Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations BUSINESS AND OVERVIEW Our operations are grouped into five business segments: North American Full-Service Lodging, North American Limited-Service Lodging, International Lodging, Luxury Lodging, and Timeshare. We operate, develop, and franchise under numerous separate brand names in 68 countries and territories. We earn base, incentive, and franchise fees based upon the terms of our management and franchise agreements. We earn revenues from the limited number of hotels we own or lease. We also generate revenues from the following sources associated with our Timeshare segment: (1) selling timeshare interval, fractional ownership, and residential properties; (2) operating the resorts and residential properties; (3) financing customer purchases of timesharing intervals; and (4) rentals. Finally, we earn fees in association with affinity card endorsements and the sale of branded residential real estate. We sell residential real estate either in conjunction with luxury hotel development or on a stand-alone basis under The Ritz-Carlton brand (The Ritz-Carlton Residences), and in conjunction with Timeshare segment projects (The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club and Grand Residences by Marriott-Residential). Our Timeshare segment residential projects are typically opened over time. Other residences are typically constructed and sold by third-party developers with limited amounts, if any, of our capital at risk. While the worldwide residential market is very large, the luxurious nature of our residential properties, the quality and exclusivity associated with our brands, and the hospitality services that we provide, all serve to make our residential properties distinctive. Lodging We experienced continued weakness in 2009 associated with both group and business transient demand. New group meeting cancellations moderated progressively throughout 2009 as compared to the 2008 fourth quarter. New near-term group bookings remain soft, although they improved somewhat, particularly in the 2009 fourth quarter. While we continued to experience significant attrition rates in 2009 from expected attendance at meetings, that moderated somewhat in the latter half of 2009. Non-corporate demand, which remained weak in the 2009 first quarter, improved in the 2009 second quarter and even more so in the 2009 third and fourth quarters, largely as a result of significant promotional efforts and discounting aimed at replacing weak corporate business with leisure, government, and other discounted transient business. Through these challenging times, our strategy and focus continues to be to preserve profit margins by driving revenue, increasing our market share and managing costs. Responding to the weak demand environment for hotel rooms, we continue to deploy a range of new sales promotions with a focus on leisure and group business opportunities to increase both property-level revenue and market share. We monitor market conditions continuously and are able to quickly institute high impact and low cost sales promotions as needed. These promotions are designed both to reward and retain loyal customers and to attract new guests. www.Marriott.com and our loyal Marriott Rewards member base are both low cost and high impact vehicles for our revenue generation efforts. In response to increased hesitancy to finalize group bookings, we also implemented sales associate, meeting planner, and customer incentives to close on new group business. As more customers use social media, we have also found new ways to connect, communicating with our customers on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and through our blog "Marriott on the Move." We also continue to enhance our Marriott Rewards loyalty program offerings and specifically and strategically market to this large and growing customer base. With a goal of continuing to improve the overall guest service experience, we improved www.Marriott.com in 2009 by redesigning the website to significantly enhance its functionality and modernize its appearance. Properties in our system instituted and are maintaining very tight cost controls. Given the current weak demand environment, we continue to work aggressively to reduce costs and enhance property-level house profit margins by modifying menus and restaurant hours, reviewing and adjusting room amenities, relaxing some brand standards for hotels, cross-training personnel, utilizing personnel at multiple properties where feasible, eliminating certain positions, and not filling some vacant positions. We have also reduced above-property costs, which are allocated to hotels, by scaling back systems, processing, and support areas. In addition, we have eliminated or not filled certain above-property positions, and have encouraged, or, where legally permitted, required employees to use their vacation time accrued during the 2009 fiscal year. Our lodging business model involves managing and franchising hotels, rather than owning them. At year-end 2009, 46 percent of the hotel rooms in our system were operated under management agreements, 52 percent were operated under franchise agreements, and 2 percent were owned or leased by us. Our emphasis on management contracts and franchising tends to provide more stable earnings in periods of economic softness while continued unit expansion, reflecting properties added to our system, generates ongoing growth. With long-term management and franchise agreements, this strategy has allowed substantial growth while reducing financial leverage and risk in a cyclical industry. Additionally, we maintain financial flexibility by minimizing our capital investments and adopting a strategy of recycling those investments we do make. We calculate RevPAR by dividing room sales for comparable properties by room nights available to guests for the period. We consider RevPAR to be a meaningful indicator of our performance because it measures the period-over-period change in room revenues for comparable properties. RevPAR may not be comparable to similarly titled measures, such as revenues. References to RevPAR throughout this report are in constant dollars, unless otherwise noted. Company-operated house profit margin is the ratio of property-level gross operating profit (also known as house profit) to total property-level revenue. We consider house profit margin to be a meaningful indicator of our performance because this ratio measures our overall ability as the operator to produce property-level profits by generating sales and controlling the operating expenses over which we have the most direct control. Gross operating profit includes room, food and beverage, and other revenue and the related expenses including payroll and benefits expenses, as well as repairs and maintenance, utility, general and administrative, and sales and marketing expenses. Gross operating profit does not include the impact of management fees, furniture, fixtures and equipment replacement reserves, insurance, taxes, or other fixed expenses. For our North American comparable company-operated properties, RevPAR decreased by 18.5 percent in 2009, compared to 2008, reflecting weakness in most markets. Our 2009 fiscal year began on January 3, 2009, and included 52 weeks while the prior year included 53 weeks and two New Year's holidays. If RevPAR for 2008 was calculated for the 52 week period ended January 2, 2009, RevPAR would have declined by an average of 19.3 percent for our North American comparable company-operated properties. For our comparable managed properties outside North America, RevPAR for 2009 decreased 18.0 percent versus 2008, with weakness in most markets around the world. Compared to 2008, worldwide comparable company-operated house profit margins for 2009 decreased by 380 basis points reflecting the impact of RevPAR declines from weak demand, partially offset by strong cost control plans in 2009 at properties in our system. Timeshare In response to the difficult business conditions that the Timeshare segment's businesses continued to experience, we evaluated our entire Timeshare segment portfolio in the 2009 third quarter. In order to adjust the business strategy to reflect current market conditions at that time, on September 22, 2009, we approved plans for our Timeshare segment to stimulate sales, accelerate cash flow, and reduce investment spending. These decisions resulted in our recording 2009 third quarter pretax charges totaling $752 million ($502 million after-tax). We discuss these charges in more detail under the caption "Timeshare Strategy Impairment Charges" later in this Management's Discussion and Analysis section. Since the sale of timeshare and fractional intervals and condominiums follows the percentage-of-completion accounting method, soft demand frequently is not reflected in our Timeshare segment results until later accounting periods. Intentional and unintentional construction delays could also reduce nearer-term Timeshare segment results as percentage-of-completion revenue recognition may correspondingly be delayed as well. Our brands remain strong as a result of superior customer service with an emphasis on guest and associate satisfaction, the worldwide presence and quality of our brands, our Marriott Rewards loyalty program, an information-rich and easy-to-use website, a multichannel central reservations system, and desirable property amenities. We, along with owners and franchisees, continue to invest in our brands by means of new, refreshed, and reinvented properties, new room and public space designs, and enhanced amenities and technology offerings. We continue to enhance the appeal of our proprietary website, www.Marriott.com, through functionality and service improvements, and we continue to capture an increasing proportion of property-level reservations via this cost-efficient channel. We have added other languages to www.Marriott.com, and we have enabled guests to use handheld devices to make and confirm reservations and get directions. See the "Risk Factors" section of this report for important information regarding forward-looking statements made in this report and risks and uncertainties that the Company faces. > Back to top of page |