Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Certain prior year financial statement amounts have been reclassified to conform with the current year presentation.

Leases. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which affects aspects of accounting for lease agreements. Under the new standard, all leases, including operating leases, will require recognition of the lease assets and lease liabilities by lessees on the balance sheet. However, the effect on the statement of operations and the statement of cash flows largely is unchanged. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. The current standard requires adoption using a modified retrospective approach, with the option of restatement of the comparative periods presented in the year of adoption or applying the new standard only in the year of adoption with a cumulative-effect adjustment in the period of adoption. The primary impact of the new standard will be to the treatment of our 25 ground leases, which represent approximately 85% of our annual operating lease payments. We believe that application of this standard will result in us recording a right of use asset and the related lease liability of between $500 million and $600 million for the ground leases, although changes in discount rates, ground lease terms or other variables may have a significant effect on the calculation of this recorded amount. As noted above, we expect that the adoption of this standard will have minimal impact on our income statement. We expect to adopt the new standard on January 1, 2019 and use the effective date as our date of initial application. We also expect to elect all of the new standard’s available transition practical expedients. Consequently, financial information will not be updated and disclosures required under the new standard will not be provided for dates and periods before January 1, 2019.

Business Combinations. We adopted ASU No. 2017-01, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business on January 1, 2018. The standard adopts a two-step approach wherein, if substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single (group of similar) identifiable asset(s), then the transaction will be considered an asset purchase. We anticipate that most of our future hotel purchases will be considered asset purchases as opposed to business combinations, although this determination will be made on a transaction-by-transaction basis. This standard was adopted on a prospective basis and, therefore, it did not affect the accounting for any of our previous transactions.

Revenue Recognition. We adopted ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), on January 1, 2018. The standard sets forth steps to determine the timing and amount of revenue to be recognized to depict the transfer of goods or services in an amount that reflects the consideration that an entity expects in exchange. We also adopted ASU No. 2017-05, Other Income – Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets (Subtopic 610-20), which provides further guidance on accounting for the derecognition and partial sales of a non-financial asset. This standard may allow for earlier gain recognition for certain sale transactions pursuant to which we have continuing involvement with the asset that was sold. We adopted these standards using a modified retrospective approach with a cumulative effect recognized in our equity balance on the date of adoption and no restatements of prior period amounts. When applying the new standard for the cumulative effect, we elected to apply the new standard only to contracts that were not considered completed as of the date of adoption.

Transition adjustment. As a result of the adoption of this standard on January 1, 2018, total liabilities were reduced by $4.5 million, and total equity of Host Inc. stockholders and total Host L.P. partner capital increased by $4.5 million. This adjustment is related to a previously deferred gain on the sale of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in 2013 that would have qualified for recognition under the new standard. Adoption did not have an effect on our income statement for the quarter and year-to-date ended September 30, 2018 and 2017.

Policy Disclosure. There has been no significant change to our method of revenue recognition for our primary operations; however, we have updated our accounting policy and disclosures for the revenue recognition standard. See Note 4 for this disclosure.

Revenue Recognition

Revenues are recognized when the performance obligations have been met, as follows:

Income statement line item		Recognition method
Rooms revenues		Rooms revenues represent revenues from the occupancy of our hotel rooms and are driven by the occupancy and average daily rate charged. Rooms revenues do not include ancillary services or fees charged. The contracts for room stays with customers generally are very short term in duration and revenues are recognized over time during the course of the hotel stay.
Food and beverage revenues		Food and beverage revenues consist of revenues from group functions, which may include banquet revenues and audio-visual revenues, as well as outlet revenues from the restaurants and lounges at our properties. Revenues are recognized at a point in time as the services or products are provided. Our hotels may employ third parties to provide certain services at the property, for example, audio and visual services. We evaluate each of these contracts to determine if the hotel is the principal or the agent in the transaction and record the revenues as appropriate (i.e. gross vs. net).
Other revenues		Other revenues consist of ancillary revenues at the property, including attrition and cancelation fees, golf courses, resort and destination fees, spas, entertainment and other guest services, as well as rental revenues; primarily consisting of leased retail outlets. Other revenues are generally recognized at a point in time as the services or products are provided. Attrition and cancelation fees are recognized at a point in time for non-cancelable deposits when the customer provides notification of cancelation or is a no-show for the specified date, whichever comes first.