...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Nov. 30, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said that Marriott International Inc. (###/Stable/A-2) has announced that an unauthorized party copied and encrypted the information of up to 500 million guests in its Starwood reservation database. The company also stated that a substantial portion of the guests may have had their sensitive personal, travel, or payment data compromised. We believe that Marriott will be able to mitigate the near-term impact of this breach on its business and reputation by implementing its plans to help the affected guests monitor their information, phasing out the Starwood system, and accelerating the implementation of security enhancements. The total aggregate cost of these security enhancements, the guest support, and any potential litigation and penalties remains uncertain at this time but could be substantial. However, we believe that the breach will likely have a modest effect on Marriott's financial position. This is because of...
