General	12 Months Ended
General	Dec. 31, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
General	RLJ Lodging Trust (the "Company") was formed as a Maryland real estate investment trust ("REIT") on January 31, 2011. The Company is a self-advised and self-administered REIT that acquires primarily premium-branded, high-margin, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The Company elected to be taxed as a REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, commencing with its taxable year ended December 31, 2011. Substantially all of the Company’s assets and liabilities are held by, and all of its operations are conducted through, RLJ Lodging Trust, L.P. (the "Operating Partnership"). The Company is the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership. As of December 31, 2020, there were 165,775,045 units of limited partnership interest in the Operating Partnership (“OP units”) outstanding and the Company owned, through a combination of direct and indirect interests, 99.5% of the outstanding OP units. As of December 31, 2020, the Company owned 103 hotel properties with approximately 22,700 rooms, located in 23 states and the District of Columbia. The Company, through wholly-owned subsidiaries, owned a 100% interest in 99 of its hotel properties, a 98.3% controlling interest in the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel New York City, a 95.0% controlling interest in The Knickerbocker, and 50% interests in entities owning two hotel properties. The Company consolidates its real estate interests in the 101 hotel properties in which it holds a controlling financial interest, and the Company records the real estate interests in the two hotels in which it holds an indirect 50% interest using the equity method of accounting. The Company leases 102 of the 103 hotel properties to its taxable REIT subsidiaries ("TRS"), of which the Company owns a controlling financial interest. COVID-19 The global outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) and the public health measures that have been undertaken in response have had, and will likely continue to have, a material adverse impact on the Company's financial results and liquidity, and such adverse impact may continue well beyond the containment of such outbreak and vaccination distribution. Since the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to impact our operations will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain, the Company cannot estimate the impact on its business, financial condition or near- or longer-term financial or operational results with reasonable certainty. Given the impact on lodging demand, the Company has taken various actions to help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operating results and to preserve liquidity. Operational measures the Company has taken include: •Suspension of Hotel Operations: The Company had previously announced the suspension of operations at 57 of its hotel properties. As government mandated stay-in-place restrictions were lifted, the Company developed a framework to open the suspended hotels. The Company has reopened 50 of its hotel properties as of December 31, 2020, and subsequent to the end of the year has reopened 2 hotel properties. The Company continues to evaluate reopening the remaining 5 suspended hotel properties based on market conditions. The remaining suspended hotel properties are generally located within the central business districts of New York City and San Francisco, or are part of a cluster where the Company owns multiple hotels in the same immediate area. In the markets where stay-in-place restrictions are reinstated, the Company would consider temporarily re-suspending hotel operations where demand is inadequate. •Cost Containment Initiatives: The Company continues to operate with reduced operating expenses by implementing stringent operational cost containment measures. These measures include significantly reduced staffing, reduced energy costs, elimination of non-essential amenities and services and the closure of several floors and most food and beverage outlets at properties that remain open. •Capital Investment Reduction: The Company reduced its 2020 capital expenditure program by deferring all capital investments, other than completing projects that were substantially underway and nearing completion. •Return on Investment ("ROI") Project Suspensions: The Company suspended most of the 2020 ROI projects. In addition, the Company has taken aggressive actions to increase liquidity and preserve cash at the corporate level including: •Common Stock Dividend: The Company’s board of trustees authorized the first, second, third and fourth quarter common cash dividends of $0.01 per common share, which reflects a significant reduction compared to the Company's dividend payout prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. •Share Repurchase: The Company suspended all repurchases of its common shares and Series A Preferred Shares (defined below), as applicable. •Increased Liquidity: The Company enhanced its liquidity position by drawing $400.0 million on its $600.0 million revolving credit facility. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had approximately $934.8 million of cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash reserves.