Our lodging operations are subject to international, national, and regional conditions. Because we conduct our business on a national and international platform, our activities are susceptible to changes in the performance of regional and global economies. In recent years, our business was hurt by decreases in travel resulting from recent economic conditions, the military action in Iraq, and the heightened travel security measures that have resulted from the threat of further terrorism. Our future economic performance is similarly subject to the uncertain economic environment in the United States and other regions, the resulting unknown pace of business travel, and the occurrence of any future incidents in the countries where we operate.

Risks relating to natural disasters, contagious disease, terrorist activity, and war could reduce the demand for lodging, which may adversely affect our revenues. So called "Acts of God," such as hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters, and the spread of contagious diseases, such as Avian Flu and SARS, in locations where we own, manage or franchise significant properties, and areas of the world from which we draw a large number of customers can cause a decline in the level of business and leisure travel and reduce the demand for lodging. Actual or threatened war, terrorist activity, political unrest, civil strife, and other geopolitical uncertainty can have a similar effect. Any one or more of these events may reduce the overall demand for hotel rooms, timeshare units, and corporate apartments or limit the prices that we are able to obtain for them, both of which could adversely affect our profits.

We may have disputes with the owners of the hotels that we manage or franchise. 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 may give rise to disagreements in some instances. We seek to resolve any disagreements in order to develop and maintain positive relations with current and potential hotel owners and joint venture partners but have not always been able to do so. Failure to resolve such disagreements has in the past resulted in litigation, and could do so in the future.

Damage to or other potential losses involving properties that we own, manage or franchise may not be covered by insurance. We have comprehensive property and liability insurance policies with coverage features and insured limits that we believe are customary. Market forces beyond our control may nonetheless limit the scope of insurance coverage that we can obtain and our ability to obtain coverage at reasonable rates. Certain types of losses, generally of a catastrophic nature, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, or terrorist acts, may be uninsurable or too expensive to justify obtaining insurance. As a result, we may not be successful in obtaining insurance without increases in cost or decreases in coverage levels. In addition, in the event of a substantial loss, the insurance coverage we carry may not be sufficient to pay the full market value or replacement cost of our lost investment or that of hotel owners or in some cases could result in certain losses being totally uninsured. As a result, we could lose some or all of the capital we have invested in a property, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the property, and we could remain obligated for guarantees, debt, or other financial obligations related to the property.

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