Blackstone Group LP agreed to sell Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. to China\u2019s Anbang Insurance Group Co. for about $6.5 billion, just three months after it purchased the U.S. luxury-resort company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.<\/p>\n The price is about $450 million more than Blackstone paid for Strategic in December. The New York-based private equity firm had been planning to sell individual properties in the portfolio before Anbang made a pre-emptive offer for the entire company, said the people, who asked not to be named because the transaction is private.<\/p>\n Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for Blackstone, declined to comment, as did Philip Yee, a managing director at Anbang\u2019s North American unit.<\/p>\n The transaction marks a deeper push into U.S. hotels for Beijing-based Anbang, which last year\u00a0purchased<\/a>\u00a0New York\u2019s landmark Waldorf Astoria. It would rank as the largest U.S. real estate purchase by a buyer from mainland China, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Strategic owns 16 properties across the U.S., including the Four Seasons resorts in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Ritz-Carltons in Half Moon Bay and Laguna Niguel, California; San Diego\u2019s Hotel del Coronado; and Manhattan\u2019s JW Marriott Essex House.<\/p>\n Luxury and ultra-luxury properties have been among the most sought-after lodging types in recent years, partly because their locations and construction costs make them hard to replace. Demand for trophy hotels remains strong even as the U.S. lodging industry faces the\u00a0latter stages<\/a>\u00a0of a six-year recovery, with slowing growth in room rates and occupancy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n