Management Agreements and Leases (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended		5 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	2 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	2 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended				6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			5 Months Ended	1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 Agreement property	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 19, 2012 Clift Hotel	Jun. 30, 2012 21 Marriott hotels property	Jul. 31, 2012 Marriott hotel St. Louis, MO	May 31, 2012 Marriott No. 234 agreement 21 Marriott hotels property	Aug. 31, 2012 Sonesta agreements property	Aug. 31, 2012 Wyndham agreement InterContinental hotels property	Dec. 31, 2012 Prime	Jan. 02, 2004 Prime Agreement	Jan. 02, 2013 Hotels property item	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels property Agreement	Jan. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Clift Hotel	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Maximum property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Maximum Sonesta item	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Maximum Clift Hotel	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Minimum property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Minimum Clift Hotel	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta No. 1 agreement property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreement No. 2	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Marriott No 1 contract property	Feb. 26, 2013 Hotels Marriott No. 234 agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Marriott No. 234 agreement	Aug. 31, 2012 Hotels Marriott No. 234 agreement 21 Marriott hotels property	Jul. 31, 2012 Hotels Marriott No. 234 agreement 21 Marriott hotels property	May 31, 2012 Hotels Marriott No. 234 agreement 21 Marriott hotels property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Marriott No. 234 agreement 21 Marriott hotels property	May 31, 2012 Hotels InterContinental agreement property	Feb. 26, 2013 Hotels InterContinental agreement	Sep. 30, 2012 Hotels InterContinental agreement property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels InterContinental agreement property	Jan. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements Agreement	Sep. 30, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements	Aug. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements Agreement	Jun. 29, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements property	Sep. 30, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements 21 Marriott hotels property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Sonesta agreements Sonesta No. 1 agreement property	Dec. 31, 2012 Hotels Wyndham agreement property item	Nov. 30, 2012 Hotels Wyndham agreement Hotel 71 property	Nov. 02, 2012 Hotels Wyndham agreement Hotel 71	May 31, 2012 Hotels Wyndham agreement Wyndham Hotels and Resorts property	May 31, 2012 Hotels Wyndham agreement Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Hotels property	Apr. 30, 2012 Hotels InterContinental contracts InterContinental hotels property	Jun. 30, 2012 Hotels InterContinental contracts InterContinental hotels property	Nov. 30, 2012 Vacation units Wyndham agreement Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Inc	Nov. 02, 2012 Vacation units Wyndham agreement Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Inc item	Dec. 31, 2012 Travel centers property	Dec. 31, 2012 Travel centers TA agreements item property Agreement
Management Agreements and Leases
Number of real estate properties	474												289									20																													185	185
Operating agreement annual rent and return																										$ 101,837								$ 135,159
Number of management agreements or leases	12												10																						2			17														2
Number of real estate properties leased or managed																	91			1				53										91					17		20	20
Number of vacation units leased																																																		48
Security deposit balance	26,577	106,422																														17,487
Security deposit returned	50,540	(37,000)	17,220																					50,540
Number of properties leased to TRSs												285
Number of properties leased by TRSs from third party												1
Number of TRSs to whom property was leased												2
Number of properties leased to third parties												3
Number of consecutive renewal terms that the entity has the option to renew the agreement																		2																								2
Number of renewal periods available																																																				2
Renewal period														15 years			60 years			20 years																						15 years										15 years
Average remaining current terms of leases and management agreements	16 years 3 months 18 days
Amount by which the cash flow available to pay entity's minimum rent or return was less than the minimum amount																									849	10,114						8,978		29,354
Guaranty payments made																									2,162	4,895
Guarantee provided to the entity, remaining amount																									23,815
Increase in guarantee provided to the entity																																											9,000
Percentage of minimum returns for which limited guarantee has been provided																										90.00%
Number of hotels offered for potential sale																														21				42
Number of hotels to be retained under the agreement																																															3
Number of hotels rebranded								2																												17					20	20			4	16
Number of hotels agreed to be renovated							18																						18
Amount expected to be provided for renovation																										123,000								290,000								93,000
Percentage increase in minimum returns after funding for renovation of hotels																										9.00%								8.00%								8.00%
Number of properties sold					1				2																			1
Proceeds from sale of hotel						28,850																						28,850
Amount funded for renovation																						11,280				78,000								212,718								8,985
Remaining amount expected to be provided for renovation																										45,000								77,232								84,015
Reduction in minimum annual rent payments									34,990																			990		2,597
Number of hotels removed from management agreement																											2				20		17							2								39
Amount expected to be funded for renovation in 2013																						127,000
Amount expected to be funded renovation in 2014																						56,720
Number of hotel rooms																																											348
Aggregate sale price, excluding closing costs									5,354
Fixed minimum return as a percentage of invested capital																																			8.00%
Additional returns (as a percent)																																			80.00%
Management fees (as a percent)																							3.00%														5.00%
Base management fee applicable to full service hotels (as a percent)															3.00%																						5.00%
Base management fee applicable to limited service hotels (as a percent)															5.00%
Minimum annual rent or return payable to the entity																5,956																									37,081	9,240							1,000
Percentage increase in minimum returns																																																	3.00%
Expected funding for hotel rebranding, renovations and other improvements																						195,000
Annual rent payable calculated as a percent of net profit less capital expenditures																							75.00%
Hotel Management Agreements and Leases Expected Funding Amount in Next Fiscal Year																							2,000
Management contract term																																										25 years
Annual guarantee provided to the entity, maximum																																											14,500
Purchase price excluding closing cost				120,000																																								85,000
Percentage increase in current rent based on changes in CPI index																			40.00%		20.00%
Percentage increase in current rent based on changes in CPI index on each fifth anniversary and thereafter																			20.00%		10.00%
Number of properties leased until 2022																																																				145
Number of properties leased until 2024																																																				40
Increase in minimum annual rent or return payable to the entity																																											5,800
Percentage of minimum returns not paid for cancellation of management agreements																																					75.00%
Contractual minimum rents to be paid to the entity
2013	234,459
2014	234,589
2015	235,359
2016	235,442
2017	235,539
Thereafter	3,023,171
Total	4,198,559
Initial term of the management contract	15 years
Number of management agreements for AmeriSuites hotels											24
Amount expected to be funded in 2013 for capital improvements																																																				80,000
Future amortization of retained deposits and other property
2012										2,952
2013										2,952
2014										2,952
2015										2,952
2016										2,952
2017										2,952
2018										2,952
Unamortized balance of retained deposits and the value of other property received from Prime pursuant to the settlement										$ 17,712	$ 44,281