Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Accounts Receivables

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Accounts Receivables
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Receivables [Abstract]  
Accounts and Nontrade Receivable
5. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
Allowance for doubtful accounts
The Company generates trade receivables in the ordinary course of its business and provides for estimated bad debts on such receivables. The Company adopted the new accounting guidance, ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments on January 1, 2020. As a result of adopting the new guidance, the Company recorded a $10 million (net of a $2 million income tax benefit) cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings at January 1, 2020. Since adoption, the Company measures the expected credit losses of its receivables on a collective (pool) basis which aggregates receivables with similar risk characteristics and uses historical collection attrition rates for periods ranging from seven to ten years to estimate its expected credit losses. As such, the Company measures the expected credit losses of its receivables by segment and geographical area. Beginning January 1, 2020, the Company provides an estimate of expected credit losses for its receivables immediately upon origination or acquisition and may adjust this estimate in subsequent reporting periods as required. When the Company determines that an account is not collectible, the account is written-off to the allowance for doubtful accounts. The Company also considers whether the historical economic conditions are comparable to current
economic conditions. If current or expected future conditions differ from the conditions in effect when the historical experience was generated, the Company would adjust the allowance for doubtful accounts to reflect the expected effects of the current environment on the collectability of the Company’s trade receivables which may be material.
The following table sets forth the activity in the Company's allowance for doubtful accounts on trade accounts receivables for the years ended:
December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 December 31, 2018
Beginning balance $ 47 $ 52 $ 61
Cumulative effect of change in accounting standard 12
Provision for doubtful accounts 37 16 8
Bad debt write-offs (24) (21) (17)
Ending balance $ 72 $ 47 $ 52

The Consolidated and Combined Statements of Cash Flows have been revised to separately disclose the provision for doubtful accounts of $37 million, $16 million, and $8 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively. This revision had no effect on the Company’s net cash provided by operating activities, as previously reported for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.

Notes receivable
The Company had notes receivables of $9 million, net of a $4 million allowance as of December 31, 2020. For a significant portion of such notes receivables, the Company has received personal guarantees from the owners of these hotels. In addition, the Company had $18 million of notes receivables, which are fully offset by a corresponding amount in deferred revenues.