In a release, Felcor's EVP and CFO, Andrew Welch, says the company is "very pleased" with the refi. "Our efforts are complete, as we have now resolved all of our remaining 2010 maturities," he says. "The most recent refinancing improves our balance sheet by lowering our average interest rate and providing us with two additional unencumbered hotels. We will continue to look for additional opportunities to strengthen our balance sheet as the capital markets improve."

CWSG says in a separate release that its global hospitality group restructured and refinanced 23 hotels over the past 24 months, ranging in asset quality from luxury to select-service. The group is in the market with several other hotel loans in geographically diverse US markets and is receiving "strong interest from the lending community" on each transaction, the release states.

For its part, Felcor sees an upward trend in the hotel sector. "The pace of the recovery in the lodging industry has been more robust than anticipated, leading to much stronger than expected RevPAR," Richard A. Smith, the company's president and CEO, says in a release announcing the REIT's first-quarter results. "The corporate transient, leisure and group segments are improving. Importantly, occupancy gains were strong throughout the week, led by Tuesday and Wednesday, and corporate transient room nights increased 7% during the quarter."

He adds that while corporate travel has begun to grow again, "our visibility into future trends remains somewhat limited, and booking windows are exceptionally short. Therefore, we remain intently focused on gaining market share and optimizing the mix of business to maximize rates." The company currently has interests in 84 properties across 23 states and Canada.