One of the stunning observations of the LW Hospitality Advisors YTD Q2 (Mid-Year) 2011 Select Major U.S. Hotel Sales Survey is the number of and diversity of the buyers. Oh sure, we know that Pebblebrook and RLJ will be on the list, but don’t stop there. Examine the other buyers and look hard at what they are buying. The east coast and west coast of the country remain the hot spots, but there is now some transaction activity in other cities, such as Denver, Chicago and Cleveland – and these are just the single asset hotel transactions greater than $10 million that are not part of portfolio transactions. It is one thing for economists to describe the improvements in hospitality market fundamentals. It is quite another to see transactions occur across a broad scope of product types, geographic locations and buyers. It is the latter that we have been waiting for while listening to the former. Hopefully we are all heading into something good!
