Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 07, 2012

Business Operations

Our Business

Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation (“Marriott Vacations Worldwide,” “we” or “us,” which includes our consolidated subsidiaries except where the context of the reference is to a single corporate entity) is the exclusive worldwide developer, marketer, seller and manager of vacation ownership and related products under the Marriott Vacation Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands. We are also the exclusive worldwide developer, marketer and seller of vacation ownership and related products under the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club brand, and we have the non-exclusive right to develop, market and sell whole ownership residential products under the Ritz-Carlton Residences brand. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. (“Ritz-Carlton”), a subsidiary of Marriott International, Inc. (“Marriott International”), generally provides on-site management for Ritz-Carlton branded properties.

Our business is grouped into four reportable segments: North America, Luxury, Europe and Asia Pacific. We operate 64 properties in the United States and eight other countries and territories.

We generate most of our revenues from four primary sources: selling vacation ownership products, managing our resorts, financing consumer purchases, and renting vacation ownership inventory.

Our Spin-Off from Marriott International, Inc.

Our Spin-Off from Marriott International, Inc.

On October 25, 2011, the board of directors of Marriott International approved the spin-off of its vacation ownership division into an independent public company, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, through the distribution of 100 percent of the outstanding shares of Marriott Vacations Worldwide common stock to the shareholders of Marriott International (the “Spin-Off”). On November 21, 2011, the Spin-Off of Marriott Vacations Worldwide was completed pursuant to a Separation and Distribution Agreement (the “Separation and Distribution Agreement”) between Marriott Vacations Worldwide and Marriott International.

Prior to the Spin-Off, Marriott International completed an internal reorganization to contribute its non-U.S. and U.S. subsidiaries that conducted its vacation ownership business to Marriott Vacations Worldwide, a newly formed wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott International; the contributed subsidiaries included Marriott Ownership Resorts, Inc., which does business under the name Marriott Vacation Club International. The distribution of Marriott Vacations Worldwide common stock was made on November 21, 2011, with Marriott International shareholders receiving one share of Marriott Vacations Worldwide common stock for every ten shares of Marriott International common stock held as of the close of business Eastern time on the record date of November 10, 2011. Fractional shares of Marriott Vacations Worldwide common stock were not distributed; any fractional share of Marriott Vacations Worldwide common stock otherwise issuable to a Marriott International shareholder was sold in the open market on such shareholder’s behalf, with such shareholder receiving a cash payment in lieu of such fractional share.

In connection with the Spin-Off, we entered into the Separation and Distribution Agreement and several other agreements which govern the ongoing relationship between Marriott Vacations Worldwide and Marriott International. See Footnote No. 12 “Related Party Transactions,” for further information on the ongoing relationship with Marriott International.

Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation

Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation

The interim consolidated financial statements presented herein and discussed below include 100 percent of the assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses and cash flows of Marriott Vacations Worldwide, all entities in which Marriott Vacations Worldwide has a controlling voting interest (“subsidiaries”), and those variable interest entities for which Marriott Vacations Worldwide is the primary beneficiary in accordance with the consolidation accounting guidance. Through the date of the Spin-Off, these interim financial statements present the historical consolidated results of operations, financial position and cash flows of the Marriott Vacations Worldwide business that now comprises our operations. Intercompany accounts and transactions between consolidated companies have been eliminated in consolidation.

Through the date of the Spin-Off, the interim consolidated financial statements presented herein and discussed below were prepared on a stand-alone basis and were derived from the interim consolidated financial statements and accounting records of Marriott International. These interim consolidated financial statements were prepared as if the reorganization described under “Our Spin-Off from Marriott International, Inc.” above had taken place as of the earliest period presented. The interim consolidated financial statements reflect our historical financial position, results of operations and cash flows as we have historically operated, in conformity with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”). All significant intracompany transactions and accounts within these interim consolidated financial statements have been eliminated.

Prior to the Spin-Off, Marriott Vacations Worldwide was a subsidiary of Marriott International. The financial information included herein may not necessarily reflect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows in the future or what our financial position, results of operations and cash flows would have been had we been an independent, publicly traded company during all of the periods presented.

We refer to (i) our Interim Consolidated Financial Statements as our “Financial Statements,” (ii) our Interim Consolidated Statements of Operations as our “Statements of Operations,” (iii) our Interim Consolidated Balance Sheets as our “Balance Sheets” and (iv) our Interim Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows as our “Cash Flows.”

Unless otherwise specified, each reference to a particular quarter in these Financial Statements means the quarter ended on the date shown in the following table, rather than the corresponding calendar quarter:

Fiscal Year	Quarter-End Date
2012 Third Quarter	September 7, 2012
2012 Second Quarter	June 15, 2012
2012 First Quarter	March 23, 2012
2011 Third Quarter	September 9, 2011
2011 Second Quarter	June 17, 2011
2011 First Quarter	March 25, 2011

In our opinion, our Financial Statements reflect all normal and recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly our financial position and the results of our operations and cash flows for the periods presented. Interim results may not be indicative of fiscal year performance because of, among other reasons, seasonal and short-term variations.

These Financial Statements have not been audited. We have condensed or omitted certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP. Although we believe our footnote disclosures are adequate to make the information presented not misleading, you should read these interim Financial Statements in conjunction with the audited annual Consolidated Financial Statements and notes to those Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2011.

All significant transactions between us and Marriott International have been included in these Financial Statements. The total net effect of the settlement of these intercompany transactions prior to the Spin-Off is reflected in the Cash Flows as a financing activity. In connection with the Spin-Off, we completed certain transactions with Marriott International related to our separation from Marriott International, which resulted in a net reduction to our equity of approximately $500 million. These transactions primarily consisted of the reversal of our deferred tax assets, which were retained by Marriott International following the Spin-Off, and establishment of deferred tax liabilities. Retained earnings represents the results of operations subsequent to November 20, 2011.

Through the date of the Spin-Off, our Financial Statements include costs for services provided by Marriott International including, but not limited to, information technology support, systems maintenance, telecommunications, accounts payable, payroll and benefits, human resources, self-insurance and other shared services. Historically, these costs were charged to us based on specific identification or on a basis determined by Marriott International to reflect a reasonable allocation to us of the actual costs incurred to perform these services. Marriott International allocated indirect general and administrative costs to us for certain functions provided by Marriott International. The services provided to us included, but were not limited to, executive office, legal, tax, finance, government and public relations, internal audit, treasury, investor relations, human resources and other administrative support, which were allocated to us primarily on the basis of our proportion of Marriott International’s overall revenue. We consider the basis on which the expenses have been allocated to be a reasonable reflection of the utilization of services provided to or the benefit received by us during the periods presented. The allocations may not, however, reflect the expense we would have incurred as an independent, publicly traded company for the periods presented. Actual costs that might have been incurred had we been a stand-alone company would depend on a number of factors, including the chosen organizational structure, what functions we might have performed ourselves or outsourced and strategic decisions we might have made in areas such as information technology and infrastructure. Following the Spin-Off, we perform these functions using our own resources or purchased services from either Marriott International or third parties. For an interim period some of these functions will continue to be provided by Marriott International under Transition Services Agreements (“TSAs”). In addition to the TSAs, we entered into a number of commercial agreements with Marriott International in connection with the Spin-Off, many of which have terms longer than one year. These agreements may not have existed prior to the Spin-Off, or may be on different terms than the terms of agreements that existed prior to Spin-Off.

Prior to the Spin-Off, the majority of our domestic cash was transferred to Marriott International daily and Marriott International funded our operating and investing activities as needed. Accordingly, the cash and cash equivalents held by Marriott International at the corporate level were not allocated to us for any of the periods prior to the Spin-Off presented. Prior to the Spin-Off, cash and cash equivalents in our Balance Sheets primarily represented cash held locally by international entities included in our Financial Statements. We included debt incurred from our limited direct financing and historical vacation ownership notes receivable securitizations on our Balance Sheets, as this debt is specific to our business. Marriott International did not allocate a portion of its external senior debt interest cost to us since none of the external senior debt recorded by Marriott International was directly related to our business. We also did not include any interest expense for cash advances from Marriott International since historically Marriott International did not allocate any interest expense related to intercompany advances to any of the historical Marriott International divisions.

Marriott International maintains self-insurance programs at a corporate level. Marriott International allocated a portion of expenses associated with these programs to us as part of the historical costs for services Marriott International provided. In connection with the Spin-Off, Marriott International did not allocate any portion of the related reserves as these reserves represent obligations of Marriott International which are not transferable.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Such estimates include, but are not limited to, revenue recognition, cost of vacation ownership products, inventory valuation, property and equipment valuation, loan loss reserves, Marriott Rewards loyalty program liabilities, equity-based compensation, income taxes and loss contingencies. Actual amounts may differ from these estimated amounts.

We have reclassified certain prior year amounts to conform to our 2012 presentation.

New Accounting Standards

New Accounting Standards

Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-04—“Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs” (“ASU No. 2011-04”)

ASU No. 2011-04 generally provides a uniform framework for fair value measurements and related disclosures between GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards. Additional disclosure requirements in the update include: (1) for Level 3 fair value measurements, quantitative information about unobservable inputs used, a description of the valuation processes used by the entity, and a qualitative discussion about the sensitivity of the measurements to changes in the unobservable inputs; (2) for an entity’s use of a nonfinancial asset that is different from the asset’s highest and best use, the reason for the difference; (3) for financial instruments not measured at fair value but for which disclosure of fair value is required, the fair value hierarchy level in which the fair value measurements were determined; and (4) the disclosure of all transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. ASU No. 2011-04 became effective during our first quarter of 2012. The adoption of this update did not have a material impact on our Financial Statements.

Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05—“Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income” (“ASU No. 2011-05”) and Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-12—“Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Deferral of the Effective Date for Amendments to the Presentation of Reclassifications of Items Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income in ASU 2011-05” (“ASU No. 2011-12”)

ASU No. 2011-05 amends existing guidance by allowing only two options for presenting the components of net income and other comprehensive income: (1) in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income, or (2) in two separate but consecutive financial statements, consisting of an income statement followed by a separate statement of other comprehensive income. ASU No. 2011-12 defers until further notice ASU No. 2011-05’s requirement that items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income be presented on the face of the financial statements. ASU No. 2011-05 requires retrospective application, and both ASU No. 2011-05 and ASU No. 2011-12 became effective during our first quarter of 2012. The adoption of these updates changed the order in which certain financial statements are presented and has required us to provide additional detail on those financial statements, but did not have any substantive impact on our Financial Statements.

Vacation Ownership Notes Receivable Reserve

We record an estimate of expected uncollectibility on all notes receivable from vacation ownership purchasers as a reduction of revenues from the sale of vacation ownership products at the time we recognize profit on a vacation ownership product sale. We fully reserve for all defaulted vacation ownership notes receivable in addition to recording a reserve on the estimated uncollectible portion of the remaining vacation ownership notes receivable. For those vacation ownership notes receivable that are not in default, we assess collectability based on pools of vacation ownership notes receivable because we hold large numbers of homogeneous vacation ownership notes receivable. We use the same criteria to estimate uncollectibility for non-securitized vacation ownership notes receivable and securitized vacation ownership notes receivable because they perform similarly. We estimate uncollectibility for each pool based on historical activity for similar vacation ownership notes receivable.

Loan Delinquency

Although we consider loans to owners to be past due if we do not receive payment within 30 days of the due date, we suspend accrual of interest only on those loans that are over 90 days past due. We consider loans over 150 days past due to be in default. We apply payments we receive for vacation ownership notes receivable on non-accrual status first to interest, then to principal and any remainder to fees. We resume accruing interest when vacation ownership notes receivable are less than 90 days past due. We do not accept payments for vacation ownership notes receivable during the foreclosure process unless the amount is sufficient to pay all principal, interest, fees and penalties owed and fully reinstate the note. We write off uncollectible vacation ownership notes receivable against the reserve once we receive title of the vacation ownership products through the foreclosure or deed-in-lieu process or in Europe or Asia Pacific, when revocation is complete. For both non-securitized and securitized vacation ownership notes receivable, we estimated average remaining default rates of 7.46 percent and 7.71 percent as of September 7, 2012 and December 30, 2011, respectively. A 0.5 percentage point increase in the estimated default rate would have resulted in an increase in our allowance for credit losses of $5 million as of September 7, 2012 and $6 million as of December 30, 2011.

Inventory Policy

We value vacation ownership and residential products at the lower of cost or fair market value less costs to sell, in accordance with applicable accounting guidance, and we record operating supplies at the lower of cost (using the first-in, first-out method) or market value.

Compensation Related Costs Policy

For share-based awards with service-only vesting conditions, we measure compensation expense related to share-based payment transactions with our employees and non-employee directors at fair value on the grant date and recognize this expense in the Statement of Operations over the vesting period during which the employees provide service in exchange for the award. For share-based arrangements with performance conditions as a prerequisite to vesting, we recognize compensation expense once it is probable that the corresponding performance condition will be achieved.