IRVINE, CA-The number of hotel sales in California rose by 57%to and dollar volume climbed 155% to more than $631 million in thefirst half of this year, according to a new report fromIrvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group. Alan Reay, founder andpresident of Atlas, tells GlobeSt.com that the spike in hotel saleswas expected but that the first-half numbers for 2010 could beeclipsed if the 1,651-room Manchester Hyatt in San Diego issold.

The Manchester Hyatt could sell for $580 million, with the SanClemente-based Sunstone Hotel Investors REIT as a prospectivebuyer, according to a recent stock market research report byMilwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co. Regardless of whetherthat deal goes through, hotel sales in general will continue torise compared with last year's figures, Reay tells GlobeSt.com.

The $631.3 million of California hotel sales in the first sixmonths of this year compared with $247.5 million for the first halfof 2009, according to the Atlas Report. "We see sales volumecontinuing to pick up during the second half of 2010. We could seeindividual transactions doubling the number from 2009," Reaysays.