HOST Hotels & Resorts Inc, the owner of 130 properties in the United States and Europe, said yesterday that first-quarter profit fell after it sold hotels last year.

Net income dropped to US$61 million, or 11 US cents a share, from US$187 million, or 35 US cents, a year earlier, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said in a statement distributed by PR Newswire.

Funds from operations, a measure of cash flow used by real-estate investment trusts, rose 10 percent to 33 US cents a share, exceeding analysts' estimates, Bloomberg News reported.

Host owns properties managed by Marriott, Sheraton and Hyatt that have seen occupancy fall with a slowdown in corporate and leisure travel and a slumping economy. US revenue per available room, a measure of rates and occupancy, rose 2.7 percent this year through April 12, compared with a growth rate of 5.7 percent for 2007, according to Smith Travel Research in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

"The US consumer is getting squeezed on all fronts," said David Loeb, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co in Madison, Wisconsin, who recommends holding the shares. "Incomes are not rising, housing costs are going up and food and energy costs are rampant."

Host shares fell 2.3 percent to US$16.49 on Tuesday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.