for the 2018 first, second, and third quarters. Internal controls related to the implementation of ASU 2014-09 and the accounting for our Loyalty Program are important to accurately reflect our financial position and results of operations in our financial reports. We are in the process of remediating the material weakness. If the additional controls and processes that we have implemented while we work to remediate the material weakness are not sufficient, or if we identify additional control deficiencies that individually or together constitute significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, our ability to accurately record, process, and report financial information and consequently, our ability to prepare financial statements within required time periods, could be adversely affected. Failure to properly remediate the material weakness or the discovery of additional control deficiencies could result in violations of applicable securities laws, stock exchange listing requirements, and the covenants under our debt agreements, subject us to litigation and investigations, negatively affect investor confidence in our financial statements, and adversely impact our stock price and ability to access capital markets.
Changes in laws and regulations could reduce our profits or increase our costs. We are subject to a wide variety of laws, regulations, and policies in jurisdictions around the world, including those for financial reporting, taxes, healthcare, cybersecurity, privacy, climate change, and the environment. Changes to such laws, regulations, or policies could reduce our profits. We also anticipate that many of the jurisdictions where we do business will continue to review taxes and other revenue raising measures, and any resulting changes could impose new restrictions, costs, or prohibitions on our current practices or reduce our profits. In particular, governments may revise tax laws, regulations, or official interpretations in ways that could significantly impact us, and other modifications could reduce the profits that we can effectively realize from our operations or could require costly changes to those operations or the way in which they are structured.
We could be subject to additional tax liabilities. We are subject to a variety of taxes in the U.S. (federal, state, and local) and numerous foreign jurisdictions. We may recognize additional tax expense and be subject to additional tax liabilities due to changes in laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations related to tax, including changes to the global tax framework, competition, and other laws and accounting rules in various jurisdictions. Such changes could come about as a result of economic, political, and other conditions.
Our tax expense and liabilities are also affected by other factors, such as changes in our business operations, acquisitions, investments, entry into new businesses and geographies, intercompany transactions, the relative amount of our foreign earnings, losses incurred in jurisdictions for which we are not able to realize related tax benefits, the applicability of special tax regimes, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, changes in our stock price, and changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities and their valuation. Significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our tax expense and liabilities. In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain.
We are also currently subject to tax controversies in various jurisdictions, and these jurisdictions may assess additional tax liabilities against us. Developments in an audit, investigation, or other tax controversy could have a material effect on our operating results or cash flows in the period or periods for which that development occurs, as well as for prior and subsequent periods. We regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from
these proceedings to determine the adequacy of our tax accruals. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, the final outcome of audits, investigations, and any other tax controversies could be materially different from our historical tax accruals.Governance Risk
Delaware law and our governing corporate documents contain, and our Board of Directors could implement, anti-takeover provisions that could deter takeover attempts.attempts. Under the Delaware business combination statute, a shareholderstockholder holding 15 percent or more of our outstanding voting stock could not acquire us without Board of DirectorDirectors’ consent for at least three years after the date the shareholderstockholder first held 15 percent or more of the voting stock. Our governing corporate documents also, among other things, require supermajority votes for mergers and similar transactions. In addition, our Board of Directors could, without shareholderstockholder approval, implement other anti-takeover defenses, such as a shareholderstockholder rights plan.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
(a)Unregistered Sale of Securities
None.
(b)Use of Proceeds
None.
(c)Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
(a)(in millions, except per share amounts) | Unregistered Sale of Securities |
None.
| | | | | | |
(b)Period | Use | Total Number
of ProceedsShares
Purchased | | Average Price
per Share | | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (1) | | Maximum Number of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1) |
None.
| January 1, 2021 - January 31, 2021 | | — | | | $ | — | | | — | | | 17.4 | |
(c)February 1, 2021 - February 28, 2021 | Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| (in millions, except per share amounts) | | | | | | | | |
| Period | | Total Number of Shares Purchased | | Average Price per Share | | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (1) | | Maximum Number of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1) |
| January 1, 2020 - January 31, 2020 | | 0.8 |
| | $ | 145.14 |
| | 0.8 |
| | 17.6 |
|
| February 1, 2020 - February 29, 2020 | | 0.2 |
| | $ | 146.26 |
| | 0.2 |
| | 17.4 |
|
| March 1, 2020 - March 31, 2020 | | — |
| | $ | — |
| | — |
| | 17.4 |
|
| — | | | $ | — | | | — | | | 17.4 | |
(1)
| On February 15, 2019, we announced that our Board of Directors increased our common stock repurchase authorization by 25 million shares. As ofMarch 1, 2021 - March 31, 2020, 2021 | | — | | | $ | — | | | — | | | 17.4 million shares remained available for repurchase under Board approved authorizations. We repurchase shares in the open market and in privately negotiated transactions. We do not anticipate repurchasing additional shares until business conditions improve, and are prohibited from doing so for the duration of the waiver period under our Credit Facility, with certain exceptions. | |
(1)On February 15, 2019, our Board of Directors increased our common stock repurchase authorization by 25 million shares. As of March 31, 2021, 17.4 million shares remained available for repurchase under Board approved authorizations. We repurchase shares in the open market and in privately negotiated transactions. We do not anticipate repurchasing additional shares until business conditions further improve, and are prohibited from doing so for the duration of the waiver period under our Credit Facility, with certain exceptions.
Item 6. Exhibits
We have not filed as exhibits certain instruments defining the rights of holders of the long-term debt of Marriott pursuant to Item 601(b)(4)(iii) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Exchange Act, because the amount of debt authorized and outstanding under each such instrument does not exceed 10 percent of the total assets of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries. The Company agrees to furnish a copy of any such instrument to the Commission upon request.
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Exhibit No. | | Description | | Incorporation by Reference (where a report is indicated below, that document has been previously filed with the SEC and the applicable exhibit is incorporated by reference thereto) |
| 3.1 | | Restated Certificate of Incorporation. | | |
| | |
| 3.2 | | Amended and Restated Bylaws. | | |
| | | | |
10 | | First | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| 10.1 | | Second Amendment, dated as of April 13, 2020,January 26, 2021, to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent, and certain banks, dated as of June 28, 2019. | | |
| | | | |
| 10.2 | | Third Amendment, dated as of January 26, 2021, to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement with Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent, and certain banks, dated as of June 28, 2019. | | |
| | | | |
| *10.3 | | Amendment to the Marriott International, Inc. Executive Deferred Compensation Plan, effective January 1, 2021 (new plan administrator). | | |
| | | | |
31.1*10.4 | | Form of Executive Restricted Stock Unit/MI Shares Agreement for the Marriott International, Inc. Stock and Cash Incentive Plan (February 2021). | | |
| | | | |
| *10.5 | | Form of Stock Appreciation Rights Agreement for the Marriott International, Inc. Stock and Cash Incentive Plan (February 2021). | | |
| | | | |
| *10.6 | | Form of Performance Share Unit Award Agreement for the Marriott International, Inc. Stock and Cash Incentive Plan (February 2021). | | |
| | | | |
| 31.1 | | Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a). | | |
| | |
| 31.2 | | Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a). | | |
| | |
| 32 | | Section 1350 Certifications. | | |
| | |
| 101 | | The following financial statements from Marriott International, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020,2021, formatted in Inline XBRL: (i) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of (Loss) Income; (ii) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income;Loss; (iii) the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets; and (iv) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
| | | | |
| 101.INS | | XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the interactive data file because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document. | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
| | |
| 101.SCH | | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document. | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
| | |
| 101.CAL | | XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase Document. | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
| | |
| 101.DEF | | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document. | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
| | |
| 101.LAB | | XBRL Taxonomy Label Linkbase Document. | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
| | |
| 101.PRE | | XBRL Taxonomy Presentation Linkbase Document. | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
| | | | |
| 104 | | The cover page from Marriott International, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020,2021, formatted in Inline XBRL (included as Exhibit 101). | | Submitted electronically with this report. |
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
| | |
| MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. |
10th day of May, 2021 |
|
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC./s/ Felitia Lee |
11Felitia Leeth day of May, 2020
|
|
/s/ Bao Giang Val Bauduin |
Bao Giang Val Bauduin |
Controller and Chief Accounting Officer
(Duly Authorized Officer) |
