Reay tells GlobeSt.com that the price, which works out to about $130,000 per room, is nonetheless well below replacement cost. "It would probably cost at least $80 million to replace," he says of the hotel.

The LAX Renaissance, at 9620 Airport Blvd., was part of a package that Walton Street bought last year when both Walton Street and Sunstone acquired portfolios from Marriott. Robert Alter, Sunstone's CEO, notes that the REIT liked the quality of the hotel as well as its location near the airport.

The Renaissance was built in 1991, and the latest renovation was a $10-million makeover in 2005. The hotel is Sunstone's first upper-upscale property in the LAX submarket and continues the REIT's strategy of upgrading the quality of hotels in its portfolio, Alter comments.

The price of $130,000 per room compares with an overall average of about $80,000 per room for hotels in Los Angeles County, according to the latest survey by Atlas, but that overall figure includes limited-service hotels. The prices for full-service hotels go to $150,000 and up per room, depending on locations, specific hotels and RevPAR.

The Renaissance acquisition follows a deal last summer in which Sunstone spent $419.5 million for a portfolio of six Renaissance Hotels totaling 3,326 rooms from Marriott. The acquisition was part of a larger deal in which Marriott International Inc. bought the Renaissance properties plus 26 other hotels from Hong Kong-based CTF Holdings Ltd.