On Nov. 25, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its rating outlook for Marriott International Inc. to negative from stable. Long-term ratings on the company, including the 'BBB' corporate credit rating, were affirmed. At the same time, we lowered our short-term rating on the company to 'A-3' from 'A-2', reflecting the negative outlook revision. The negative outlook revision reflects our worsening expectation for revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the U.S. in 2009. In addition, flexibility in Marriott's leverage measure, relative to our threshold for the 'BBB' rating, is likely to be more limited than we previously expected because of a higher year-over-year pace of EBITDA decline in 2009. With business and leisure travel demand worsening, and prospects for
