Sale of Hotel Properties - Narrative (Details)	8 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Aug. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 property	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) property
Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]
Number of hotel properties sold \| property		2	2
Disposal of hotel properties	$ 92,000,000		$ 107,500,000
Gain (loss) on sale of hotel properties	$ 1,600,000		$ (7,516,464)

Disposal Group, Number of Properties Disposed During Period

No definition available.

Name:	rlj_DisposalGroupNumberofPropertiesDisposedDuringPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	rlj_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration