Marriott International 10-K 2024-12-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2024

or

Commission File No. 1-13881

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code) (301) 380-3000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: NONE

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No o

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. o

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of shares of common stock held by non-affiliates at June 30, 2024, was $56,461,271,207.

There were 275,695,298 shares of Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding at January 31, 2025.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Proxy Statement prepared for the 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC.

FORM 10-K TABLE OF CONTENTS

FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2024

Throughout this report, we refer to Marriott International, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, as “we,” “us,” “Marriott,” or the “Company.” In order to make this report easier to read, we also refer throughout to (1) our Consolidated Financial Statements as our “Financial Statements,” (2) our Consolidated Statements of Income as our “Income Statements,” (3) our Consolidated Balance Sheets as our “Balance Sheets,” (4) our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows as our “Statements of Cash Flows,” (5) our properties, brands, or markets in the United States and Canada as “U.S. & Canada,” and (6) our properties, brands, or markets in our Europe, Middle East & Africa, Greater China, Asia Pacific excluding China, and Caribbean & Latin America regions, as “International.” References throughout to numbered “Notes” refer to the Notes to our Financial Statements, unless otherwise stated. In addition, we use the term “hotel owners” throughout this report to refer, collectively, to owners of hotels and other lodging offerings operating in our system pursuant to management agreements, franchise agreements, license agreements or similar arrangements, and we use the term “hotels in our system” to refer to hotels and other lodging offerings operating in our system pursuant to such arrangements, as well as hotels that we own or lease. The terms “hotel owners” and “hotels in our system” exclude Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy**®** (which we also exclude from our property and room count), timeshare, residential, and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection**®**.

Cautionary Statement

All statements in this report are made as of the date this Form 10-K is filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 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 available to us through the date this Form 10-K is filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements include information related to our development pipeline; our expectations regarding rooms growth; our expectations related to new brands, offerings, and growth opportunities; our expectations regarding our ability to meet our liquidity requirements; our capital expenditures and other investment spending and reimbursement expectations; our expectations regarding future dividends and share repurchases; our expectations regarding certain claims, legal proceedings, settlements or resolutions; our comprehensive initiative to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency across the Company, including related goals, anticipated cost reductions, and other expected or potential benefits and outcomes; and other statements that are preceded by, followed by, or include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “foresees,” or similar expressions; and similar statements concerning anticipated future events and expectations that are not historical facts.

We caution you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to numerous evolving risks and uncertainties that we may not be able to accurately predict or assess, including the risks and uncertainties we describe in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of this report and other factors we describe from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC.

PART I

Overview

We are a worldwide operator, franchisor, and licensor of hotel, residential, timeshare, and other lodging properties under more than 30 brand names at different price and service points. Consistent with our focus on management, franchising, and licensing, we own or lease very few of our lodging properties (less than one percent of our system). As of year-end 2024, our system included 9,361 properties (1,706,331 rooms) in 144 countries and territories, and we also had nearly 3,800 hotels (over 577,000 rooms) in our development pipeline.

We discuss our operations in the following reportable business segments: (1) U.S. & Canada, (2) Europe, Middle East & Africa (“EMEA”), (3) Greater China, and (4) Asia Pacific excluding China (“APEC”). Our Caribbean & Latin America (“CALA”) operating segment does not meet the applicable accounting criteria for separate disclosure as a reportable business segment, and as such, we include its results in “Unallocated corporate and other.” See Note 14 for more information.

Brand Portfolio

We believe that our brand portfolio offers the most compelling range of brands and lodging offerings in hospitality. Our brands are categorized by style of offering - Classic and Distinctive. Our Classic brands offer time-honored hospitality for the modern traveler, and our Distinctive brands offer memorable experiences with a unique perspective - each of which we group into four quality tiers: Luxury, Premium, Select, and Midscale. Luxury offers bespoke and superb amenities and services. Premium offers sophisticated and thoughtful amenities and services. Select offers smart and easy amenities and services. Midscale offers limited services and essential amenities at a more affordable price point. Longer stay brands, which are classified under multiple quality tiers, offer amenities that mirror the comforts of home. The following table shows the portfolio of brands owned, operated, and/or licensed by Marriott for properties open at year-end 2024. In 2025, we expect properties to open under additional brand offerings, including our StudioResTM brand and our outdoor-focused lodging offerings.

The following table shows the geographic distribution of properties operating under the brands in our portfolio at year-end 2024:

(1)We exclude geographical data for Timeshare and Yacht as these offerings are captured within “Unallocated corporate and other.”

(2)Excludes five MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy properties (two Autograph Collection, one Tribute Portfolio, one The Luxury Collection, and one W Hotels), which are presented within their respective brands.

Property and room counts presented by brand in the above table include certain hotels in our system that are not yet operating under such brand, but are expected to operate under such brand following the completion of planned renovations. In addition, Four Points Flex by Sheraton refers to properties previously referred to as Four Points Express by Sheraton.

Company-Operated Properties

At year-end 2024, we had 2,032 company-operated properties (586,201 rooms), which included properties under long-term management agreements with hotel owners and properties that we own and lease.

Terms of our management agreements vary, but we earn a management fee that is typically composed of a base management fee, which is a percentage of the revenues of the hotel, and an incentive management fee, which is based on the profits of the hotel. In many cases (particularly in our U.S. & Canada, Europe, and CALA regions), incentive management fees

are subject to a specified owner return. Our management agreements also typically include reimbursement of costs of operations (both direct and indirect). Such agreements are generally for initial periods of 20 to 30 years, with options for us to renew for up to 10 or more additional years. Our lease agreements also vary, but may include fixed annual rentals plus additional rentals based on a specified percentage of annual revenues that exceed a fixed amount. In many jurisdictions, our management agreements may be subordinated to mortgages or other liens securing indebtedness of the hotel owners. Many of our management agreements also permit the hotel owners to terminate the agreement if we do not meet certain performance metrics, financial returns fail to meet defined levels for a period of time, and we have not cured those deficiencies.

For the hotels we operate, we generally are responsible for hiring, training, and supervising the associates needed to operate the hotels and for incurring operational and administrative costs related to the operation of the hotels, and hotel owners are required to reimburse us for those costs. We provide centralized programs and services, such as our Loyalty Program (as defined below), reservations, and marketing, as well as various accounting and data processing services, and hotel owners are required to reimburse us for those costs as well.

Franchised, Licensed, and Other Properties

We have franchise, license, and other arrangements that permit hotel owners and certain other third parties to use many of our lodging brand names and systems.

Under our hotel franchising arrangements, we generally receive an initial application fee and continuing royalty fees, which typically range from four to seven percent of room revenues, plus for certain brands, up to four percent of food and beverage revenues, as well as reimbursement for centralized programs and services, such as our Loyalty Program, reservations, and marketing. Such agreements are generally for periods of 10 to 20 years.

We also have license and other agreements with third parties for certain offerings, such as for our timeshare properties, MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, Design Hotels, and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, pursuant to which we receive royalty and certain other fees. For our timeshare properties, we receive royalty fees under license agreements with Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation and its affiliates (collectively, “MVW”) for certain brands. The royalty fees we receive from MVW consist of a fixed annual fee, adjusted for inflation, plus certain variable fees based on sales volumes. Certain licensees are also charged for certain systems and centralized programs and services, such as our Loyalty Program, reservations, and marketing.

At year-end 2024, we had 7,192 franchised, licensed, and other properties (1,104,446 rooms and timeshare units).

Residential

We use or license certain of our trademarks for the sale of residential real estate, often in conjunction with hotel development. We receive one-time branding fees upon the sale of each branded residential unit by the third-party developers who construct and sell the residences, with limited amounts, if any, of our capital at risk. We often also manage the related homeowners’ association and receive continuing management fees for that service. At year-end 2024, we had 137 branded residential properties (15,684 residential units).

Intellectual Property

We operate in a highly competitive industry and our brand names, trademarks, service marks, trade names, and logos are very important to our business, including the development, sales and marketing of our lodging offerings and services. We believe that our brand names and other intellectual property have come to represent outstanding quality, care, service, and value to our customers, guests, and the traveling public. Accordingly, we register and protect our intellectual property where we deem appropriate and otherwise protect against its unauthorized use.

Loyalty and Credit Card Programs

Marriott Bonvoy**®** is central to our business strategy. It encompasses our portfolio of over 30 brands and other travel offerings, our direct channels, and our award-winning travel loyalty program, which we refer to throughout this report as our “Loyalty Program.” Loyalty Program members can earn points for stays at participating properties and other travel offerings, such as Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, a global offering focusing on the premium and luxury tiers of rental homes, as well as through purchases with co-branded credit cards and our Loyalty Program partners. Members can redeem points for stays at participating properties, airline tickets, airline frequent flyer program miles, rental cars, products from Marriott Bonvoy Boutiques**®, and a variety of other awards, including experiences from Marriott Bonvoy Moments®**.

We believe that our Loyalty Program generates substantial repeat business that might otherwise go to competing properties. In 2024, 72 percent of our U.S. hotel room nights and 65 percent of our global hotel room nights were booked by Loyalty Program members. We strategically market to this large and growing guest base to generate revenue.

We have co-branded credit cards associated with Marriott Bonvoy in 11 countries. In the U.S., we have multi-year agreements with JPMorgan Chase and American Express. We also license credit card programs internationally, including in Japan, China, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and other markets. We generally earn fixed amounts that are payable at contract inception and variable amounts that are paid to us monthly over the term of the agreements primarily based on card usage. We believe that our co-branded credit cards create a diverse revenue stream for the Company, reflect the quality and value of our portfolio of brands, and contribute to the strength of our Loyalty Program by creating value for our customers, hotel owners, and other parties with whom we have an affiliation. Payments received under our co-branded credit card agreements represent a significant funding source for the Loyalty Program.

See the “Loyalty Program” caption in Note 2 for more information about our Loyalty Program and co-branded credit cards.

Sales and Marketing and Reservation Systems

Marriott.com, the Marriott Bonvoy mobile app, and our other direct digital channels offer seamless digital experiences. We deliver customer-minded enhancements, including powerful in-stay capabilities through our mobile app, such as contactless check-in and check-out, Mobile Key, chat, service requests, mobile dining, and more. In addition, we are focused on strengthening Marriott Bonvoy by attracting more Loyalty Program members and localizing our experiences to reach new customers around the world. Our focus on creating frictionless experiences throughout our direct digital channels is foundational to our worldwide technology systems transformation. This multi-year transformation of our reservations, property management, and loyalty systems is focused on introducing new technology that delivers more choices for customers, new capabilities for associates, and new revenue opportunities for hotels in our system.

Our above-property sales deployment and revenue management strategies are designed around the way the customer wants to buy and the strategic priorities of hotels in our system. Our above-property sales strategy focuses on offering global business-to-business solutions, driving efficiencies, optimizing revenue, and enhancing customer loyalty while minimizing duplication of efforts at the hotel level. We also utilize innovative and sophisticated revenue management systems, many of which are proprietary, which are designed to facilitate pricing decisions, increase efficiency, and optimize property-level revenue. Most of the hotels in our portfolio utilize web-based programs to effectively manage the rate set-up and modification processes, which provides for greater pricing flexibility and increased efficiency.

Our marketing strategies focus on building awareness, increasing demand, promoting Marriott Bonvoy, and increasing customer loyalty. We do this through a variety of brand and marketing programs, offerings, and tools.

Competition

We compete for guests in many areas, including brand recognition and reputation, location, guest satisfaction, room rates, quality of service, amenities, quality of accommodations, safety and security, and the ability to earn and redeem loyalty program points. We encounter strong competition in the short-term lodging market from regional, national, and international chains that operate lodging properties or franchise their brands, lodging properties that are not affiliated with a chain, and online platforms, including Airbnb and Vrbo, that allow travelers to book short-term rentals of homes and apartments as an alternative to hotel rooms. Although we believe that our strong brand recognition assists us in attracting and retaining guests and hotel owners, we compete against many other companies with strong brands and guest appeal, including Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Accor, Choice Hotels, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, and others. Our direct digital channels also compete for guests with online travel services platforms, such as Expedia.com, Priceline.com, Booking.com, Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, and Trip.com, and search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu.

We believe that the location and quality of our lodging offerings, our Loyalty Program, our marketing programs, our reservation systems, and our emphasis on guest service and guest and associate satisfaction contribute to guest preference across all our brands.

Affiliation with a brand is common in the U.S. lodging industry. In 2024, approximately 73 percent of U.S. hotel rooms were brand-affiliated. Although lodging properties outside the U.S. also often affiliate with a brand, such brand affiliation is

less prevalent than in the U.S. Based on lodging industry data, we have an approximately 17 percent share of the U.S. hotel market and a four percent share of the hotel market outside the U.S. (based on number of rooms).

We believe that our brands are attractive to hotel owners seeking a management company, franchise, or other licensing affiliation because of the benefits of our Loyalty Program, centralized reservation systems, marketing programs, and other offerings, and our emphasis on guest service.

Seasonality

In general, business at hotels in our system fluctuates moderately with the seasons. Business at some resort properties may be more seasonal depending on location.

Human Capital Management

Marriott’s long history of service, innovation, and growth is built on a culture of putting people first. We are committed to investing in our associates, with a focus on leadership development, competitive compensation, and creating a sense of well-being and belonging for all.

At year-end 2024, Marriott managed the employment of approximately 418,000 associates. This number includes approximately 155,000 associates employed by Marriott at properties, customer care centers, and above-property operations, as well as approximately 263,000 associates who are employed by our hotel owners but whose employment is managed by Marriott (which is common outside the U.S.). Approximately 118,000 of the associates employed by Marriott are located in the U.S., of which approximately 20,000 belong to labor unions. Outside the U.S., some of our associates are represented by trade unions, works councils, or employee associations. These numbers do not include hotel personnel employed by our independent franchisees and licensees or management companies hired by our franchisees and licensees. Marriott is committed to conducting its business in accordance with high ethical and legal standards, and our franchisees are expected to develop responsible human capital management practices.

We are focused on maintaining Marriott’s position as an employer of choice both for job seekers and our existing associates. To attract talent, we are targeting new labor pools, optimizing our recruiting practices, and sharing our story of long-term career potential. Our people brand, “Be™”, showcases associate stories to highlight the meaningful work and numerous opportunities at the Company. At our headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, we utilize a hybrid work model to allow for flexibility and choice to meet the needs of our corporate workforce. For many hotel-based associates, we are innovating the way hotel jobs are structured, introducing more flexibility and choice through our integrated jobs program, which allows associates to have more cross-training and engaging roles.

We encourage continual feedback from our associates at all levels. We measure associate satisfaction through our Associate Engagement Survey, which gives all associates the opportunity to provide feedback about their work experience, providing valuable insights so we can drive improvements in our culture. In 2024, we changed our cadence from an annual survey to three times per year to allow for more frequent feedback. Our associate engagement scores exceeded the “Global Best Employer” external benchmark in 2024, and we were recognized as a top 10 company on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2024, a list we have been on for 27 consecutive years.

In 2024, we launched a comprehensive initiative, with a focus on our headquarters and corporate offices, to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency across the Company and to advance our strategic objectives. As part of these efforts, we streamlined some roles, reshaped work to focus on our highest priorities, and de-layered the organization to speed up and simplify decision-making capabilities of our teams.

Our human capital strategy is based on three signature elements – Growing Great Leaders, Investing in Associates, and Providing Access to Opportunity.

Growing Great Leaders

We believe that associates at every level can inspire others through great leadership. Our Leadership Framework, designed to help us grow great leaders, starts with three Leadership Essentials that clearly define what great leadership means at Marriott at all levels of the organization. In 2024, we also revamped our leadership development offerings with tailored programming that targets successive managerial levels, creating a clear pathway for associates to progressively grow into leadership roles. Our leadership competencies are integrated into our performance management process and leadership development programs. Our talent development strategy is designed to provide opportunities for our associates to develop and grow their careers with Marriott for the long term while driving the performance of our business.

Investing in Associates

We are focused on providing our associates with the tools, resources, and support they need to thrive – both personally and professionally. We provide our eligible U.S. associates and their families with access to comprehensive compensation and benefits offerings, such as health care coverage, work/life support benefits, and other offerings, including retirement savings and employee stock purchase plans. Outside the U.S., we offer comprehensive compensation and benefit programs that vary based on the geographic market and we regularly evaluate these programs for competitiveness against the external talent market. Our TakeCare program provides associates with tools and resources to support their physical, mental, and financial well-being.

In addition, pay equity is foundational to our compensation structures and practices. Globally, pay equity best practices guide our determination of starting pay for our associates, including our policy of prohibiting compensation history inquiries. In the U.S., we conduct pay equity audits at least annually and make adjustments as needed.

Providing Access to Opportunity

Our focus on access to opportunity encompasses a range of initiatives and programs to support our goal to make all stakeholders (including associates, guests, hotel owners, and suppliers) feel welcome and valued. The Inclusion and Social Impact Committee of our Board of Directors (“Board”), established over 20 years ago, assists the Board in providing oversight of the Company’s strategy related to our people-first culture, associate well-being and inclusion, and corporate social responsibility and environmental matters.

Sustainability and Social Impact

We are focused on creating a positive and sustainable impact wherever we do business. Our sustainability and social impact platform, Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction, is built around four focus areas: Nurture Our World; Sustain Responsible Operations; Empower Through Opportunity; and Welcome All and Advance Human Rights. Our efforts are centered around (1) making the communities and environments where we operate better places to live, work, and visit, (2) embedding sustainability across our operations, (3) providing access to workplace readiness and opportunity for all to grow and succeed, and (4) encouraging cultural understanding and connecting people through the power of travel.

Our sustainability strategy and initiatives focus on a wide range of issues, including designing resource-efficient hotels, implementing technologies to track and reduce energy and water consumption, as well as waste and food waste, increasing the use of renewable energy, managing water-related risks, focusing on third-party sustainability certifications at the hotel-level, supporting ecosystem restoration initiatives, and focusing on responsible and local sourcing.

We have set near-term and long-term science-based emissions reduction targets, which were verified by the Science Based Targets initiative in 2024.

In response to humanitarian crises and natural disasters, hotels in our system often look to support their local communities in need by donating funds, hotel stays, food, supplies, and volunteer hours. We also deploy our Company relief funds to support affected associates and their families and charitable organizations providing relief in impacted areas. We also continue to focus on our efforts to advance human rights, including by continuing to train associates in human trafficking awareness and donating our training program to the broader lodging industry.

Government Regulations

As a company with global operations, we are subject to a wide variety of laws, regulations, and government policies around the world. Some of the regulations that most affect us and our business include those related to employment practices; marketing and advertising; consumer protection; trade and economic sanctions; anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering; intellectual property; cybersecurity, data privacy, data localization, data transfers, and the handling of personally identifiable information; competition; climate and the environment; health, safety, and accessibility; liquor sales; the offer and sale of franchises; and credit card products.

Internet Address and Company SEC Filings

Our primary Internet address is Marriott.com. On the investor relations portion of our website, Marriott.com/investor, we provide a link to our electronic filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to these reports. We make all such filings available free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after filing. The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report we file with or furnish to the SEC.

We are subject to various risks that make an investment in our securities risky. The events and consequences discussed in these risk factors could, in circumstances we may or may not be able to accurately predict, recognize, or control, have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, these risks could cause results to differ materially from those we express in forward-looking statements contained in this report or in other Company communications. These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face, and our business could also be affected by factors, events, or uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently do not consider to present significant risks to our operations.

Risks Relating to Our Industry

Our industry is highly competitive, which may impact our ability to compete successfully for guests. We operate in markets that contain many competitors. Our hotel brands and other lodging offerings generally compete with regional, national, and international chains that operate lodging properties or franchise their brands, lodging properties that are not affiliated with a chain, and online platforms that allow travelers to book short-term rentals of homes and apartments. Our ability to remain competitive and attract and retain business, group and leisure travelers depends on our success in distinguishing and driving preference for our lodging products and services, including our Loyalty Program, direct channels, consumer-facing technology platforms and services, our co-branded credit cards, and other offerings. If we cannot compete successfully in these areas, our business, liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Further, new lodging supply in individual markets could have a negative impact on the hotel industry and hamper our ability to maintain or increase room rates or occupancy in those markets.

Economic and other global, national, and regional conditions and events have in the past impacted, and could in the future impact, our business, financial results and growth. Because we conduct our business on a global scale, we are affected by changes in global, national, or regional economies, governmental policies (including in areas such as trade, travel, immigration, labor, healthcare, and related issues), and geopolitical, public health, social and other conditions and events. Our business, financial results and growth are impacted by weak or volatile economic conditions; pandemics and other outbreaks of disease; natural and man-made disasters; changes in energy prices, interest rates and currency values; political instability, geopolitical disputes or conflict, actual or threatened war, terrorist activity, civil unrest and other acts of violence; heightened travel security measures, travel advisories, and disruptions in air and ground travel; and concerns over the foregoing. These conditions and events have in the past materially negatively impacted, and could in the future materially negatively impact, our business, operations, and financial results in many ways, including, but not limited to, as follows:

• reducing revenues at hotels in our system, impacting our fees and the ability of hotels to meet expenses, including payment of amounts owed to us;

• reducing revenues we receive from other programs and offerings;

• adversely affecting the value of our owned and leased properties or investments;

• affecting the ability or willingness of hotel owners to service, repay or refinance existing indebtedness or similar obligations, including loans or guaranty advances we have made to or for them;

• making it more difficult for hotel owners to obtain financing on commercially acceptable terms, or at all;

• causing hotel construction and opening delays;

• decreasing the rate at which new projects enter our pipeline;

• causing hotels to exit our system;

• increasing operating costs;

• requiring us to borrow or otherwise raise a significant amount of cash in order to preserve financial flexibility, repay maturing debt and manage debt maturities;

• causing the terms of our borrowing to be more expensive or more restrictive; and

• adversely affecting associate hiring and retention.

The conditions and events discussed in this risk factor could also give rise to, aggravate, and impact our ability to allocate resources to mitigate the other risks that we identify below, which in turn could materially adversely affect our business, liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Operational Risks

Premature termination of our agreements with hotel owners could hurt our financial performance. Our agreements with hotel owners may be subject to premature termination in certain circumstances, such as the bankruptcy of a hotel owner, the failure of a hotel owner to comply with its payment or other obligations under the agreement, a failure under some agreements to meet specified financial or performance criteria which we do not cure, or in certain limited cases, other

negotiated contractual termination rights. Hotel owners may assert the right to terminate our agreements even where the agreements provide otherwise, and some courts have upheld such assertions about our agreements and may do so in the future. When terminations occur for certain of 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, 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 agreement with the hotel owner. A significant loss of these agreements could hurt our financial performance or our ability to grow our business.

Disagreements with hotel owners and other counterparties may result in arbitration or litigation or delay implementation of product or service initiatives. Consistent with our focus on management, franchising, and licensing, we own very few of our lodging properties. The nature of our rights and responsibilities under our agreements with hotel owners and other counterparties may be subject to interpretation. This has from time to time given rise to disagreements with such parties, and may give rise to such disagreements in the future, including over new product, service, or systems initiatives and their associated costs, the timing and amount of capital investments, and reimbursement for operating costs, system costs, or other amounts. We have seen, and may in the future see, an increase in such disagreements during periods when hotel returns are weaker. We seek to resolve any disagreements and to develop and maintain positive relations with our hotel owners and other counterparties, but we cannot always do so. Failure to resolve such disagreements has resulted in arbitration or litigation, and could do so in the future. We could suffer significant losses, reduced profits, or constraints on our operations as the result of adverse dispute resolution outcomes.

An increase in the use of Internet travel intermediaries to book 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, Orbitz.com, and Trip.com. In addition to their focus on leisure travel, these intermediaries also provide offerings for corporate travel and group meetings. Internet search engines may also divert business away from our channels to intermediaries. 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 hotels in our system, 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. Our business and profitability could be harmed to the extent that guest booking preference shifts from our direct digital channels to Internet travel intermediaries, diverting bookings away from our direct digital channels and increasing the overall cost of bookings for hotels in our system. At the same time, if we are not able to negotiate new agreements on satisfactory terms when our existing contracts with intermediaries (which generally have two- to three-year terms) come up for renewal, our business and prospects could be negatively impacted in a number of ways, including by reducing bookings or making our brands less attractive to hotel owners.

Our growth strategy depends upon attracting hotel owners to our platform, and future arrangements with these third parties may be less favorable to us, depending on the terms offered by our competitors. Adding properties to our system entails entering into and maintaining various arrangements with hotel owners. Our ability to attract and retain hotel owners and the terms of our agreements with hotel owners are influenced by the needs and preferences of hotel owners and the offerings otherwise available to hotel owners in the market, among other things. We cannot assure you that any of our current arrangements will continue or that we will be able to renew agreements or enter into new agreements in the future on terms that are as favorable to us as those that exist today.

The effects of, or our failure to comply with, applicable laws, regulations, and government policies may disrupt our business, lower our revenues, increase our costs, reduce our profits, limit our growth, or damage our reputation. We, the hotels in our system, our other lodging offerings, and the programs that we offer are subject to or affected by a variety of laws, regulations, and government policies around the globe, including, among others, those related to employment practices; marketing and advertising; consumer protection; trade and economic sanctions; anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering; intellectual property; cybersecurity, data privacy, data localization, data transfers, and the handling of personally identifiable information; competition; climate and the environment; health, safety, and accessibility; liquor sales; the offer and sale of franchises; and credit card products. These laws, regulations, and government policies may be complex and change frequently and could have a range of adverse effects on our business. The compliance programs, internal controls, and policies we maintain and enforce need to be updated regularly to keep pace with changing laws, regulations, and government policies, may not cover all applicable risk areas, and, as we have seen in the past, may not prevent us, our associates, service providers, or agents from materially violating applicable laws, regulations, and government policies. The requirements of applicable laws, regulations, and government policies, our failure to meet such requirements (including investigations and publicity resulting from actual or alleged failures), or actions we take to comply with such requirements or investigations could have significant adverse effects on our results of operations, reputation, or ability to grow our business.

Third-party claims that we infringe the intellectual property rights of others or our failure to defend our own intellectual property rights could materially adversely affect our business. Third parties sometimes make claims against us for infringing their intellectual property rights (including as a result of the actions of our hotel owners, service providers, and other parties with whom we do business). We have been and are currently party to a number of such claims and may be subject to additional claims in the future. Such claims have in the past, and could in the future:

• be expensive and time consuming to defend;

• require or result in significant monetary payments to claimants;

• require or result in the limitation or cessation of our use of the intellectual property at issue;

• force us to redesign or rebrand our products or services; or

• result in other adverse effects on our business or reputation.

We may also be required to indemnify hotel owners, service providers, and other parties with whom we do business for losses they incur as a result of any infringement claims against them related to our intellectual property or as a result of our use of the intellectual property of third parties.

In addition, if third parties copy or use our intellectual property without authorization, the value of our brands, our competitive advantages, or our goodwill could be harmed. The steps we take to secure, protect, and defend our intellectual property rights may not succeed or be adequate to prevent others from infringing, copying, or using our intellectual property without proper authorization. Such steps, including enforcing our intellectual property rights, are costly and could force us to divert our resources, lead to counterclaims or other claims against us, or otherwise result in harm to our business.

If our brands, goodwill, or other intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record significant non-cash charges to earnings. We hold a significant amount of goodwill and other intangible assets on our Balance Sheets. 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 claims, 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.

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 and value of our Company or one or more of our brands, hotels in our system, or other offerings, including adherence to service and other brand standards; matters related to, or incidents involving, food quality and safety, guest and associate safety, health and cleanliness, sustainability and climate impact, supply chain management, inclusion and belonging, human rights, and support for local communities; and compliance with applicable laws. 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, hotels in our system, or other offerings, 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, proceedings 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, adverse reaction from hotel owners, service providers, or other third parties, 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 hotel owners 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 and other offerings, and enter into marketing and other strategic collaborations with other companies. Under the terms of their agreements with us, these third parties interact directly with guests and others under or in connection with our brand and trade names. These third parties sometimes fail to maintain or act in accordance with applicable brand standards; experience operational problems, including data or privacy incidents, or circumstances involving guest or associate health or safety; or project a brand image inconsistent with ours, each of which can cause our image and reputation to suffer. Although our agreements with these parties generally 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 and even if we are successful in pursuing such remedies, that may not be sufficient to mitigate reputational harm to us. 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 materially disrupt hotel operations, increase 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, as we have seen in the past, 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 the successful resolution of such negotiations in the past does not mean that future negotiations will be resolved without significant strikes or disruptions, or on satisfactory terms. For many of the hotels in our system, including our franchised and licensed properties, we do not have the ability to control the negotiations of collective bargaining agreements, and collective bargaining activity and labor disruptions at these properties could adversely impact our business. Labor disputes and disruptions sometimes result in adverse publicity or regulatory investigations and adversely affect operations and revenues at impacted hotels. In addition, labor disputes and disruptions or increased demands from labor unions can sometimes harm associate relations, result in increased regulatory requirements or inquiries and enforcement by governmental authorities, harm relationships with guests and customers, divert management attention, and reduce customer demand, all of which could have a significant 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, as we have seen in the past, lead to higher wage and benefit costs, changes in work rules that raise operating expenses and legal costs, and limitations on our ability or the ability of our hotel owners to take cost saving measures during economic downturns. Increased unionization of the workforce at hotels in our system, new labor legislation, or changes in regulations could disrupt operations at hotels in our system, reduce profitability, or interfere with the ability of our management to focus on executing our business strategies.

Our business could suffer if we or the hotels in our system cannot attract and retain associates or as the result of the loss of the services of our senior executives. We and the hotels in our system compete with other companies both within and outside of our industry for personnel. We and the hotels in our system have in the past experienced, and could in the future experience, challenges hiring for certain positions due to various factors, such as increasing wage expectations or competition for labor from other industries, and these circumstances could continue or worsen in the future to an extent and for durations that we are not able to predict. If we or the hotels in our system cannot recruit, train, develop, and retain sufficient numbers of associates, we could experience significant negative impacts on operations, associate morale and turnover, guest satisfaction, or our internal control environment. Insufficient numbers of associates could also limit our ability to grow and expand our business. Labor shortages have in the past resulted, and could in the future result, in higher wages and initial hiring costs, increasing our labor costs and labor costs at hotels in our system, which could reduce our revenues and 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.

Extreme weather, natural disasters, climate change, and sustainability-related concerns have impacted our business in the past and could in the future have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations**.** We, the hotels in our system, and our other lodging offerings are subject to the risks associated with extreme weather, natural disasters, and climate change, including physical impacts, changes in laws and regulations, and changing consumer preferences. We have seen a decline in travel and reduced demand for lodging as a result of natural disasters and extreme weather in some markets and in areas of the world from which we draw guests, and the prevalence and impact of these events may increase or worsen in the future. Natural disasters, extreme weather, and other climate impacts and events (including rising sea levels, extreme hot or cold weather, flooding, water shortages, fires, and droughts) have impacted, and continue to impact, hotels in our system, including by causing physical damage that prevents or limits the operations of the property or resulting in increases in insurance, energy or other operating costs. Significant costs could be involved in improving the efficiency and climate resiliency of hotels in our system and otherwise preparing for, responding to, and mitigating climate or sustainability related impacts, events, or concerns. Compliance with climate-related legislation and regulation, and our efforts to achieve science-based emissions reduction targets or other sustainability initiatives, have been and are expected to continue to be complex and costly. Climate or other sustainability-related concerns may affect customers’ travel choices, including their frequency of travel. As a result of the foregoing, as we have seen in the past to some extent, we may experience reduced demand, increased costs, operating disruptions or limitations, and physical damage to hotels in our system, and we could experience constraints on our growth, all of which could adversely affect our profits and growth.

Insurance may not cover damage to, or losses involving, hotels in our system or other aspects of our business, and the cost of such insurance could increase. We require comprehensive property and liability insurance policies for hotels in our system with coverage features and insured limits that we believe are customary. Market forces beyond our control may nonetheless limit the scope of the insurance coverage we or our hotel owners 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, fires, 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 and our hotel owners 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 natural disasters, coupled with continued large global losses, the property, liability, and other insurance markets have seen significant cost increases. Further, in the event of a substantial loss, the insurance coverage we or our hotel owners 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.

Our Loyalty Program plays a significant role in our business, and unfavorable developments affecting the program could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Our Loyalty Program is an important aspect of our business. Our Loyalty Program faces significant competition from the loyalty programs offered by other hospitality companies, as well as from loyalty programs offered by bank travel programs, airlines, and others. There is significant competition among loyalty programs in terms of the value and utility of program currency, rewards ranges and values, other program terms and conditions, and other program features, including co-branded credit card affiliations and offerings. If we are not able to maintain a competitive and attractive loyalty program or if we make changes to our Loyalty Program, including as a result of legal or regulatory requirements or considerations, we could experience significant adverse effects on our reputation, business, financial condition, or results of operations, including our ability to acquire, engage, and retain members in our Loyalty Program and our ability to operate other programs (including our co-branded credit card program).

Exchange rate fluctuations could result in significant foreign currency gains and losses and affect our business results. We earn revenues and incur expenses in foreign currencies in connection with 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 material negative effect on our financial results. To the extent that our international operations continue to grow, our exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations will grow. Even though we enter into foreign exchange hedging arrangements for some of the currencies in which we do business, exchange rate fluctuations will result in foreign currency gains and losses and could materially affect our results. Our hedging arrangements may also create their own costs and risks, including in the form of cash flow impacts, credit requirements, and counterparty risk.

Development and Financing Risks

Our hotel owners depend on capital to buy, develop, and improve hotels, and they may be unable to access capital when necessary. Current and potential hotel owners must periodically spend money to fund new hotel investments, as well as to refurbish and improve existing hotels. The availability of funds for new investments and improvement of existing hotels by our current and potential hotel owners depends in large measure on their ability to access the capital markets. Obtaining financing on attractive terms has been, and may in the future be further, constrained by the capital markets for hotel and real estate investments.

Our ability to grow our system is subject to the range of risks associated with real estate investments. Our ability to sustain continued growth through management, franchise, or license agreements with hotel owners is affected, and may potentially be limited, by a variety of factors influencing real estate development generally. These include site availability, financing availability, planning, zoning and other local approvals, and other limitations that may be imposed by market and submarket factors, such as projected room occupancy and rate, changes in growth in demand compared to projected supply, territorial restrictions in our agreements with hotel owners, costs of construction, demand for and availability of construction resources, and other disruptive conditions in global, regional, or local markets.

Our owned properties and other real estate investments subject us to numerous risks. We have a number of owned and leased properties and investments in joint ventures that own properties, which are each subject to the risks that generally relate to investments in real property. We may seek to sell some of these properties over time; however, equity real estate investments can be difficult to sell, and we may not be able to complete asset sales at prices we find acceptable or at all. Moreover, the investment returns available from equity investments in real estate depend in large part on the amount of income earned and capital appreciation generated, if any, by the particular properties, and the expenses incurred. A variety of other factors also affect income from properties and real estate values, including local market conditions and new supply of hotels and other lodging products, availability and costs of staffing, governmental regulations, insurance, zoning, tax and eminent domain laws,

interest rate levels, and the availability of financing. Our real estate investments have been, and could in the future be, impacted by any of these factors, resulting in a material adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition. If our properties do not generate revenue sufficient to meet operating expenses and make needed capital expenditures, our income could be adversely affected, and we could be required to record additional significant non-cash impairment charges to our results of operations.

Risks associated with development and sale of residential properties associated with our lodging properties or brands may reduce our profits. We license many of our brands for use in connection with the development and sale of residential properties. Such projects pose further risks beyond those generally associated with our lodging business, which may reduce our profits or compromise our brand equity, including risks that: (1) changes in residential real estate demand generally may reduce our profits and could make it more difficult to convince future project developers of the value added by our brands; and (2) increases in interest rates, reductions in mortgage availability or the tax benefits of mortgage financing or residential ownership generally, or increases in the costs of residential ownership could prevent potential customers from buying residential products or reduce the prices they are willing to pay.

More hotel projects in our development pipeline may be cancelled or delayed in opening, which could adversely affect our growth prospects. We report a significant number of hotels in our development pipeline, including hotels under construction, hotels subject to signed contracts, and hotels approved for development but not yet under contract. The eventual opening of such pipeline hotels and, in particular, the approved hotels that are not yet under contract, is subject to numerous risks, including the other risks described in this section. We have seen construction timelines for pipeline hotels lengthen due to various factors, including challenges related to financing, and these circumstances could continue or worsen in the future. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that all of our development pipeline will result in additional hotels entering our system, or that those hotels will open when we anticipate.

Losses on loans or guarantees that we have made to third parties impact our profits. From time to time, we make loans to hotel owners as described in Note 12 and provide guarantees to hotel owners or lenders as described in Note 7. We have suffered losses, and could suffer losses in the future, when hotel owners default on loans that we provide or when we are required to fund under guarantees and do not receive reimbursement from the hotel owner.

If hotel owners cannot repay or refinance mortgage loans secured by their properties, our revenues and profits could decrease and our business could be harmed. Many hotel owners have pledged their hotels as collateral for mortgage loans that they entered into when those properties were purchased or refinanced. If those hotel owners cannot meet required debt service payments or repay or refinance maturing indebtedness on favorable terms or at all, the lenders could declare a default, accelerate the related debt, and foreclose on the property, or the hotel owners could declare bankruptcy, as we have seen in the past and could see in the future. In some cases, such foreclosures or bankruptcies have in the past resulted, and could in the future result, in the termination of our management, franchise, or license agreements, eliminating our anticipated income and cash flows, which could have a significant negative effect on our results of operations.

Technology, Information Protection, and Privacy Risks

Disruption in the functioning of our reservation, Loyalty Program, or other core operational systems, or our use of certain new technologies, could adversely affect our business. In the operation of our business, we manage or use sophisticated technology and systems, including those used for our reservation, customer relationship management, analytics, revenue management, property management, human resources and payroll systems, our Loyalty Program, and technologies we make available to our guests and for associates. The cost, speed, accuracy, and efficiency of these technologies and systems are critical aspects of our business and are important considerations for hotel owners when choosing our brands. Our business may suffer if we or our hotel owners, service providers, or other third parties fail to maintain, upgrade, or prevent disruption to these systems. Disruptions in or changes to these systems, including during upgrades or replacements, could result in a disruption to our business and the loss of important data.

We are incorporating artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies into certain of our processes, offerings, and services, and these technologies may become increasingly important in our operations over time. The introduction of these technologies, particularly generative AI, into our processes, offerings, and services may also result in new or expanded risks and liabilities, including due to increased governmental or regulatory scrutiny, legal claims and assertions, compliance and ethical considerations, data security and privacy risks, and other factors that could adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, or results of operations. In addition, it is possible that AI could be improperly utilized by associates while carrying out their responsibilities or lead to unintended consequences, including generating content that is factually inaccurate, misleading or otherwise flawed, or biased, or that results in other unintended harmful impacts, which could harm our reputation and business and expose us to risks related to inaccuracies or errors in the output of such technologies.

A failure to keep pace with developments in technology could impair our operations or competitive position. The lodging industry continues to demand the use of sophisticated technology and systems, including those used for our reservation, customer relationship management, analytics, revenue management, property management, human resources and payroll systems, our Loyalty Program, and technologies we make available to our guests and for associates, and these and other technologies and systems must be refined, updated, and/or replaced with more advanced systems on a regular basis. Our business could suffer if we cannot refine, update, and/or replace technologies and systems as quickly or effectively as our competitors, sufficiently in advance of obsolescence or performance failure or degradation, or within budgeted costs and time frames. We also may not achieve the benefits that we anticipate from any new or upgraded technology or system, and a failure to do so could result in higher than anticipated costs or lower guest satisfaction or could impair our operating results. We are undertaking a multi-year transformation of our reservations, property management, and loyalty systems. The development and deployment of our new systems could involve delays, system interruptions, compromises of data security, or other operational impacts, including impacts on our internal control environment. Our business could also suffer if the use of technologies that provide alternatives to in-person meetings and events results in a decrease in demand for our lodging properties.

We are exposed to risks and costs associated with protecting the integrity and security of data. In the operation of our business, we collect, store, use, and transmit large volumes of personal data regarding associates, guests, customers, hotel owners, service providers, other third parties, and our own business operations, including credit card numbers, reservation and loyalty data, and other personal data, in various information systems that we maintain and in systems maintained by third parties, including those of our hotel owners, service providers, and other third parties. The integrity and protection of this personal data is critical to our business. Our guests and associates also have a high expectation that we, as well as our hotel owners, service providers, and other third parties, will adequately protect and appropriately use their personal data. The information, security, and privacy requirements imposed by global laws and governmental regulation, our contractual obligations, and the requirements of the payment card industry continue to become increasingly stringent in many jurisdictions in which we operate. Our information systems and the information systems maintained or used by our hotel owners, service providers, and other third parties may not be able to satisfy these changing legal and regulatory requirements and associate and guest expectations; we and/or these third parties may require significant additional investments or time to do so; and security controls that we and/or these third parties may implement sometimes do not operate effectively or as intended. We have incurred and may in the future incur significant additional costs to meet these requirements, obligations, and expectations, and in the event of alleged or actual noncompliance, we may experience increased operating costs, increased exposure to payment obligations and litigation, and increased risk of damage to our reputation and brand.

The Data Security Incident, and other information security incidents, could have numerous adverse effects on our business. As a result of the data security incident involving unauthorized access to the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, LLC, formerly known as Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (“Starwood”), reservations database that we disclosed in November 2018 (the “Data Security Incident”), numerous lawsuits were filed against us, as described further in Note 7, and we may be named as a party in additional lawsuits or receive other claims related to the Data Security Incident. A number of federal, state, and foreign governmental authorities made inquiries, opened investigations, or requested information and/or documents related to the Data Security Incident, including under various data protection and privacy regulations. Responding to and resolving these lawsuits, claims, and/or investigations has resulted in payments and other expenses, such as the payment to the AG Offices (as described below), and could result in material additional payments or remedial or other expenses. In the 2024 fourth quarter, we reached final resolutions with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Attorney General offices from 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (the “AG Offices”) in relation to the Data Security Incident. Among other terms, the resolution with the AG Offices included a $52 million monetary payment. The resolutions with the FTC and the AG Offices include various ongoing requirements relating to our data privacy and information security programs. In the event of alleged or actual noncompliance with the resolutions with the FTC and AG Offices, we could face enforcement actions or contempt proceedings that could potentially result in fines, penalties, requirements to make additional changes to our data privacy and information security programs or business practices, or other adverse outcomes, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and damage our reputation and brand.

Other governmental authorities investigating or seeking information about the Data Security Incident have imposed and may further impose undertakings, injunctive relief, consent decrees, or other penalties, which could, among other things, materially increase our costs or otherwise require us to alter how we operate our business and could damage our reputation and brand. Significant management time and Company resources have been, and will continue to be, devoted to matters related to the Data Security Incident. Insurance coverage designed to limit our exposure to losses such as those related to the Data Security Incident is costly and may not be sufficient or available to cover all of our expenses or other losses (including payments imposed by the AG Offices or other regulators and other payments, fines, or penalties) related to the Data Security Incident, and certain expenses by their nature (such as, for example, expenses related to enhancing our data privacy and information security programs) are not covered by our insurance program.

Additional cybersecurity incidents could have adverse effects on our business. We have enhanced our security measures to safeguard our information systems and data, and we intend to continue implementing additional measures in the future, but, as we have seen in the past, our measures may not be sufficient to maintain the confidentiality, security, or availability of the data we collect, store, and use to operate our business. Security measures implemented by our hotel owners, service providers, and other third parties or their service providers also may not be sufficient, as we have seen in the past. Efforts to hack or circumvent security measures, efforts to gain unauthorized access to, exploit or disrupt the operation or integrity of our data or information systems, failures of information systems or software to operate as designed or intended, viruses, “ransomware” or other malware, “supply chain” attacks, “phishing” or other types of business communications compromises, operator error, or inadvertent releases of data have impacted, and may in the future impact, our information systems and records or those of our hotel owners, service providers, or other third parties. Security measures, no matter how well designed or implemented, may only mitigate and not fully eliminate risks, and security events, when detected by security tools or third parties, may not always be immediately understood or acted upon. Our reliance on computer, Internet-based, and mobile systems and communications, and the frequency and sophistication of efforts by third parties to gain unauthorized access or prevent authorized access to such systems, have greatly increased in recent years. Our increased reliance on cloud-based services and on remote access to information systems and our use of AI technologies increases the Company’s exposure to potential cybersecurity incidents. We and our hotel owners, service providers, and other third parties have experienced cyberattacks, attempts to disrupt access to systems and data, and attempts to affect the operation or integrity of data or systems, and the frequency and sophistication of such efforts could continue to increase. Any additional significant theft of, unauthorized access to, compromise or loss of, loss of access to, or fraudulent use of guest, associate, hotel owner, service provider, Company, or other data as a result of a cybersecurity incident could adversely impact our reputation and could result in legal, regulatory, and other consequences, including remedial and other expenses, fines, or litigation. Depending on the nature and scope of the event, future compromises in the security of our information systems or those of our hotel owners, service providers, or other third parties, or other future disruptions or compromises of data or information systems, could lead to future interruptions in, or other adverse effects on, the operation of our systems or those of our hotel owners, service providers, or other third parties. This could result in operational interruptions and/or outages and a loss of profits, as well as negative publicity and other adverse effects on our business, including lost sales, loss of consumer confidence, boycotts, reduced enrollment and/or participation in our Loyalty Program, litigation, regulatory investigations or actions, diminished associate satisfaction, and/or retention and recruiting difficulties, all of which could materially affect our market share, reputation, business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Because we have experienced cybersecurity incidents in the past, additional cybersecurity incidents or the failure to detect and appropriately respond to additional cybersecurity incidents could magnify the severity of the adverse effects on our business. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage information systems change frequently (including the integration of new technology such as AI), can be difficult to detect for long periods of time, and can involve difficult or prolonged assessment or remediation periods even once detected, which could also magnify the severity of these adverse effects. We cannot assure you that all potential causes of past significant cybersecurity incidents have been identified and remediated; additional measures may be needed to prevent significant incidents in the future. The steps we take may not be sufficient to prevent future significant cybersecurity incidents and as a result, such incidents may occur again. Although we carry cyber insurance that is designed to protect us against certain losses related to cyber risks, that insurance coverage may not be sufficient or available to cover all expenses or other losses (including payments, fines, or penalties) or all types of claims that may arise in connection with cyberattacks, security compromises, and other related incidents. Furthermore, in the future such insurance may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

Changes in privacy and data security laws could increase our operating costs and increase our exposure to payment obligations and litigation. We are subject to numerous, complex, and frequently changing laws, regulations, and contractual obligations designed to protect personal information. Various U.S. federal and state laws, data privacy, security, and localization laws outside of the U.S., payment card industry security standards, and other information privacy and security standards are all applicable to us. Significant legislative, judicial, or regulatory changes have been and could be issued in the future. Compliance with changes in applicable data security and privacy laws and regulations and contractual obligations (including our resolutions with the FTC and AG Offices), including the need to respond to investigations into our compliance, has increased and is expected to in the future increase our costs, and may restrict our business operations, increase our exposure to payment obligations and litigation in the event of alleged noncompliance, and adversely affect our reputation.

Changes in laws could adversely affect our ability to market our products effectively. We rely on a variety of direct marketing techniques, including email marketing, online advertising (including through social media), and postal mailings. Any further legal restrictions under various U.S. federal, state, or international laws, or new international, federal, or state laws on marketing and solicitation or international privacy, e-privacy, and anti-spam laws that govern these activities could adversely affect the continuing effectiveness of email, online advertising (including through social media), and postal mailing techniques and could require changes in our marketing strategy. If this occurs, we may not be able to develop adequate alternative marketing strategies, which could impact the amount and timing of our sales of certain products. We also obtain access to

potential guests and customers from travel service providers or other companies with whom we have substantial relationships, and we market to some individuals on these lists directly or by including our marketing message in the other companies’ marketing materials. If access to these lists were to be prohibited or otherwise restricted, our ability to develop new guests and customers and introduce them to our products could be impaired.

General Risk Factors

Delaware law and our governing corporate documents contain, and our Board of Directors could implement, anti-takeover provisions that could deter takeover attempts. Under the Delaware business combination statute, a stockholder holding 15 percent or more of our outstanding voting stock could not acquire us without Board of Directors’ consent for at least three years after the date the stockholder first held 15 percent or more of the voting stock. Our governing corporate documents also, among other things, require supermajority votes for mergers and similar transactions. In addition, our Board of Directors could, without stockholder approval, implement other anti-takeover defenses, such as a stockholder rights plan.

Changes in tax law, interpretations of existing tax law, or agreements or disputes with tax authorities could increase our tax costs. Determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires estimation and significant judgment, including because of the number of countries and territories in which we provide programs and services and the accounting complexity of certain of those programs and services. Applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities audit and review our determinations, and an adverse outcome resulting from any such audit or review could have a material negative effect on our operating results, cash flows, and financial condition. Our tax expenses and liabilities have in the past been and could in the future be affected by changes in tax laws or the interpretation of tax laws in any of the many jurisdictions in which we do business, as well as changes in our business operations.

None.

Risk Management and Strategy

We manage risks from cybersecurity threats, as such term is defined in Item 106(a) of Regulation S-K, through our overall enterprise risk management process, which is overseen by our Board. Management has created a global information security program, which encompasses a dedicated global information security team and policies, procedures, and processes for assessing, identifying, and managing risks from cybersecurity threats. Marriott’s policies, procedures, and processes generally follow recognized frameworks established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) and the International Organization for Standardization, as well as other relevant standards. Our program is designed to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, security, and availability of the data that is created, collected, stored, and used to operate our business.

We assess, identify, and manage risks from cybersecurity threats through various mechanisms, which from time to time may include tabletop exercises, business unit assessments, control gap analyses, threat modeling, impact analyses, internal audits, external audits, vulnerability scans, penetration tests, and engagement of third parties to conduct analyses of our information security program. We obtain cybersecurity threat intelligence from recognized forums, third parties, and other sources as part of our risk assessment process. We also maintain a risk-based approach for assessing, identifying, and managing risks from cybersecurity threats associated with key third-party service providers, hotel owners, and other companies with whom we do business.

With respect to incident response, we maintain a Global Information Security & Privacy Incident Response Plan (“IRP”), which applies to information security incidents involving properties owned, leased, or managed by Marriott, as well as our above-property business locations. Our IRP sets out a coordinated, multi-functional approach for investigating, containing, and mitigating incidents, including reporting findings and keeping senior management and other key stakeholders informed and involved as appropriate. In general, our incident response process follows the NIST framework and focuses on four phases: (i) preparation; (ii) detection and analysis; (iii) containment, eradication, and recovery; and (iv) post-incident remediation.

For properties that are not owned, leased, or managed by Marriott, the franchisees, licensees, or other applicable counterparties are generally responsible for information security at such properties and the systems and business processes related to information security that are under their direction and control. Franchisees and licensees are typically required to comply with Marriott brand standards relating to information security, which include an obligation to report relevant information security incidents to us.

In the 2024 fourth quarter, we reached final resolutions with the FTC and the AG Offices in relation to the Data Security Incident. The resolutions with the FTC and the AG Offices include various ongoing requirements relating to our data privacy and information security programs.

We do not believe that risks from cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our overall business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition over the long term. However, there can be no assurance that we, our hotel owners, our third-party service providers, or other companies with whom we do business, will not experience a cybersecurity threat or incident in the future that could materially adversely affect our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. See the discussion about the Starwood Data Security Incident under the “Litigation, Claims, and Government Investigations” caption in Note 7 to our financial statements, the discussion of the same in Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and the discussion of cybersecurity risk in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

Governance

Our Board has established a Technology and Information Security Oversight Committee (“TISOC”) to assist the Board in providing oversight of matters pertaining to technology, information security, and privacy, including risks from cybersecurity threats; management’s efforts to monitor and mitigate those risks; and significant cybersecurity incidents. The TISOC meets at least four times per year and typically receives reports from our Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”) and other members of management about these matters. The Board’s Audit Committee receives reports regarding information security and technology-related audits conducted by our internal audit department. Risks from cybersecurity threats are also discussed with the full Board as part of regular legal updates and management presentations, the Board’s oversight of enterprise risk management, and periodic education sessions.

To establish, implement, and evaluate our risk management policies and practices with respect to cybersecurity threats, and to facilitate the communication of such matters to the Board, the TISOC, and the Audit Committee, as applicable, we have established a number of management committees, several of which include senior leaders and direct reports of the Company’s President and CEO, that serve as our policymaking and management-level governing bodies with respect to our information security and data privacy programs; oversee the implementation of our information security and data privacy risk management strategy; and identify, consider, and escalate information security and data privacy issues that may arise in our business.

Our global information security team led by our CISO works in coordination with these management committees and other cross-functional teams and is principally responsible for overseeing our information security strategy, working collaboratively with business leaders across the organization to assess, identify, and manage risks from cybersecurity threats, and to address cybersecurity incidents when they arise. Our information security program is operated on a 24/7 basis to address risks from cybersecurity threats and to respond to cybersecurity incidents globally.

Our CISO and other members of senior management responsible for our information security program have extensive experience assessing and managing risks from cybersecurity threats, including decades of experience in information technology and information security positions; serving in information technology leadership positions at other large public companies; and having other significant experience in the areas of risk management, information technology, and information security. Our CISO has more than 27 years of experience in information technology and/or information security, including more than 13 years in such positions in the hospitality industry.

Under our asset-light business model, we typically manage or franchise hotels and other lodging offerings, rather than own them. As of December 31, 2024, we owned or leased 14 hotels (5,539 rooms) in U.S. & Canada and 37 hotels (8,773 rooms) in International. Additionally, most of our regional offices, customer engagement centers, and sales offices, as well as our corporate headquarters, are in leased facilities. See Part I, Item 1, “Business,” earlier in this report, and the “Properties and Rooms” caption in Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for more information about our company-operated properties.

See the information under the “Litigation, Claims, and Government Investigations” caption in Note 7, which we incorporate here by reference. Within this section, we use a threshold of $1 million in disclosing material environmental proceedings involving a governmental authority, if any.

From time to time, we are also subject to other legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business, including adjustments proposed during governmental examinations of the various tax returns we file. While management presently

believes that the ultimate outcome of these other proceedings, individually and in aggregate, will not materially harm our financial position, cash flows, or overall trends in results of operations, legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and unfavorable rulings could, individually or in aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or operating results.

Not applicable.

Information about our Executive Officers

See the information under “Information about our Executive Officers” in Part III, Item 10 of this report for information about our executive officers, which we incorporate here by reference.

PART II

Market Information

At January 31, 2025, 275,695,298 shares of our Class A Common Stock (our “common stock”) were outstanding and were held by 29,557 stockholders of record. Our common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the trading symbol MAR.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

(1)On November 9, 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors increased our common stock repurchase authorization by 25 million shares. At year-end 2024, 13.7 million shares remained available for repurchase under Board approved authorizations. We may repurchase shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, and we account for these shares as treasury stock.

A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for year-end 2023 compared to year-end 2022 can be found in Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the SEC on February 13, 2024 (“2023 Form 10-K”).

BUSINESS AND OVERVIEW

Overview

We are a worldwide operator, franchisor, and licensor of hotel, residential, timeshare, and other lodging properties under more than 30 brand names. We discuss our operations in the following reportable business segments: (1) U.S. & Canada, (2) Europe, Middle East & Africa (“EMEA”), (3) Greater China, and (4) Asia Pacific excluding China (“APEC”). Our Caribbean & Latin America (“CALA”) operating segment does not meet the applicable accounting criteria for separate disclosure as a reportable business segment, and as such, we include its results in “Unallocated corporate and other.”

Under our asset-light business model, we typically manage or franchise hotels and other lodging offerings, rather than own them. Terms of our management agreements vary, but we earn a management fee that is typically composed of a base management fee, which is a percentage of the revenues of the hotel, and an incentive management fee, which is based on the profits of the hotel. In many cases (particularly in our U.S. & Canada, Europe, and CALA regions), incentive management fees are subject to a specified owner return. Under our hotel franchising arrangements, we generally receive an initial application fee and continuing royalty fees, which are typically based on a percentage of room revenues, plus for certain brands, a percentage

of food and beverage revenues. We also have license and other agreements with third parties for certain offerings, such as for our timeshare properties, MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, Design Hotels, and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, under which we receive royalty fees and certain other fees. Additionally, we earn fees for other uses of our intellectual property, including primarily co-branded credit card fees, as well as residential branding fees and certain other licensing fees.

Performance Measures

We believe Revenue per Available Room (“RevPAR”), which we calculate by dividing property level room revenue by total rooms available for the period, is a meaningful indicator of our performance because it measures the period-over-period change in room revenues. RevPAR may not be comparable to similarly titled measures, such as revenues, and should not be viewed as necessarily correlating with our fee revenue. We also believe occupancy and average daily rate (“ADR”), which are components of calculating RevPAR, are meaningful indicators of our performance. Occupancy, which we calculate by dividing total rooms sold by total rooms available for the period, measures the utilization of a property’s available capacity. ADR, which we calculate by dividing property level room revenue by total rooms sold, measures average room price and is useful in assessing pricing levels. RevPAR, occupancy, and ADR statistics are on a systemwide basis for comparable properties, unless otherwise stated. Unless otherwise stated, all changes refer to year-over-year changes for the comparable period. Comparisons to prior periods are on a constant U.S. dollar basis, which we calculate by applying exchange rates for the current period to the prior comparable period. We believe constant dollar analysis provides valuable information regarding the performance of hotels in our system as it removes currency fluctuations from the presentation of such results.

We define our comparable properties as hotels in our system that were open and operating under one of our brands since the beginning of the last full calendar year (since January 1, 2023 for the current period) and have not, in either the current or previous year: (1) undergone significant room or public space renovations or expansions, (2) been converted between company-operated and franchised, or (3) sustained substantial property damage or business interruption. Our comparable properties also exclude MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, Design Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, and timeshare properties. For 2024, we had 5,439 comparable U.S. & Canada properties and 1,741 comparable International properties.

Business Trends

We saw solid global RevPAR growth during 2024 compared to 2023. In 2024, worldwide RevPAR increased 4.3 percent compared to 2023, reflecting ADR growth of 2.8 percent and occupancy improvement of 1.0 percentage point. The increase in RevPAR was driven by strong year-over-year demand growth in nearly all our regions.

In the U.S. & Canada, where demand has normalized, RevPAR increased 3.0 percent in 2024, led by strong demand from group as well as strong demand from transient customer segments across our brand tiers.

In EMEA, RevPAR growth of 9.1 percent in 2024 was driven by strong demand in most countries across the region, aided by the 2024 Paris Olympics and other special events. In APEC, RevPAR increased 12.9 percent in 2024, driven by strong demand, including an increase in inbound demand into the region. In CALA, RevPAR increased 8.8 percent in 2024, driven by strong demand throughout the region. In Greater China, RevPAR declined 2.3 percent in 2024 due to lower domestic demand as a result of macro-economic conditions and an increase in outbound travel.

In 2024, we launched a comprehensive initiative to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency across the Company. At this point in the process, we expect this initiative to yield $80 million to $90 million of annual general and administrative cost reductions beginning in 2025. These efforts are also anticipated to deliver cost savings to our hotel owners.

As part of these efforts, in the second half of 2024, we implemented a voluntary retirement program for certain above-property associates, and some above-property roles in the organization were eliminated or redefined. We substantially completed this initiative as of year-end 2024.

Starwood Data Security Incident

On November 30, 2018, we announced a data security incident involving unauthorized access to the Starwood reservations database (the “Data Security Incident”). We are currently unable to reasonably estimate the range of total possible financial impact to the Company from the Data Security Incident in excess of the expenses already recorded; however, we do not believe this incident will impact our long-term financial health. See Note 7 for additional information related to legal proceedings and governmental investigations related to the Data Security Incident.

System Growth and Pipeline

Our system grew from 8,785 properties (1,597,380 rooms) at year-end 2023 to 9,361 properties (1,706,331 rooms) at year-end 2024. The increase compared to year-end 2023 reflected gross additions of 666 properties (123,389 rooms), including the addition of 16 properties (approximately 38,000 rooms) from our exclusive, long-term strategic licensing agreement with MGM Resorts International and 163 properties (approximately 9,000 rooms) from our long-term agreement with Sonder Holdings Inc., and deletions of 90 properties (14,572 rooms). Our 2024 gross room additions included approximately 52,300 rooms located outside U.S. & Canada and roughly 75,300 rooms converted from competitor brands.

At year-end 2024, we had nearly 3,800 properties and over 577,000 rooms in our development pipeline, which includes roughly 29,000 rooms approved for development but not yet under signed contracts. Our development pipeline includes over 229,000 rooms, or 40 percent, that were under construction or in the process of converting to our system at year-end 2024. Fifty-five percent of the rooms in our development pipeline are located outside U.S. & Canada.

In 2024, we signed over 1,200 development deals with hotel owners and other counterparties for nearly 162,000 rooms globally. Approximately 34 percent of rooms signed were the result of conversion opportunities. During 2024, we continued to strengthen our luxury portfolio and grow our midscale brands. In December 2024, we also announced the expansion of our outdoor-focused lodging offerings.

In 2025, we expect net rooms growth of 4 to 5 percent.

Properties and Rooms

The following table shows our properties and rooms by ownership type.

(1)In addition to franchised, includes our timeshare properties, MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, Design Hotels, and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.

Lodging Statistics

The following table presents RevPAR, occupancy, and ADR statistics for comparable properties for 2024, and 2024 compared to 2023. Systemwide statistics include data from our franchised properties, in addition to our company-operated

properties.

(1)Includes Europe, Middle East & Africa, Greater China, Asia Pacific excluding China, and Caribbean & Latin America.

(2)Includes U.S. & Canada and International - All.

CONSOLIDATED RESULTS

The discussion below presents an analysis of our consolidated results of operations for 2024 compared to 2023. Also see the “Business Trends” section above for further discussion.

Fee Revenues

The increase in base management fees primarily reflected higher RevPAR and unit growth ($26 million).

The increase in franchise fees primarily reflected higher RevPAR, unit growth ($99 million), higher co-branded credit card fees ($59 million), higher residential branding fees ($36 million), and higher fees from properties that converted from managed to franchised ($31 million).

The increase in incentive management fees primarily reflected higher profits at managed hotels. In 2024, we earned incentive management fees from 69 percent of our managed hotels worldwide, compared to 68 percent in 2023. We earned incentive management fees from 31 percent of our U.S. & Canada managed hotels and 85 percent of our International managed hotels in each of 2024 and 2023. In addition, 67 percent of our total incentive management fees in 2024 came from our International managed hotels, primarily in EMEA and APEC, versus 65 percent in 2023.

Owned, Leased, and Other

Owned, leased, and other revenue, net of direct expenses, decreased primarily due to $65 million of higher termination fees recorded in the prior year, largely related to one development project in U.S. & Canada.

Cost Reimbursements

Cost reimbursements, net (cost reimbursement revenue, net of reimbursed expenses) varies due to timing differences between the costs we incur for centralized programs and services and the related reimbursements we receive from hotel owners and certain other counterparties. Over the long term, our centralized programs and services are not designed to impact our economics, either positively or negatively. See Note 2 for more information about the accounting for cost reimbursements, including our Loyalty Program.

The decrease in cost reimbursements, net primarily reflected lower revenues, net of expenses, for many of our programs and services, and Loyalty Program activity, which incurred higher program expenses.

Other Operating Expenses

General, administrative, and other expenses increased primarily due to higher compensation costs ($53 million) and higher guarantee reserves ($22 million).

Restructuring and merger-related charges increased primarily due to $37 million of restructuring charges for employee termination benefits discussed in Note 16 and a $30 million reserve for a loan commitment related to the Company’s acquisition of Starwood, partially offset by $35 million of lower charges related to the Data Security Incident discussed in Note 7.

Non-Operating Income (Expense)

Gains and other income, net decreased primarily due to a gain recorded in the prior year on the sale of a hotel in the CALA region ($24 million).

Interest expense increased primarily due to higher debt balances driven by Senior Notes issuances, net of maturities ($125 million).

Income Taxes

Our tax provision increased in 2024 primarily due to intellectual property restructuring transactions resulting in non-U.S. tax benefits in the prior year ($228 million), the prior year release of a tax valuation allowance as the Company concluded it is more likely than not to recognize non-U.S. tax benefits ($223 million), and the prior year release of tax reserves, which was mostly due to the completion of a prior year tax audit ($103 million). The increase was partially offset by a decrease in pre-tax income ($51 million).

BUSINESS SEGMENTS

The following discussion presents an analysis of the operating results of our reportable business segments for 2024 compared to 2023. Also see the “Business Trends” section above for further discussion.