Hotel REITs Go Upscale | wsj.com

Publicly traded real-estate investment trusts have emerged as goliaths in the acquisition market for hotels as the hospitality industry continues its rebound from the recession. Case in point: LaSalle Hotel Properties Inc., owner of 35 upscale hotels, last week paid $80.1 million for the Viceroy Santa Monica hotel on California's coast. The purchase was LaSalle's seventh of an upscale, trophy hotel in a little more than a year, amounting to...