Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Details 7) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended											12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2009 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2009 Minimum	Dec. 31, 2010 Office building and land adjacent to one of the hotels	Dec. 31, 2011 Royal Palm note	Dec. 31, 2011 Total at the end of the period	Dec. 31, 2010 Total at the end of the period	Dec. 31, 2011 Level 2	Dec. 31, 2010 Level 2	Dec. 31, 2009 Level 3	Dec. 31, 2011 Level 3	Dec. 31, 2010 Level 3	Dec. 31, 2011 Level 3 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2011 Level 3 Minimum	Jun. 30, 2011 Level 3 Commercial laundry facility located in Salt Lake City, Utah	Dec. 31, 2011 Robert A. Alter installment	Dec. 31, 2011 Robert A. Alter Level 2	Dec. 31, 2010 Robert A. Alter Level 2	Dec. 31, 2011 Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square	Jan. 31, 2011 Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square	Dec. 31, 2011 Entity that owns the Hilton San Diego Bayfront	Apr. 30, 2011 Entity that owns the Hilton San Diego Bayfront	Feb. 28, 2011 JW Marriott New Orleans Interest Rate Swap Agreement	Dec. 31, 2011 JW Marriott New Orleans Level 2 Interest Rate Swap Agreement	Dec. 31, 2011 Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square and Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel
Fair value of assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring and non-recurring basis
Ownership interest acquired (as a percent)																						62.00%	62.00%	75.00%	75.00%
Split life insurance policy																			$ 5,000,000
Number of installments to be paid out under the Retirement Benefit Agreement																			10
Amount paid under the Retirement Benefit Agreement																			200,000
Issuance of note receivable		90,000,000						90,000,000
Impairment recognized in discontinued operations													192,286,000					1,500,000
Impairment loss	1,900,000	10,862,000	1,943,000	30,852,000			1,900,000	10,900,000
Terminal capitalization rate used in impairment analysis of hotel properties and other assets (as a percent)					9.60%	8.10%
Discount rate used in impairment analysis of goodwill (as a percent)					13.80%	13.00%
Percentage of debt having fixed interest rates (as a percent)		73.40%	100.00%
Carrying value of secured debt		1,570,477,000	1,131,530,000
Weighted average cost of debt (as a percent)																7.00%	6.00%
Fair value of debt														1,500,000,000	1,100,000,000
Assets:
Other real estate of discontinued operations, net			896,000
Interest rate cap derivative agreements									386,000		386,000																	400,000
Other real estate, net		11,859,000	11,116,000							2,506,000
Life insurance policy									1,877,000	1,868,000	1,877,000	1,868,000								1,877,000	1,868,000
Total assets									2,263,000	4,374,000	2,263,000	1,868,000			2,506,000
Liabilities:
Retirement benefit agreement									1,687,000	1,868,000	1,687,000	1,868,000								1,687,000	1,868,000
Interest rate swap derivative agreements									1,567,000		1,567,000															300,000	1,600,000
Total liabilities									$ 3,254,000	$ 1,868,000	$ 3,254,000	$ 1,868,000