About 250 hotels are in default or foreclosure in California, according to the Irvine consulting firm Atlas Hospitality Group. The situation is dire in Los Angeles County, where 27 hotels are in default, including the 469-room Marriott in downtown L.A., according to a new report by the company. With defaults expected to continue throughout 2009, as many as 500 properties could be in default by year's end, said Atlas President Alan X. Reay. Hotels are facing a double-whammy of a slowdown in the hospitality business and the devastation in the real estate market, and as a result owners can't easily sell their properties if they run into trouble. Only 49 hotels changed hands during the first six months of this year, compared to 100 a year ago, according to Reay, who wrote the report. At the same time, the number of hotels now on the market spiked 53 percent in the first six months of 2009. That's a record low in the number of sales -- with a record high in the number of hotels that are on the block. 'It's really a perfect storm for California hotels right now,' Reay said. 'If we continue at this pace, it will take 10 years to sell all the hotels on the market. And that is if there aren't more hotels that become available for sale.' There are 941 hotels currently on the market, meaning there are more than 19 hotels unsold for every one that is sold. The typical ratio is closer to 2 to 1, Reay said. In order to move forward, there needs to be a complete re-pricing of the market, he said. In Los Angeles County alone, the number of hotel transaction plummeted 91 percent in the first half of 2009. 'If there's any silver lining in this report,' he said, 'It's that this is going to be the best buyer's market in the last 20 to 25 years.' 