The properties are in the Boston, Hartford, Connecticut, Minneapolis, Dallas, Orlando and Nashville markets.

In the future, says Peter Willis, chief investment officer at Chatham, "We are going to acquire more upscale, extended-stay hotels and premium-branded select service hotels, such as more Homewood Suites, Residence Inns, Marriott Courtyards and Hampton Inns."

"We are buying (hotels with) depressed earnings, so we believe that the cycle is turning and we will benefit from improving conditions in the marketplace," says Willis. "Speaking just about the hotels we've just acquired, from the time we put them under contract last November, until the closing, we saw improving RevPar," he says."Some of the improvement is a function of just how deeply depressed things had gotten," says Willis, so year-over-year comparisons, look good.

But the bad news in the hotel industry is still in the present. On April 20, 2010, Reuters reported, "Innkeepers USA Trust, a US real estate investment trust with interests in about 73 hotels, is getting ready for a bankruptcy filing after missing debt payments earlier this month, according to four people familiar with the matter."

Reuters adds that "Innkeepers has interests in 73 upscale, extended-stay and mid-priced hotels run by companies like Marriott International, Hilton, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. About half of its properties are operated under Marriott's Residence Inn brand."

In spite of the general gloominess in the hotel industry recently, Hendersonvillle, TN-based STR reported some good news. For the week of April 11-17th, according to the hotel research company, the US hotel industry reported increases in all three key performance measurements. In year-over-year measurements, the industry's occupancy increased 5.5% to 60.4%. The average daily rate rose 1.4% to $98.67. Revenue per available room for the week was up 7% to $59.62.