ATLANTA—Hotel AG is doing some serious hotel business. At the end of its first quarter, the firm has 71 hotels under sale agreement. All told, that equals $974 million in closings in the next few months.

The brands under agreement include: 14 Hampton Inns; seven Courtyards; seven Hilton Garden Inns; six SpringHill Suites; eight TownePlace Suites; one full-service Marriott; one Hyatt; one Homewood; three Holiday Inn brands; three Fairfield Inns; one Staybridge; six Choice flags; five independents; and eight other branded assets.

"We call this period in the cycle the race for capital," says H. Keith Thompson, principal at Hotel AG. "For the Hotel AG team, we put more faith in what people do than what people say. All the intel says the hotel space will see great growth for the next several years; yet, the smart people in the room are monetizing their holdings as fast as they can, and reducing the risk of a downturn. In short, we would rather watch what the smart money does rather than listen to what others say, and then build our business accordingly."