Marriott Corporation was renamed Host Marriott Corporation on October 8, 1993, as a result of a tax-free spin-off of Marriott Corporation, creating two separate and distinct companies: Host Marriott Corporation and Marriott International, Inc. Host Marriott retained Marriott’s lodging real estate and airport/toll road concessions business, while Marriott International took over management of the lodging and contract service businesses.

By year end 1996, we had solidified our long-term strategy of “acquiring high quality, full service hotels with the potential for significant capital appreciation.” – Host Marriott Corporation Annual Report, 1996. In the three years from 1994 through 1996, Host Marriott acquired a total of 55 hotels with an aggregate investment value of $2.8 billion. Host Marriott also held a minority interest in 25 lodging partnerships, which owned 31 full service hotels and 220 limited service hotels. At the same time, we divested of our airport and toll road concessions business through the spin-off of Host Marriott Services in December of 1995 and completed the sale/leaseback of all of our remaining Courtyard by Marriott and Residence Inn hotels.

During 1998, we significantly expanded our portfolio through the acquisition of 12 world-class hotels with 5,000 rooms for $1.5 billion from the Blackstone Group — launching a brand diversification strategy by acquiring luxury and upper upscale hotels that included brand names such as Ritz-Carlton and Hyatt. We also gained nearly 100% control over 28 hotels, some of which had previously been unconsolidated, by exchanging limited partner interest for units in our balance sheet.

Through several major transactions, Host Marriott qualified as a Real Estate Investment Trust effective January 1, 1999.

We acquired a portfolio of 34 hotels from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., including six hotels in Europe, which were acquired by us in a joint venture in which our partners included Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Pte Ltd (GIC) and APG Strategic Real Estate Pool NV. This acquisition increased our scale, adding $3.5 billion of value; established our international presence; and improved our operator diversification, as Starwood became our second largest operator. Due to this dramatic change in our brand mix, our name changed from Host Marriott Corporation to Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc., to reflect our new multi-branded portfolio.

 

Recognizing the growth and stability provided by our high-quality real estate assets and flexible balance sheet, Host was included within the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which allowed us to significantly expand our investor base. Additionally, Host was in the middle of a three-year $1.8 billion capital expenditures program to enhance the competitiveness of our properties and keep them at best-in-class levels.

Our unwavering commitment to our financial strength is recognized as Moody’s Investors Services and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services upgraded our senior unsecured debt rating to investment grade in 2012 and 2013 respectively. We succeeded in lowering our leverage ratio, as defined by our credit facility, by 270 basis points over a five-year period and it remains within our stated goal of 2.5x to 3.0x. In 2014, Host also received its first Leader in the Light Award for the Lodging/Resort property sector by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts in recognition of its sustainable real estate practices.

We issued the first green bond in the lodging industry and achieved the lowest effective bond pricing in the company’s history.

We completed 16 renovation projects as part of our transformational capital program with Marriott International, investing nearly $750 million on renovation projects that enhanced the underlying value of our properties. We were able to execute many of these projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, benefitting from minimal disruption during a period of low occupancy and positioning our portfolio for growth during the lodging recovery.

With the goal of generating superior long-term, risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders, Host is focused on owning a geographically diverse portfolio of iconic and irreplaceable hotels in the United States. We leverage our size, scale, strong analytics platform and investment-grade balance sheet to grow through organic initiatives and disciplined acquisitions.

Throughout 2023, we delivered strong operational improvements and continued to successfully allocate capital through reinvestment in our portfolio, share repurchases, and dividend increases. We completed significant multi-year initiatives driven by our three key strategic objectives—redefining the hotel operating model, gaining market share through comprehensive renovations, and allocating capital to development return on investment projects. As part of these strategic objectives, we completed the multi-year Marriott Transformational Capital Program, as well as eight additional comprehensive renovations and four development projects. We also invested nearly $650 million in capital expenditures at our properties and announced the Hyatt Transformational Capital Program. In addition, we maintained a strong investment grade balance sheet and returned value to our stockholders. And we continued to be recognized as a global industry leader in corporate responsibility—we’ve been consistently named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World, included among the world’s most sustainable companies in S&P’s Global Sustainability Yearbook and named one of America’s Most Responsible Companies by Newsweek. In 2023, we introduced 2030 environmental and social targets, as we build out our roadmap to achieve our 2050 vision of becoming a net positive company. The quality of our portfolio, our ability to reinvest in our assets, and our strong balance sheet leave us very well-positioned to take advantage of potential opportunities to elevate the EBITDA growth profile of our portfolio.