Restructuring Charges

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]

RESTRUCTURING CHARGES

Beginning in the 2020 second quarter, we initiated several regional restructuring plans to achieve cost savings in response to the decline in lodging demand caused by COVID-19. In the 2020 first three quarters, we recorded $305 million of restructuring charges for above-property, property-level, and owned and leased properties employee termination benefits, of which we present $46 million in the “Restructuring and merger-related charges” caption and $259 million in the “Reimbursed expenses” caption of our Income Statements. Our North America segment recorded $215 million of the total restructuring charges in the 2020 first three quarters.

In the 2020 first three quarters, we recorded $109 million of global above-property restructuring charges, primarily for employee termination benefits, of which we present $37 million in the “Restructuring and merger-related charges” caption and $72 million in the “Reimbursed expenses” caption of our Income Statements. Our global above-property restructuring activities are currently expected to result in approximately $115 million to $125 million of charges, including amounts already expensed. We expect to substantially complete the programs relating to our above-property organization by year-end 2020.

In the 2020 first three quarters, we recorded $196 million of property-level and owned and leased properties restructuring charges for employee termination benefits, of which we present $9 million in the “Restructuring and merger-related charges” caption and $187 million in the “Reimbursed expenses” caption of our Income Statements. We anticipate additional property-level and owned and leased properties restructuring charges in future quarters.

The following table presents our restructuring reserve activity during the period:


($ in millions)	Employee termination costs
Balance at December 31, 2019	$	—
Charges	305
Cash payments	(82)
Other	(6)
Balance at September 30, 2020, classified in “Accrued expense and other”	$	217