Shares of hotels climbed Thursday, with several setting 52-week highs, on hopes revenue per available room, or revpar, could turn positive sooner than previously expected. "Industry-wide revpar has been improving at a rate that would suggest that we turn positive sometime before consensus, which is currently mid-2010," Collins Stewart analyst Bryan Maher said. He added he believes revpar, a key industry measure of profitability, will turn positive in April, but it could happen as soon as the first quarter if trends hold.

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