investments may also have the potential risk of impasses on decisions, such as a sale, because neither we nor the partner or co-venturer would have full control over the partnership or joint venture. Disputes between us and partners or co-venturers may result in litigation or arbitration that would increase our expenses and prevent our officers and/or trustees from focusing their time and effort on our business. Consequently, actions by, or disputes with, partners or co-venturers might result in subjecting properties owned by the partnership or joint venture to additional risk. In addition, we may in certain circumstances be liable for the actions of our third-party partners or co-venturers.
We may be subject to unknown or contingent liabilities related to recently sold or acquired hotels, as well as hotels we may sell or acquire in the future.
Our recently sold or acquired hotels, as well as hotels we may sell or acquire in the future, may be subject to unknown or contingent liabilities for which we may be liable to the buyers or for which we may have no recourse, or only limited recourse, against the sellers. In general, the representations and warranties provided under our transaction agreements related to the sale or purchase of a hotel may survive for a defined period of time after the completion of the transaction. Furthermore, indemnification under such agreements may be limited and subject to various materiality thresholds, a significant deductible, or an aggregate cap on losses. As a result, we may be obligated to reimburse buyers for their losses or be unable to recover losses due to breaches by sellers of their representations and warranties. In addition, the total amount of costs and expenses that may be incurred with respect to the unknown or contingent liabilities may exceed our expectations, and we may experience other unanticipated adverse effects, all of which could adversely affect our operating results and cash flows.
We may seek to acquire a portfolio of hotels or a company, which could present more risks to our business and financial results than the acquisition of a single hotel.
We have acquired in the past, and may acquire in the future, multiple hotels in single transactions. We may also seek to acquire companies that own hotels. Multiple hotel and company acquisitions are generally more complex than single hotel acquisitions and, as a result, the risk that the transaction may not be completed is greater. These acquisitions may also result in our owning hotels in new markets, which places additional demands on our ability to actively asset manage the hotels. In addition, we may be required by a seller to purchase a group of hotels as a portfolio, even though one or more of the hotels in the portfolio do not meet our investment criteria. In those events, we expect to attempt to sell the hotels that do not meet our investment criteria but may not be able to do so on acceptable terms, or if successful, the sales may be recharacterized by the IRS as dealer sales and subject to a 100% “prohibited transactions” tax on any gain. These hotels may harm our operating results if they operate below our underwriting or if we sell them at a loss. Also, a portfolio of hotels may be more difficult to integrate with our existing hotels than a single hotel, may strain our management resources, and may make it more difficult to find one or more management companies to operate the hotels. Any of these risks could harm our operating results.
The sale of a hotel or portfolio of hotels is typically subject to contingencies, risks and uncertainties, any of which may cause us to be unsuccessful in completing the disposition.
As part of our ongoing portfolio management strategy, on an opportunistic basis, we may selectively sell hotel properties that we believe no longer meet our ownership criteria, are unlikely to offer long-term returns in excess of our cost of capital, will achieve a sale price in excess of our internal valuation, or that have high risk relative to their anticipated returns. We may not be successful in completing the sale of a hotel or portfolio of hotels, which may negatively impact our business strategy. Hotel sales are typically subject to customary risks and uncertainties. In addition, there may be contingencies related to, among other items, seller financing, franchise agreements, ground leases and other agreements. As such, we can offer no assurances as to whether any closing conditions will be satisfied on a timely basis or at all, or whether the closing of a sale will fail to occur for these or any other reasons.
The illiquidity of real estate investments and the lack of alternative uses of hotel properties could significantly limit our ability to respond to adverse changes in the performance of our hotels and harm our financial condition.
Because commercial real estate investments are relatively illiquid, our ability to promptly sell one or more of our hotels in response to changing economic, financial, and investment conditions is limited. The real estate market, including the market for our hotels, is affected by many factors, such as general economic conditions, availability of financing, interest rates, and other factors, including supply and demand, that are beyond our control. We may not be able to sell any of our hotels on favorable terms. If we elect to sell a hotel, it may take a long time to find a willing purchaser and to close the sale of a hotel. Should we sell a hotel during the term of its management agreement, we may have to pay termination fees to the applicable management company, which payment could be substantial.
In addition, hotels may not be readily converted to alternative uses if they were to become unprofitable due to competition, age of improvements, decreased demand or other factors. The conversion of a hotel to alternative uses would also generally require