The hotel manager tells GlobeSt.com that the auction is "between the owner and the bank and is just about real estate." Calls to Thayer Lodging were not returned by deadline. The manager notes that as far as the hotel is concerned, only the owner is changing. "Marriott is going to continue to manage the hotel," he says.

The sale is indicative of the hotel market in the area, which continues to struggle with its occupancy rates. Paul Briggs, a senior real estate economist at Property & Portfolio Research tells GlobeSt.com that there is a surprisingly strong amount of new supply in the Greater Boston and Boston markets. He points out that demand is starting to improve as the economy gets stronger. According to Briggs, the hotel occupancy rate for the metropolitan area at the end of the first quarter of this year was at 60.3%. He says that his firm expects that figure to up to 61.6% by the end of the year. "It's not the 75.5% occupancy we had in 2000, but the numbers are moving up," he adds.