Restructuring Charges

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]

Restructuring Charges

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. We completed the programs relating to our above-property organization as of year-end 2020. For the property-level programs, including owned and leased properties, we recorded restructuring charges for employee termination benefits in the 2021 first three quarters of $8 million in the “Reimbursed expenses” caption and $1 million in the “Restructuring and merger-related charges” caption of our Income Statements. Cumulative charges incurred for the property-level programs, from the beginning of the programs through September 30, 2021, totaled $258 million. We substantially completed our property-level programs as of September 30, 2021.

Our U.S. & Canada segment recorded $262 million of cumulative charges for above-property and property-level programs from the beginning of the programs through September 30, 2021, of which $7 million was recorded in the 2021 first three quarters.

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

($ in millions)	Employee termination benefits
Balance at December 31, 2020	$	143
Charges	9
Cash payments	(116)
Other	(3)
Balance at September 30, 2021, classified in “Accrued expenses and other”	$	33

Additionally, as of September 30, 2021, we recorded $35 million of costs related to group medical, dental, and vision benefit coverage provided to eligible former associates and furloughed or part-time associates (and their eligible enrolled dependents) pursuant to the continuation coverage requirements under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”) for the April 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021 period. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) provides for refundable tax credits to employers as reimbursement for such benefit coverage continuation costs, which we have claimed as a tax credit against our Medicare tax obligations for that time period and recorded a receivable as of September 30, 2021 for excess tax credits that we expect to receive through payments from the U.S. Treasury.