Related Person Transactions (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended					9 Months Ended				1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		5 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	May 31, 2012 Property	Sep. 30, 2012 item	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 item	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 Staybridge Suites	Aug. 31, 2012 Staybridge Suites Schaumburg Illinois Agreement	Aug. 31, 2012 Staybridge Suites Auburn Hills, Michigan	Sep. 30, 2012 Sonesta agreements Property	Aug. 31, 2012 Sonesta agreement No. 1 Inter Continental Hotels Agreement	Aug. 31, 2012 Sonesta agreement No. 1 Staybridge Suites Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 SNSTA	Aug. 31, 2012 Hotels Inter Continental Hotels Property	Sep. 30, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements Property	Aug. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements Agreement	Aug. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreement No. 1 Inter Continental Hotels item	Jul. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreement No. 1 Inter Continental Hotels item	Jun. 30, 2012 Hotels InterContinental agreement item	Mar. 31, 2012 RMR	Sep. 30, 2012 RMR Agreement Property trustee	Sep. 30, 2011 RMR	Sep. 30, 2012 RMR Agreement Property trustee	Sep. 30, 2011 RMR	Sep. 30, 2012 Travel Centers of America LLC trustee	Sep. 30, 2012 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers Agreement Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers	Sep. 30, 2012 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers Agreement Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers	Sep. 30, 2012 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers TA No. 1 Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers TA No. 1	Sep. 30, 2012 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers TA No. 1 Property	Sep. 30, 2011 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers TA No. 1	Sep. 30, 2012 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers TA No. 2 Property	Sep. 30, 2012 Travel Centers of America LLC Travel centers TA No. 2 Less than option	Sep. 30, 2012 Sonesta Sonesta agreements	Sep. 30, 2012 Sonesta Sonesta agreements	Aug. 31, 2012 Sonesta Sonesta agreement No. 1 Agreement	Jun. 30, 2012 AIC	Sep. 30, 2012 AIC	Sep. 30, 2011 AIC	Sep. 30, 2012 AIC	Sep. 30, 2011 AIC	Dec. 31, 2011 AIC	Sep. 30, 2012 AIC Less than
Related Person Transactions
Number of agreements to provide management and administrative services																					2		2
Number of properties included in management agreement																					1		1
Number of Managing Trustees who are Chairmen, majority owners and an employees of RMR																					1		1
Business and property management agreement expenses																					$ 8,068	$ 9,432	$ 26,650	$ 26,306												$ 1,903	$ 3,536
Common shares issued for services rendered by RMR																				33,132
Percentage of ownership formerly held in subsidiary																									100.00%
Number of common shares owned																									2,540,000
Shares owned as a percentage of total shares outstanding																									8.80%
Number of Managing Trustees who are Managing Directors																									1
Number of management agreements or leases		10		10			1			2	13				17	2										2		2										2
Number of properties leased																										185		185		145		145		40
Number of renewal options available																																			2
Term of renewal option																																		15 years
Percentage of non-fuel revenue over threshold amounts																										3.00%		3.00%
Percentage of fuel revenue over threshold amounts																										0.30%		0.30%
Annual percentage rent to be waived																																		2,500
Ground rent payable per year																																5,126
Deferred rent due in December 2022																										107,085		107,085
Deferred rent due in June 2024																										42,915		42,915
Rental income		73,915	72,305	220,863	230,078																					51,717	50,597	154,626	150,683
Adjustments included in rental income necessary to record rent on the straight line basis		(52)	1,193	243	3,684																									(69)	1,195	218	3,594
Deferred rent accrued		919	481	3,481	1,417																									77		1,277
Capital improvements from leased facilities, funded																												48,282
Increase in minimum annual rent				20,376																								4,104
Aggregate purchase price advanced												150,500
Mortgage loan prepaid												31,035
Interest rate hedge agreement unwound												2,525
Number of hotels added to management agreement																	13	13
Number of hotels rebranded (in properties)	21								2					17
Number of hotels sold (in properties)													2
Procurement and construction supervision fees																																				185	209
Number of hotels removed from management agreement																			39
Aggregate selling price							2,060	3,510
Gain on sale of property						392
Equity method investments, ownership percentage																																								12.50%		12.50%
Maximum ownership percentage in related party																																													20.00%
Equity method investments, carrying value																																								5,558		5,558		5,291
Earnings (losses) recognized related to equity investments		115	28	236	111																																			115	28	236	111
Coverage of property insurance																																										500,000
Period for which property insurance program was extended																																							1 year
Annual premium for property insurance																																							$ 5,256