The Americas led the market drop, with an 81% decline from 2007to 2008. However, the Asia Pacific had a 67% drop and Europe had a59% drop for the same period. The transactions haven't been thislow in the first half of a year since 2003. However, that timeperiod had significant events, such as Sept. 11, the Iraq War andthe SARS outbreak, which had direct effects on hotel sales, saidArthur de Haast, president of JLL Hotels, in a statement. "Based onyear-to-year numbers, the hotel investment market in 2008 appearsto be in a much stronger position relative to the 2002/2003period," he said.

Also, according to the report, most transactions are less than$100 million in size, such as Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc.'ssale of the HyattRegency Phoenix to Los Angeles-based DiNapoli Capital Partnersfor $96 million early last month. Portfolio sales are way down,especially compared to the first half of 2007, which had more than12 transactions of more than $1 billion. The total number ofhospitality sales hit a high of almost $120 billion overall in2007.

There are some good points from the report, however. Pricing isstill respectable, and there are emerging markets in Thailand,Vietnam, Russia and Turkey, according to the report. Also, demandis still strong, with buyers still outnumbering sellers by nearly 4to 1. "With the weaker trading outlook anticipated for mostmarkets, sellers are expected to start adjusting to new pricinglevels," de Haast said in the report.