Real Estate Properties (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013 item Property	Sep. 30, 2013 item Property	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 28, 2013 Royal Sonesta Hotel	May 17, 2013 Full service hotel in Duluth, GA Property	Aug. 02, 2013 Full service hotel in Florham Park, NJ Property	Sep. 30, 2013 Full service hotel in Orlando, FL Property	Sep. 30, 2013 Hotels Property	Sep. 30, 2013 Travel centers Property	Jul. 02, 2013 Travel centers Travel Centers of America LLC Property	Sep. 30, 2013 Travel centers Travel Centers of America LLC item	Sep. 30, 2013 Travel centers Travel center located in Roanoke, VA
Real estate properties
Number of properties owned	475	475						291	184	3
Number of management agreements or leases	11	11									2
Funded real estate improvements		$ 238,771
Increase in annual minimum returns and rents		19,135								537	5,369
Number of rooms					426	219	223
Purchase price							21,000			6,325
Acquisition costs					253	859
Land					2,000	5,098
Building					24,300	43,404
Furniture, fixtures and equipment					3,400	3,540
Intangible assets						708
Total					29,700	52,750
Acquisition amount, excluding related acquisition costs				120,500
Acquisition costs				309
Intangible assets related to previous leasehold interest in the hotel reclassified to land and building				18,958
Land				12,564
Building				108,245
Total				120,809
Loss on asset impairment	5,837	8,008	889									5,837
VDOT's estimated fair market value of domain taking												6,280
Per share loss on asset impairment (in dollars per share)												$ 0.04
Proposed compensation by the VDOT												$ 6,280
Percent of proceeds received from settlement with VDOT that reduced the rent receivable from TA												8.50%
Number of properties classified as held for sale	1	1