Marriott International - 10-Q quarterly report FY2013 Q1

The condensed consolidated financial statements present the results of operations, financial position, and cash flows of Marriott International, Inc. (“Marriott,” and together with its subsidiaries “we,” “us,” or the “Company”). In order to make this report easier to read, we refer throughout to (i) our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements as our “Financial Statements,” (ii) our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income as our “Income Statements,” (iii) our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as our “Balance Sheets,” (iv) our properties, brands, or markets in the United States and Canada as “North America” or “North American,” and (v) our properties, brands, or markets outside of the United States and Canada as “international.” In addition, references throughout to numbered "Footnotes" refer to the numbered Notes in these Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, unless otherwise noted.

Preparation of financial statements that conform with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities as of the date of the financial statements, the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods, and the disclosures of contingent liabilities. Accordingly, ultimate results could differ from those estimates.

Beginning with our 2013 fiscal year, we changed our financial reporting cycle to a calendar year-end reporting cycle and an end-of-month quarterly reporting cycle. Accordingly, our 2013 fiscal year began on December 29, 2012 (the day after the end of the 2012 fiscal year) and will end on December 31, 2013, and our 2013 quarters will include the three month periods ended March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, except that the period ended March 31, 2013 also includes December 29, 2012 through December 31, 2012. Our future fiscal years will begin on January 1 and end on December 31. Historically, our fiscal year was a 52-53 week fiscal year that ended on the Friday nearest to December 31, and our quarterly reporting cycle included twelve week periods for the first, second, and third quarters and a sixteen week period (or in some cases a seventeen week period) for the fourth quarter. We have not restated and do not plan to restate historical results.

ASU No. 2013-02, which we adopted in our 2013 first quarter, amends existing guidance by requiring disclosure of the changes in the components of accumulated other comprehensive income for the current period and additional information about items reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income. Our adoption of this update required additional disclosures but did not have a material impact on our Financial Statements. Please see Footnote No. 10, "Comprehensive Income and Capital Structure" for those additional disclosures.

Under our Stock and Cash Incentive Plan (the “Stock Plan”), we award: (1) stock options (our "Stock Option Program") to purchase our Class A Common Stock (our “common stock”); (2) stock appreciation rights (“SARs”) for our common stock (our “SAR Program”); (3) restricted stock units (“RSUs”) of our common stock; and (4) deferred stock units. We grant awards at exercise prices or strike prices that equal the market price of our common stock on the date of grant.

We believe that the fair values of our current assets and current liabilities approximate their reported carrying amounts. We show the carrying values and the fair values of noncurrent financial assets and liabilities that qualify as financial instruments, determined under current guidance for disclosures on the fair value of financial instruments, in the following table:

We estimate the fair value of our senior, mezzanine, and other loans, including the current portion, by discounting cash flows using risk-adjusted rates, both of which are Level 3 inputs.

See the “Fair Value Measurements” caption of Footnote No. 1, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” of our 2012 Form 10-K for more information on the input levels we use in determining fair value.

The table below illustrates the reconciliation of the earnings and number of shares used in our calculations of basic and diluted earnings per share:

We compute the effect of dilutive securities using the treasury stock method and average market prices during the period. We determine dilution based on earnings.

Pursuant to the applicable accounting guidance for calculating earnings per share, we have not included the following stock options and SARs in our calculation of diluted earnings per share because the exercise prices were greater than the average market prices for the applicable periods:

The following table shows the composition of our property and equipment balances at the end of the 2013 first quarter and year-end 2012:

The following table shows the composition of our notes receivable balances (net of reserves and unamortized discounts) at the end of the 2013 first quarter and year-end 2012:

The preceding table does not include the following guarantees:

In addition to the guarantees described in the preceding paragraphs, in conjunction with financing obtained for specific projects or properties owned by joint ventures in which we are a party, we may provide industry standard indemnifications to the lender for loss, liability, or damage occurring as a result of the actions of the other joint venture owner or our own actions.

On January 19, 2010, several former Marriott employees (the "plaintiffs") filed a putative class action complaint against us and the Stock Plan (the "defendants"), alleging that certain equity awards of deferred bonus stock granted to the plaintiffs and other current and former employees for fiscal years 1963 through 1989 are

We evaluate the performance of our segments based largely on the results of the segment without allocating corporate expenses, income taxes, or indirect general, administrative, and other expenses. We allocate gains and losses, equity in earnings or losses from our joint ventures, and divisional general, administrative, and other expenses to each of our segments. “Other unallocated corporate” represents that portion of our revenues, general, administrative, and other expenses, equity in earnings or losses, and other gains or losses that we do not allocate to our segments. "Other unallocated corporate" includes license fees we receive from our credit card programs and license fees from MVW.

We aggregate the brands presented within our segments considering their similar economic characteristics, types of customers, distribution channels, the regulatory business environments and operations within each segment and our organizational and management reporting structure.

Under the applicable accounting guidance for the consolidation of variable interest entities, we analyze our variable interests, including loans, guarantees, and equity investments, to determine if an entity in which we have a variable interest is a variable interest entity. Our analysis includes both quantitative and qualitative reviews. We base our quantitative analysis on the forecasted cash flows of the entity, and our qualitative analysis on our review of the design of the entity, its organizational structure including decision-making ability, and relevant financial agreements. We also use our qualitative analysis to determine if we must consolidate a variable interest entity as its primary beneficiary.

We make forward-looking statements in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and elsewhere in this report based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management and on information currently available to us. Forward-looking statements include information about our possible or assumed future results of operations, which follow under the headings “Business and Overview,” “Liquidity and Capital Resources,” and other statements throughout this report preceded by, followed by or that include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates” or similar expressions.

Any number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those we express in our forward-looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties we describe below and other factors we describe from time to time in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We therefore caution you not to rely unduly on any forward-looking statement. The forward-looking statements in this report speak only as of the date of this report, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.

In addition, see the “Item 1A. Risk Factors” caption in the “Part II-OTHER INFORMATION” section of this report.

We earn base management fees and in some cases incentive management fees from the properties that we manage, and we earn franchise fees on the properties that others operate under franchise agreements with us. Base fees typically consist of a percentage of property-level revenue while incentive fees typically consist of a percentage of net house profit adjusted for a specified owner return. Net house profit is calculated as gross operating profit (house profit) less noncontrollable expenses such as insurance, real estate taxes, capital spending reserves, and the like.

We use or license our trademarks for the sale of residential real estate, either in conjunction with hotel development or on a stand-alone basis, under our The Ritz-Carlton, EDITION, JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, and Marriott brand names. Third-party developers typically build and sell residences with little, 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.

Our emphasis on long-term management contracts and franchising tends to provide more stable earnings in periods of economic softness, while adding new hotels to our system generates growth, typically with little or no investment by the company. This strategy has driven substantial growth while minimizing financial leverage and risk in a cyclical industry. In addition, we believe minimizing our capital investments and adopting a strategy of recycling the investments that we do make maximizes and maintains our financial flexibility.

We remain focused on doing the things that we do well; that is, selling rooms, taking care of our guests, and making sure we control costs both at company-operated properties and at the corporate level ("above-property"). Our brands remain strong as a result of skilled management teams, dedicated associates, superior customer service with an emphasis on guest and associate satisfaction, significant distribution, our Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards loyalty programs, a multichannel reservations system, and desirable property amenities. We strive to effectively leverage our size and broad distribution.

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 address, through various means, hotels in the system that do not meet standards. We continue to enhance the appeal of our proprietary, information-rich, and easy-to-use website, Marriott.com, and of our associated mobile smartphone applications and mobile website that connect to Marriott.com, through functionality and service improvements, and we expect to continue capturing an increasing proportion of property-level reservations via this cost-efficient channel.

Our profitability, as well as that of owners and franchisees, has benefited from our approach to property-level and above-property productivity. Properties in our system continue to maintain very tight cost controls. We also control above-property costs, some of which we allocate to hotels, by remaining focused on systems, processing, and support areas.

We believe Revenue per Available Room ("RevPAR"), which we calculate by dividing room sales for comparable properties by room nights available to guests for the period, is 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 statistics, including occupancy and average daily rate, throughout this report are in constant dollars, unless otherwise noted, and reflect the three calendar months ended March 31, 2013 or March 31, 2012, as applicable. We calculate constant dollar statistics by applying exchange rates for the current period to the prior comparable period.

Transient demand was strong in most North American markets, as we continued to eliminate discounts, pushed business into higher rated price categories, and raised room prices. Our markets in Florida, New York, California, and Texas experienced particularly strong RevPAR increases. Resort demand was very strong, including at ski resorts, Florida destinations, and resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico. In Europe, many economies continue to struggle, demand remained weak in markets more dependent on regional travel, and new supply constrained RevPAR growth in a few markets. Gateway cities in Europe, particularly London, also experienced less robust demand in the 2013 first quarter than in recent quarters. Demand was strong in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, but remained weak in Egypt, although improving, and Jordan. Demand in the Asia Pacific region continued to moderate, and RevPAR in Greater China was flat in the 2013 first quarter, compared to the year-ago quarter, reflecting declines in government related travel due to the country's recent change in leadership, moderating economic growth, and new supply in several markets. Thailand and Indonesia had strong demand and RevPAR in the 2013 first quarter.

We monitor market conditions and carefully price our rooms daily in accordance with individual property demand levels, generally increasing room rates as demand increases. We also modify the mix of our business to increase revenue as demand changes. Demand for higher rated rooms improved in most markets in the first quarter of 2013, which allowed us to reduce discounting and special offers for transient business in many markets. This mix improvement benefited average daily rates. For our company-operated properties, we continue to focus on enhancing property-level house profit margins and actively pursue productivity improvements.

The properties in our system serve both transient and group customers. Business transient and leisure transient demand were very strong in the first quarter of 2013. For group business, two-thirds is typically booked before the year of arrival and one-third is booked in the year of arrival. Also, during an economic recovery, group pricing tends to lag transient pricing due to the significant lead times for group bookings. In the 2013 first quarter, the year-over-year timing of Easter reduced the number of days available for group business. In addition, in-the-quarter for-the-quarter group demand was weaker than in recent quarters, attendance was below meeting planner expectations for some government or government-related group events that took place, and we also saw a decline in new bookings for group stays later in 2013. This weakness in short-term group demand was largely related to weak corporate business customer demand and to a lesser extent government customers. Association group business for company-operated Marriott Hotels and Resorts brand properties was very strong in the 2013 first quarter. While the short-term group demand shortfalls were somewhat mitigated by strong transient demand and occupancy rates in most areas of the United States are at very high levels, property-level food and beverage revenues declined as compared to the year-ago quarter because transient customers typically spend less on food and beverage and because groups were more conservative with their food and beverage expenditures.

Group booking pace for company-operated Marriott Hotels and Resorts brand properties in North America for the remainder of 2013 is up 4 percent as compared to full-year pace up 6 percent one quarter ago for the 2013 full year, reflecting somewhat more cautious short-term corporate group demand. At the same time, our 2014 group booking pace has improved dramatically, now up 5 percent compared to a 4 percent decline a year ago, reflecting strong long-term group demand and correspondingly less availability.

EBITDA, a financial measure that is not prescribed or authorized by United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), reflects earnings excluding the impact of interest expense, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization. We believe that EBITDA is a meaningful indicator of operating performance because we use it to measure our ability to service debt, fund capital expenditures, and expand our business. We also use EBITDA, as do analysts, lenders, investors and others, to evaluate companies because it excludes certain items that can vary widely across different industries or among companies within the same industry. For example, interest expense can be dependent on a company’s capital structure, debt levels, and credit ratings. Accordingly, the impact of interest expense on earnings can vary significantly among companies. The tax positions of companies can also vary because of their differing abilities to take advantage of tax benefits and because of the tax policies of the jurisdictions in which they operate. As a result, effective tax rates and provision for income taxes can vary considerably among companies. EBITDA also excludes depreciation and amortization because companies utilize productive assets of different ages and use different methods of both acquiring and depreciating productive assets. These differences can result in considerable variability in the relative costs of productive assets and the depreciation and amortization expense among companies.

EBITDA has limitations and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures calculated under GAAP. This non-GAAP measure excludes certain cash expenses that we are obligated to make. Other companies in our industry may also calculate EBITDA differently than we do or may not calculate it at all, limiting EBITDA's usefulness as a comparative measure.

We show our 2013 first quarter and 2012 first quarter EBITDA calculations and reconcile those measures with Net Income in the following table:

We are a diversified lodging company with operations in four business segments: North American Full-Service Lodging, North American Limited-Service Lodging, International Lodging, and Luxury Lodging. See Footnote No. 12, “Business Segments,” to our Financial Statements for further information on our segments including how we aggregate our individual brands into each segment and other information about each segment, including revenues and assets, as well as a reconciliation of segment results to net income.

See the "CONSOLIDATED RESULTS" caption earlier in this report for additional information.

See “Statistics” below for detailed information on Systemwide RevPAR and Company-operated RevPAR by segment, region, and brand.

Unless otherwise indicated, our references to Marriott Hotels & Resorts throughout this report include JW Marriott and Marriott Conference Centers, references to Renaissance Hotels include Renaissance ClubSport, and references to Fairfield Inn & Suites include Fairfield Inn.