Marriott Corporation: the Cost of Capital

Issuing additional debt to finance the company expansion would worsen the company’s debt ratio as it is already more than average. The company envisions to be profitable by raising capital from existing stockholders by issuing common stock through rights offering.

What risk-free rate and risk premium did you use in calculating the cost of equity for each division? Why did you choose these numbers?

Manage rather than own hotel assets In 1987, Marriott developed more than $1 billion worth of hotel properties, making it one of the 10 largest commercial real estate developers in the United States. With a fully integrated development process, Marriott identified markets, created development plans, designed projects, and evaluated potential profitability. After development, the company sold the hotel assets to limited partners while retaining operating control as the general partner under a long-term management contract. Management fees typically equaled 3% of revenues plus 20% of the profits before

Since the stakeholders revokes their contract with Regale Properties whose strategy is to host the city’s festival as marketing strategy to launch the hotel product offerings into the market and prefer moving into franchise with Marriott for best reasons known to them. The decision problem becomes “How do we better position and market the hotel product offerings into the mature competitive market?” To better define the problem at hand, we need to identify key decision elements surrounding the problem such as:

The idea of repurchasing shares was no stranger to Bill Marriott by January 1980. Almost five million shares of common stock had been repurchased on the open market by Marriott Corporation during 1979 at a total cost of $74 million and an average price of $15.16 in the belief that they were undervalued—a belief that still was not fully reflected in the market price. At $19 5/8, the stock was selling at only six times cash flow per share; and its price/earnings ratio of nine was a far cry from historical multiples as high as fifty times as recently as 1973. Its low price seemed to offer once again an obvious opportunity to benefit shareholders. However,

Hurdle rates, the weighted cost of capital that projected cash flows must exceed for initiatives to be considered, vary within Marriott Corporations due to their unique industry risk levels and capital structures. They use this number to determine which projects to accept, to adjust the rate at which the firm grows and as a measure for compensation within each business area, and as incentive compensation.

The growth strategy of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Inc is multifaceted. Their growth strategy is driven by opening the finest hotel, in the right destination, which will lead to the right economics for the hotel owner. They not only discover destinations where their consumers want to go, but target those markets where they want to create their presence and to increase awareness for future Four Seasons’ travelers. But at the same time investigate opportunities to engrain their positions in those destinations, where they have already operated. According to Kathleen Taylor ‘Four Seasons has approximately 50 projects in various stages of design and construction. The vast majority will come outside the U.S., with a focus on China, India and Latin America. There are lots of cities in those areas where Four Seasons needs to

As we discussed in class, every business is faced with these issues and they are important to managers making strategic decisions. One of the first things learned about business is that if there is no demand for a good or service, the firm that provides it will not continue to exist. Over time the hotel industry has continued to change with market conditions and make itself attractive to business

Since its foundation in 1927 Marriott Corporation grew into one of the leading lodging and food services in the US. With three major business lines: lodging, contract services and related business, Marriott has the intention to remain a premier growth company. To achieve this goal the corporation’s strategy is to develop aggressively appropriate opportunities within their business lines. Marriott would like to be the preferred employer, the preferred provider and the most profitable company in each of the operating areas. The financial strategy includes four key elements:

• What is the cost of capital for Marriott’s as a whole at the prevailing capital structure vs. at the target capital structure.

This case involves the study of the Hamilton Hotel and the use of forecasting to help predict their demand on a specific day. Marriott Hotels operated the Hamilton hotel. Marriott has been known for a culture that puts people first. Marriott is recognized worldwide for their enduring values, their spirit to serve, and their corporate commitment to creating better places to live and work.

In January 1980, the management of the Marriott Corporation found itself in an interesting dilemma: not only did the corporation have considerable excess debt capacity, but projections of future operations and cash flows indicated that this capacity was on the rise. For Marriott, excess debt capacity was viewed as comparable to unused plant capacity because the existing equity base could support additional productive assets. Management was therefore faced with two problems. First, it needed to determine the amount of funds that would be available if Marriott's full debt capacity were utilized. Second, management needed to decide whether to invest excess funds in new or existing businesses, or to return them to the companies shareholders

Marriott International envisions itself to be the world’s lodging leader. Its mission is to provide the best possible lodging services experience to customers who vary in backgrounds, language, tradition, religion and cultures all around the world. Marriot is committed to environmental preservation through using environment-friendly technology and engages in social responsibility and community engagement.  We value our shareholder’s so we will only take steps that will ensure our growth. Most importantly, through our “spirit to serve”, we emphasize the importance of Marriott’s people and recognize the value they bring to the organization’s growth and success. It aims to increase revenues by 9% every year, to increase

A financial leverage ratio gives the stakeholders an understanding of the long-term affluence of a firm in the hospitality industry. This ratio measures a hotel’s ability to meet its long-term debt obligations. The debt ratio is total debt divided total assets. Hotels have a lot of long-term liabilities in the form of debt, along with current liabilities. A lot of long-term assets are needed to successfully run a hotel, and therefore long-term debt financing is also needed. The debt ratio is used to measure a hotel’s ability to meet its long-term debt obligations. For the hotel industry, it is important to have low debt ratios, meaning long-term assets greatly outweigh the debt used to purchase them.

El problema al que se ve enfrentado Marriott como empresa, si bien puede verse desde variados puntos de vista, se puede resumir en un aspecto principal y relevante. Y esto es calcular cual es el costo de capital de la empresa como un todo; además de calcularlo de manera individual para cada una de sus divisiones, ya que la Marriott las trata en sus análisis como si fuesen empresas independientes.