General (Narrative) (Details)	3 Months Ended															3 Months Ended					12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014 property	Mar. 31, 2013 property	Mar. 31, 2014 Supertel Limited Partnership [Member] Supertel Hospitality REIT Trust [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Solomons Beacon Inn Limited Parternship [Member] Supertel Hospitality, Inc. [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Solomons Beacon Inn Limited Parternship [Member] Supertel Limited Partnership [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-Hotels, SPPR-South Bend, SPPR-BMI, BMI Alexandra, LLC, SPPR-Dowell, LLC [Member] Supertel Hospitality, Inc. [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-Hotels, LLC [Member] Supertel Limited Partnership [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-Hotels, LLC [Member] SPPR Holdings, Inc. [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-South Bend, LLC [Member] Supertel Limited Partnership [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-BMI, LLC [Member] Supertel Limited Partnership [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-BMI, LLC [Member] SPPR-BMI Holdings, Inc. [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-Dowell LLC [Member] Supertel Limited Partnership [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-Dowell LLC [Member] SPPR-Dowell Holdings, Inc [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 TRS Leasing, Inc [Member] property	Mar. 31, 2014 SPPR-Hotels, SPPR-South Bend, SPPR-BMI, BMI Alexandra, LLC, SPPR-Dowell, LLC [Member] property	Mar. 31, 2014 Hospitality Management Advisors, Inc. [Member] property	Mar. 31, 2014 Strand Development Company LLC [Member] property	Mar. 31, 2014 Kinseth Hotel Corporation [Member] state property	Mar. 31, 2014 Cherry Cove Hospitality Management, LLC [Member] property	Mar. 31, 2014 Series C Convertible Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Series C Convertible Preferred Stock [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Preferred stock, annual dividend rate																				6.25%	6.25%
Number of properties held by related parties	58													47	10
Holding interest			99.00%	1.00%	99.00%	100.00%	99.00%	1.00%	100.00%	99.00%	1.00%	99.00%	1.00%
Number of leased hotels owned	68
Number of hotels managed by third party manager																18	13	29	1
Number of extended-stay hotels managed by related parties																	7
Number of operating states of hotels managed by related parties																		8
Base management fee received on gross hotel revenues by managing related parties, percentage	3.50%
Management fee received on hotel net operating income by managing related parties, percentage	2.25%
Number of hotels subsequently sold		10