Debt (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended																		1 Months Ended						1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended											1 Months Ended									1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended											1 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Jul. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit [Member]	Mar. 31, 2011 Line of Credit [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Libor Plus Three Point Three Seven Five Due June 2016 [Member] Hotels	Dec. 31, 2011 Line of Credit [Member] Libor Plus Three Point Three Seven Five Due June 2016 [Member]	Mar. 31, 2011 Line of Credit [Member] Libor Plus Four Point Five Percent Due August 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Mortgages [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member]	May 31, 2010 Mortgages [Member] Loan	Dec. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member] Libor Plus Three Point Three Seven Five Due June 2016 [Member] Hotels	Dec. 31, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Four Point Nine Five Percent Due October 2022 [Member] Hotels		Sep. 30, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Four Point Nine Five Percent Due October 2022 [Member] Loan	Dec. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member] Four Point Nine Five Percent Due October 2022 [Member]		Dec. 31, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Four Point Nine Four Percent Due October 2022 [Member] Hotels	Dec. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member] Four Point Nine Four Percent Due October 2022 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Six Point Six Six Percent Due June Through August 2014 [Member] Hotels		Dec. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member] Six Point Six Six Percent Due June Through August 2014 [Member]		Dec. 31, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Five Point Eight One Percent Due July 2016 [Member] Hotels	Dec. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member] Five Point Eight One Percent Due July 2016 [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Nine Point Zero Two Percent Due April 2014 [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Libor Plus Two Point Two Zero Percent Due May 2013 [Member] Hotels	Dec. 31, 2012 Mortgages [Member] Eight Point One Percent Mortgage Loan [Member]	Mar. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member] Secured Loan 1 & 2 [Member] Hotels	Oct. 30, 2011 Mortgages [Member] CMBS Mortgage Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Mortgages [Member] CMBS Mortgage Loan [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Senior Notes [Member]	Apr. 30, 2011 Senior Notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Notes [Member] Ten Point Zero Zero Percent Due October 2014 [Member] Hotels		Jun. 30, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Ten Point Zero Zero Percent Due October 2014 [Member]	Apr. 30, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Ten Point Zero Zero Percent Due October 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Ten Point Zero Zero Percent Due October 2014 [Member]		Dec. 31, 2010 Senior Notes [Member] Ten Point Zero Zero Percent Due October 2014 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Notes [Member] Six Point Seven Five Percent Due June 2019 [Member] Hotels	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Six Point Seven Five Percent Due June 2019 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Notes [Member] Five Point Six Two Five Percent Due March 2023 [Member] Hotels	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Five Point Six Two Five Percent Due March 2023 [Member]	May 31, 2011 Senior Notes [Member] Senior Notes Due 2011 [Member]	Aug. 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member]	May 31, 2012 Secured Debt [Member]	Jul. 31, 2011 Secured Debt [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Secured Debt [Member] Hotels	May 31, 2011 Secured Debt [Member]	Mar. 31, 2011 Secured Debt [Member]	Jun. 30, 2010 Secured Debt [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Secured Debt [Member]	Mar. 31, 2011 Secured Debt [Member] Secured Loan 1 [Member]	Mar. 31, 2011 Secured Debt [Member] Secured Loan 2 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Other Debt [Member] Libor Plus One Point Two Five Percent Due May 2016 [Member] Hotels		Dec. 31, 2011 Other Debt [Member] Libor Plus One Point Two Five Percent Due May 2016 [Member]		Dec. 31, 2011 Knickerbocker [Member] Secured Debt [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Knickerbocker [Member] Construction Loans [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Pool of Hotels Securing Repaid Loan [Member] Mortgages [Member] Nine Point Zero Two Percent Due April 2014 [Member] Hotels	Sep. 30, 2012 Hotels Mortgaged to Support New Loans [Member] Mortgages [Member] Nine Point Zero Two Percent Due April 2014 [Member] Hotels	Sep. 30, 2012 Hotels Unencumbered [Member] Libor Plus Two Point Two Zero Percent Due May 2013 [Member] Hotels	Sep. 30, 2012 Non-Strategic [Member] Mortgages [Member] Libor Plus Two Point Two Zero Percent Due May 2013 [Member] Hotels	Jun. 30, 2011 New Loan Obtained to Refinance Old Loan [Member] Hotels	Jun. 30, 2011 Refinanced Old Loan [Member]	May 31, 2011 Royalton / Morgans [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of encumbered hotels (in hotels)				46					8						8	4	[1]				1		5	[1]			1										11	[2]						6		10													0	[3]
Variable rate basis									LIBOR		LIBOR																						LIBOR																										LIBOR	[3]
Variable rate basis spread									3.375%	3.375%	4.50%																							2.20%																									1.25%	[3]
Interest rate																4.95%	[1]	4.95%			4.94%		6.66%	[1]			5.81%		9.02%		8.10%					10.00%	10.00%	[2]						6.75%		5.625%
Long-term debt				$ 1,630,525,000	$ 1,596,466,000				$ 56,000,000	$ 0				$ 32,000,000		$ 128,066,000	[1]		$ 0	[1]	$ 32,176,000	$ 0	$ 65,431,000	[1]	$ 67,375,000	[1]	$ 10,405,000	$ 10,876,000						$ 158,000,000			$ 223,586,000	[2]			$ 459,931,000	[2]		$ 525,000,000	$ 525,000,000	$ 525,000,000	$ 0									$ 1,600,000,000			$ 64,861,000	[3]	$ 0	[3]							$ 24,000,000	$ 27,800,000
Senior debt repaid				0	533,284,000																														46,400,000		258,000,000		144,000,000	144,000,000								46,000,000			35,200,000				130,000,000
Credit facility, capacity							225,000,000	225,000,000
Term of line of credit extension							1 year
Face amount of debt																		160,800,000																			234,000,000						636,000,000												177,000,000
Debt, effective yield																																					12.875%
Repayments of secured debt																													107,000,000	60,000,000	186,500,000																		24,900,000	69,200,000		7,300,000	45,300,000				198,300,000	28,800,000
Number of loans (in loans)														2				5
Term of loan																		10 years
Hotels securing retired loans																														5																						1													7	4	3		1
Number of unencumbered hotels (in hotels)																																																																				2
Debt extinguishment charges	11,600,000	187,000										62,100,000																											27,400,000
Payments for repayment of debt, cash on hand																																																						52,100,000
Number of hotels securing debt (in hotels)																																11
Commitment fee											0.40%
Decrease in commitment fee											0.10%
Use of proceeds from issuance of debt																																																																							140,000,000
Forgiveness of debt																																																																						3,800,000
Gains (losses) on extinguishment of debt			3,700,000
Net proceeds from common stock issuance				0	158,476,000	166,327,000
Redemption price																																							110.00%
Term of loan extension																																	2 years
Repayment pf principal amount				23,300,000	7,400,000																												20,000,000
Mortgage loan secured by cash																																																															64,900,000
Number of hotels secured by first lien mortgages and related security interests and / or negative pledges (in hotels)				27
Aggregate net book value				1,600,000,000
Number of hotels not under lock-box arrangements (in hotels)				2
Notional amount of interest rate cap												202,400,000	212,000,000
Interest expense				125,346,000	130,423,000	131,954,000
Interest income				138,000	235,000	377,000
Capitalized interest				12,900,000	2,200,000	638,000
Maturities of Long-term Debt [Abstract]
2013				4,752,000
2014				300,192,000
2015				3,107,000
2016				132,326,000
2017				2,810,000
Thereafter				1,197,656,000
Aggregate principal outstanding				1,640,843,000
Discount accretion over term				(10,318,000)
Long-term debt				1,630,525,000	1,596,466,000				56,000,000	0				32,000,000		128,066,000	[1]		0	[1]	32,176,000	0	65,431,000	[1]	67,375,000	[1]	10,405,000	10,876,000						158,000,000			223,586,000	[2]			459,931,000	[2]		525,000,000	525,000,000	525,000,000	0									1,600,000,000			64,861,000	[3]	0	[3]							24,000,000	27,800,000
Maximum Borrowing Capacity of Construction Loan																																																																$ 85,000,000

[1] This debt is comprised of separate non-cross-collateralized loans each secured by a mortgage of a different hotel.

[2] We originally issued $636 million (face amount) of these notes. After redemptions in 2011 and 2012, $234 million (face amount) of these notes were outstanding at December 31, 2012. These notes were initially sold at a discount that provided an effective yield of 12.875% before transaction costs.

[3] This loan is related to our Knickerbocker development project and is fully secured by restricted cash and a mortgage. Because we were able to assume an existing loan when we purchased this hotel, we were not required to pay any local mortgage recording tax. This loan can be extended for one year subject to satisfying certain conditions.