Identification of risk factors in the hospitality industry: Evidence from risk factor disclosure

This study identifies the main risk concepts and themes reported by U.S. lodging companies in their annual fillings for both 2008, when risk reporting was considered generic and under a financial crisis, and 2016, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) push for more specific risk reporting and under an economy recovery environment. The content analysis provided by Leximancer allowed to identify the main themes for 2008: conditions, debt, subject, gaming, insurance, agreements and shares; and for 2016: results, subject, debt, certain, shares, information and tax in descending order of relative importance. The results indicate a shift: while in 2008, the emphasis relied on the risks resulting from economic conditions, in 2016, the companies' focus was on results, and on information security risks. Findings also indicate that companies are increasing specific in risk reporting, as the theme subject referring to hospitality-related risks became the second largest theme in 2016.