US hotel chain files for bankruptcy

In one of the biggest real-estate bankruptcies in the current slump, the Extended Stay Hotels chain filed for Chapter 11 protection on Monday, collapsing under the debt from its $8bn top-of-the-market buyout by Lightstone Group in 2007, reports the WSJ. Creditors include some key US banks and possibly US taxpayers, one of the lenders was Bear Stearns, whose stake was assumed by the Fed after Bear collapsed in March 2008.