XML 56 R16.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.8
Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments and Contingencies
 
Restricted Cash Reserves
 
The Company is obligated to maintain reserve funds for capital expenditures at the hotels (including the periodic replacement or refurbishment of FF&E) as determined pursuant to the management agreements, franchise agreements and/or mortgage loan documents. The management agreements, franchise agreements and/or mortgage loan documents require the Company to reserve restricted cash ranging from 1.0% to 5.0% of the individual hotel’s revenues and maintain the reserves in restricted cash reserve escrows. Any unexpended amounts will remain the property of the Company upon termination of the management agreements, franchise agreements or mortgage loan documents. Additionally, some loan agreements require the Company to reserve restricted cash for the periodic payment of real estate taxes and insurance. As of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, approximately $59.5 million and $62.4 million, respectively, was available in restricted cash reserves for future capital expenditures, real estate taxes and insurance.
 
Litigation
 
Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries are currently involved in any regulatory or legal proceedings that management believes will have a material adverse effect on the financial position, operations or liquidity of the Company.

Data Breach
 
During the first quarter of 2014, one of the Company's third-party hotel managers notified the Company of a data breach that occurred over a nine-month period ending in December 2013 at 14 of the hotels that it manages, including seven hotels that are owned by the Company. An analysis of the data breach revealed that hackers installed memory scraping malware on food and beverage point of sale systems that was designed to capture credit card data. During the period of the breach, it appears that information from approximately 95,000 credit cards could have been collected by the malware. The third-party hotel manager is cooperating with the relevant authorities in their investigations of this criminal cyber-attack. The Company and its third-party hotel manager are also taking steps to assess and further strengthen information security systems.
The Company believes that each of the credit card companies impacted may seek to impose fines, fees or assessments in connection with the breach against various parties, including the Company. The Company may also incur other costs, including legal fees and other professional services fees, related to investigating the breach. Because the investigation into the matter is ongoing and certain factual and legal questions remain unanswered, the Company is unable to estimate with certainty the total costs, fines, fees or assessments that may be associated with any potential claims; however, the Company currently believes that any amounts that the Company may ultimately be required to pay as a result of this incident will not be material to the results of operations.