An affiliate of local investor Mohammad Honarkar bought a Courtyard by Marriott and a Residence Inn Hotel in Palm Desert for $36 million.
The adjacent hotels combine for 281 rooms, which works out to a purchase price of $128,100 per room.
Honarker in 2015 sold a chain of about 60 Verizon-focused cell phone stores called 4G Wireless, then based in Irvine, to Atlantic Street Capital II LP in Stamford, Conn., and has been investing in real estate since that time.
The seller was Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc., a Dallas-based REIT with a $687 million market cap.
Jack Carr and Harry Pflueger, who own Maxim Hotel Brokerage Inc. in Newport Beach, represented Ashford.
Twenty Four Seven Hotels, also in Newport Beach, sourced the deal for the buyer and will manage the hotels.
Renovations will run about $3 million, industry sources said.
