Hotel acquisitions will increase this year as real-estate investors react to rising occupancy and room rates, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL) executive. Lodging purchases will gain 15 percent to 20 percent to about $30 billion in 2011, Arthur de Haast, global chief executive officer of the broker’s hotels unit, said in an interview at the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin. The volume of deals will rise the fastest in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, where the executive expects an increase of as much as 25 percent.

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