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General Information
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
General Information General Information
Sabre Corporation is a Delaware corporation formed in December 2006. On March 30, 2007, Sabre Corporation acquired Sabre Holdings Corporation (“Sabre Holdings”). Sabre Holdings is the sole subsidiary of Sabre Corporation. Sabre GLBL Inc. ("Sabre GLBL") is the principal operating subsidiary and sole direct subsidiary of Sabre Holdings. Sabre GLBL or its direct or indirect subsidiaries conduct all of our businesses. In these consolidated financial statements, references to “Sabre,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” “ours” and “us” refer to Sabre Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise requires.
We connect people and places with technology that reimagines the business of travel. We operate our business and present our results through three business segments: (i) Travel Network, our global travel marketplace for travel suppliers and travel buyers, (ii) Airline Solutions, a broad portfolio of software technology products and solutions primarily for airlines, and (iii) Hospitality Solutions, an extensive suite of leading software solutions for hoteliers.
Recent Events—The travel industry continues to be adversely affected by the global health crisis due to the outbreak of the coronavirus ("COVID-19") in January 2020, as well as by government directives that have been enacted to slow the spread of the virus. As expected, this pandemic has had a material impact to our consolidated financial results in the first quarter of 2020, resulting in a material decrease in transaction-based revenue across all three of our business units. Lower Travel Network volumes resulted in a material decline in incentive consideration costs, as expected.
The reduction in revenues as the result of COVID-19 has significantly adversely affected our liquidity. We are responding with measures to increase our cash position, including the suspension of dividends and share repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program, borrowing under our existing revolving credit facility of $375 million, and the completion of debt offerings totaling $1,120 million. See Note 14. Subsequent Events for further information on these debt offerings. We believe that we have resources to sufficiently fund our liquidity requirements over at least the next twelve months; however, given the magnitude of travel decline and the unknown duration of the COVID-19 impact, we will continue to monitor our liquidity levels and take additional steps should we determine they are necessary. Additionally, we have identified and are in the process of removing costs from the business in 2020. In connection with these cost savings measures, we recorded a $25 million charge associated with the announced action to reduce our workforce in the first quarter of 2020.
The inputs into our judgments and estimates consider the economic implications of COVID-19 on our critical and significant accounting estimates. Cancellations of airline travel reservations prior to the day of departure are estimated based on the historical level of cancellation rates, adjusted to take into account any recent factors which could cause a change in those rates. In the first quarter of 2020, the airline industry experienced a significantly higher number of airline travel reservation cancellations as a result of COVID-19 than expected as of December 31, 2019. As a result, our cancellation reserve as of March 31, 2020 was adjusted for the significant effect that COVID-19 has had on the travel industry and the resulting volume of airline travel cancellations. Given the unprecedented amount of air booking cancellations in the first quarter of 2020, we expect additional variability in the amount of our cancellation reserve in future periods as estimates of cancellations may differ from historical experience. Our air booking cancellation reserve totaled $44 million at March 31, 2020. See Note 2. Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Additionally, our bad debt expense for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $36 million, primarily related to fully reserving for balances related to certain customers, an increase in our forecasted credit losses due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and other general increases in bad debt from aging balances as applied under the newly adopted credit loss standard. See Note 5. Credit Losses. Given the uncertainties surrounding the duration and effects of COVID-19 on transaction volumes in the global travel industry, particularly air travel transaction volumes, including from airlines’ insolvency or suspension of service or aircraft groundings, we cannot provide assurance that the assumptions used in our estimates will be accurate.
We reviewed our goodwill and other long-lived assets including intangible assets, and did not identify any material impairments. See Note 8. Fair Value Measurements for further information about our interim goodwill quantitative assessment. As we cannot predict the duration or scope of the COVID-19 pandemic, future impairments may occur and the negative financial impact to our consolidated financial statements and results of operations cannot be reasonably estimated but could be material.
Basis of Presentation—The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, these financial statements contain all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring accruals, necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods indicated. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for any other interim period or for
the year ending December 31, 2020. The accompanying interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020.
We consolidate all majority-owned subsidiaries and companies over which we exercise control through majority voting rights. No entities are consolidated due to control through operating agreements, financing agreements or as the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity.
The consolidated financial statements include our accounts after elimination of all significant intercompany balances and transactions. All dollar amounts in the financial statements and the tables in the notes, except per share amounts, are stated in thousands of U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. All amounts in the notes reference results from continuing operations unless otherwise indicated.
Use of Estimates—The preparation of these interim financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires that certain amounts be recorded based on estimates and assumptions made by management. Actual results could differ from these estimates and assumptions. Our accounting policies that utilize significant estimates and assumptions include: (i) estimation for revenue recognition and multiple performance obligation arrangements, (ii) determination of the fair value of assets and liabilities acquired in a business combination, (iii) the evaluation of the recoverability of the carrying value of long-lived assets and goodwill, (iv) assumptions utilized to test recoverability of capitalized implementation costs and customer and subscriber advances, (v) judgments in capitalization of software developed for internal use, (vi) the evaluation of uncertainties surrounding the calculation of our tax assets and liabilities, (vii) estimation of the air booking cancellation reserve, and (viii) the evaluation of the allowance for credit losses. Our use of estimates and the related accounting policies are discussed in the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020. Additionally, see Note 2. Revenue from Contracts with Customers for additional information on the use of significant estimates and assumptions in recognizing revenue and Note 5. Credit Losses for additional information regarding the use of significant estimates and assumptions related to the allowance for credit losses. Given the uncertainties surrounding the duration and effects of COVID-19, we cannot provide assurance that the assumptions used in our estimates will be accurate.
Share Repurchase Program—In February 2017, we announced the approval of a multi-year share repurchase program (the "Share Repurchase Program") to purchase up to $500 million of Sabre's common stock outstanding. Repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program may take place in the open market or privately negotiated transactions. For the three months ended March 31, 2020, we did not repurchase any shares pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program. On March 16, 2020, we announced the suspension of share repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program in conjunction with certain cash management measures we are undertaking as a result of the market conditions caused by COVID-19. Approximately $287 million remains authorized for repurchases under the Share Repurchase Program as of March 31, 2020.
Adoption of New Accounting Standards
In March 2020, the FASB issued updated guidance which provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying U.S. GAAP to contracts, hedging relationships, and other transactions affected by the discontinuation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or by another reference rate expected to be discontinued, if certain criteria are met. The updated standard is effective for all entities upon issuance and we will apply the amendments prospectively through December 31, 2022. There was no impact to our consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2020 as a result of adopting this standard. Our current hedging contracts do not extend past December 31, 2021.
In October 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued updated guidance that eliminates the requirement that entities consider indirect interests held through related parties under common control in their entirety when assessing whether a decision-making fee is a variable interest and instead requires entities to consider these indirect interests on a proportional basis. We adopted this standard in the first quarter of 2020, which did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
In August 2018, the FASB issued updated guidance on customer's accounting for implementation costs incurred in a cloud computing arrangement that is a service contract. Under this updated standard, a customer in a cloud-computing arrangement that is a service contract is required to follow guidance on software developed for internal use to determine which implementation costs to capitalize as assets or expense as incurred. This standard aligns the accounting for implementation costs for hosting arrangements, regardless of whether they convey a license to the hosted software. The standard requires that capitalized implementation costs related to a hosting arrangement that is a service contract be amortized over the term of the hosting arrangement, beginning when the component of the hosting arrangement is ready for its intended use, similar to requirements in guidance on software developed for internal use. In addition, costs incurred during the preliminary project and post-implementation phases are expensed as they are incurred. We adopted this standard prospectively in the first quarter of 2020, which did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
In June 2016, the FASB issued updated guidance for the measurement of credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. Under this updated standard, the current "incurred loss" approach is replaced with an "expected loss" model for instruments measured at amortized cost. We adopted this standard in the first quarter of 2020, resulting in a $10 million increase in the allowance for credit losses, partially offset by a $1 million decrease in deferred tax liabilities and a $1 million increase in accounts receivable with a corresponding increase of approximately $8 million in our opening retained deficit as of January 1, 2020. See Note 5. Credit Losses for more information on the impacts from adoption and ongoing considerations.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In December 2019, the FASB issued updated guidance which simplifies the accounting for income taxes, eliminates certain exceptions within existing income tax guidance, and clarifies certain aspects of the current guidance to promote consistency among reporting entities. The updated standard is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. We do not expect the adoption of this standard will have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.