The nationwide hotel market showed considerable positive momentum in the third quarter, according to a report from Lodging Econometrics, released today. The average selling price per room climbed to $107,988 in the third quarter, marking an 86 percent increase over 2009′s average selling price per room, $58,190. Although the average selling price per room isn’t back to peak levels — it hit $119,553 in 2007 — the rebound in pricing has managed to occur without disrupting the number of transactions. This year, so far, has seen 466 reported transactions, up from the same time period a year ago, which saw 405 transactions. [Hotel-Online]

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There were 322 hotel sales and property transfers in the first half of the year, according to hotel real estate tracking firm Lodging Econometics. The hotel market activity so far this year – encompassing individual transactions, portfolio transactions and merger and acquisition transfers — is on track to surpass 2009′s activity level, when just 506 such transactions occurred. In 2007, the peak year, 3,543 transactions and property transfers occurred. Leading the sales were “larger, well-located hotels,” the report says, with 52 of the hotels selling for more than $10 million. Of those, 29 sold for more than $20 million — “an unusually high” sale price, the report shows. The increase in sales volume is tied to a stabilization on Wall Street, according to the report, with an uptick in mortgage banking activity facilitating the rebound. TRD

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Vijay Dandapani of Apple Core Hotels and Will Obeid of Gemini Real Estate Advisors at real estate panel yesterday

The bloodletting for Manhattan hotel operators did not end with 2009, preliminary figures covering January from industry analysis firm PKF Consulting reveal.

The average daily room rate fell in January by 8.8 percent compared with the same month last year to $192.96 per room, and the revenue per available room, or revpar, dipped by 3.6 percent to $125.71, data from PKF shows.

But on a bright note, the figures indicate that occupancy rates rose, to 65.1 percent last month from 61.6 percent in January 2009.

For all of 2009, revpar plunged by 25.8 percent from $264 per room to $196 per room, the PKF figures indicate.

At a panel on hospitality at the New York Real Estate Summit yesterday in Midtown, hotel executive Vijay Dandapani, president and COO of Apple Core Hotels, noted the year began poorly.

“We have seen a further depression in January,” he said. “I personally think 2010 will be flat.” [more]

Tribeca Associates and its partners are embroiled in a legal battle with landlord Trinity Real Estate to prevent Trinity from foreclosing on 330 Hudson Street, a warehouse conversion intended to include office space and a hotel. Tribeca Associates asked in January to change the terms of the 99-year lease, under which Trinity was supposed to create a hotel, to delay construction because of the financial crisis. Trinity said that Tribeca had already defaulted on some of the lease terms and wasn’t entitled to lease modifications. The case is now in court and, if it isn’t settled, may go to trial in summer 2010. Tribeca Associates said in court papers that Trinity’s insistence on building the hotel is exacerbating the development’s problems, because the hotel market is unlikely to pick up as quickly as the office market. [more]