MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.
On
The foregoing description of the Amendment is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Amendment, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 10 to this Current Report on Form 8-K. Item 2.03. Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under an
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangement of a Registrant.
The information included in Item 1.01 of this report is incorporated by reference into this Item 2.03. Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
Marriott issued a press release on
The information in this Item 7.01, including Exhibit 99, is being furnished and
shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into any other filing with the
Marriott is supplementing the risk factors described in Item 1A "Risk Factors"
of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a material detrimental impact on our business, financial results and liquidity, and such impact could worsen and last for an unknown period of time. The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is complex and rapidly-evolving, with governments, public institutions and other organizations imposing or recommending, and businesses and individuals implementing, restrictions on various activities or other actions to combat its spread, such as restrictions and bans on travel or transportation, limitations on the size of gatherings, closures of work facilities, schools, public buildings and businesses, cancellation of events, including sporting events, conferences and meetings, and quarantines and lock-downs. The pandemic and its consequences have dramatically reduced travel and demand for hotel rooms, which has and will continue to impact our business, operations, and financial results. The extent to which the pandemic impacts our business, operations, and financial results, including the duration and magnitude of such effects, will depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict or assess, including the duration and scope of the pandemic; the negative impact it has on global and regional economies and economic activity, including the duration and magnitude of its impact on unemployment rates and consumer discretionary spending; its short and longer-term impact on the demand for travel, transient and group business, and levels of consumer confidence; the ability of our owners and franchisees to successfully navigate the impacts of the pandemic; actions governments, businesses and individuals take in response to the pandemic, including limiting or banning travel; and how quickly economies, travel activity, and demand for lodging recovers after the pandemic subsides. The COVID-19 pandemic has subjected our business, operations and financial condition to a number of risks, including, but not limited to, those discussed below:
• 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,
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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 revenues and liquidity. COVID-19 could also negatively 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 the pandemic significantly impacts spending patterns of co-brand cardholders, we may 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.
• Risks Related to Owned and
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 non-cash impairment charges to our results of
operations.
• 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 the COVID-19 pandemic 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 may also face demands or requests from labor unions that represent
our associates, 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.
• 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.
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 find it necessary in the interest of
our business 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. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic
subsides, we could experience a longer-term impact on our costs, for example,
the need for enhanced health and hygiene requirements in one or more regions
in attempts to counteract future outbreaks.
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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 new hotels may not continue to enter our pipeline at the same rate
as in the past. 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.
• Risks Related to Funding: As we previously announced, we have borrowed the
full amount available 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, and accordingly, our long-term debt
has increased substantially since December 31, 2019 . In addition, we have
entered into a commitment letter providing for a 364-day senior unsecured
revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $1.5 billion ,
closing and funding of which is contingent on the satisfaction of customary
conditions (the "New Credit Facility" and, together with the Credit Facility,
the "Credit Facilities"). To the extent we draw under the New Credit
Facility, our short-term debt could also increase substantially. 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, is affected by our credit
ratings. Accordingly, a 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, 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 Facilities, including the new
covenants described in Item 1.01 of this Form 8-K, the lenders under our
Credit Facilities 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 Facilities could trigger a
cross-default, acceleration or other consequences under other indebtedness or
financial instruments 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 the pandemic, as well as reactions to future pandemics or resurgences of COVID-19, could also precipitate or aggravate the other risk factors that we identify in our 2019 Form 10-K, which in turn could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations (including revenues and profitability) and/or stock price. 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. Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits. Marriott is filing the following exhibits with this report: 10 First Amendment, dated as ofApril 13, 2020 , to the Fifth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement withBank of America, N.A ., as administrative agent, and certain banks, dated as ofJune 28, 2019 . The cover page to this Current Report on Form 8-K, formatted in 104 inline XBRL.
Marriott is furnishing the following exhibit with this report:
99 Press Release issued on
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