"The second-tier properties sit on the shelf a bit," he added.
Owners have deferred improvements to their second-tier properties in places like Greenville, S.C., as they struggled — and often failed — to hold on to ownership.
Munich's top-tier properties are the Hotel Bayerischer Hof (Promenadeplatz 2-6; 011-49-89-21200; doubles from $311), Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski (Maximilianstrasse 17; 011-49-89-2125-0; www.kempinski.com; doubles from $341) and Mandarin Oriental (Neuturmstrasse 1; 011-49-89-290-980; www.mandarinoriental.com; doubles from $559).
An increase of "up to 35 and even 40percentt in the coming year," would not be unrealistic, said Priscilla Campbell, an analyst for American Express Business Travel, "especially at upper-tier properties in major gateways such as New Delhi and Mumbai".
The sales rebound primarily has been driven by mass-market and mid-tier properties, but a few recent transactions indicate the high-end luxury sector also has started to pick up.
According to investors, brokers and analysts, deals are taking longer to complete, and prices — at least for the second- and third-tier properties — are declining by as much as 10percentt.
News of its sale may stimulate additional activity among the nation's top-tier properties, says Fandel.
Nothing else on the market approaches that price, said broker Raju Chhabria of Shorewood Realtors, who started selling real estate in the 1980s and has carved out a niche selling top-tier properties.
Still, discovering every top-tier property is impossible.
That is, the cost of a 1-point increase in turnover is greater for a hotel with a high ADR than for an economy-tier property.
But as they discounted their hotel rates, he added, "they achieved a higher occupancy at the expense of lower-tiered properties, within the MGM family and others.
