Financial Information

PART I

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Operational Risks

Premature termination of our management or franchise agreements could hurt our financial 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. 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. A significant number of rooms in our system are located outside of the U.S. and its territories. To the extent that our international operations continue to grow, 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.

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. 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, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and other U.S. government agencies, and authorities in other countries where we do business. Our compliance programs and internal controls 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 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, 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. 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 foreign currencies 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 mitigate exposure to some of the 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.

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. Many factors can affect the reputation of one or more of our properties or brands and the value of our brands, including service, food quality and safety, safety of our guests and associates, our approach to health and cleanliness, our approach to managing and reducing our carbon footprint, availability and management of scarce natural resources, supply chain management, ability to protect and use our brands and trademarks, diversity, human rights, and support for local communities. 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 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, 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. 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, 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 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 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 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. As of December 31, 2020, we had $18.2 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.