Pacific Valley Investors president Wayne Levenfeld tellsGlobeSt.com that his company and partners acquired both hotels inthe 1990s from lenders. "[The sale] was an opportunity for partners[in the assets] who have gotten to a stage in their life wherethey'd rather cash out," he says, declining to reveal the saleprice.

The Best Western Truckee Tahoe Inn is located minutes from LakeTahoe and within 15 miles of several different ski areas. TheHoliday Inn Express Mill Valley-Sausalito is located in MarinCounty, just 10 minutes north of San Francisco. The hotel'sneighbor is Frantoio Ristorante, the only restaurant in the US withan in-house state-of-the-art olive oil production facility.

Larkspur Hospitality owns and operates 23 hotels in California,Washington and Oregon, one quarter of which have been acquired inthe past several months. Larkspur president Karl Hoagland did notreturn a phone call seeking comment.