Just about everyone agrees 2010 was a better year for the hotel industry than was ’09. Occupancy, rates and RevPAR numbers finally went from contraction to growth, and while many properties are in varying degrees of financial distress, the market for transactions is beginning to show some life.

And the industry continued to make news with new brands introduced, acquisitions pursued and completed and new marketing schemes and alliances unveiled. Yesterday we looked at five of the biggest stories of the year. Today, we feature the five biggest:

5. Cosmopolitan Opens, Joins Autograph Collection and More Vegas Collaborations Follow. Last January, Marriott detailed plans for its new Autograph Collection. Although the lofty goals mentioned then haven’t been reached yet, the soft brand made headlines on more than one occasion this year. Most notable was news that the new Cosmopolitan casino-resort in Las Vegas would join the collection. Speaking of which, the stunning new property opened earlier this month to rave reviews on the Vegas Strip. It’s likely the last mega-resort to open there for the foreseeable future after the recent downturn and many challenges Sin City has faced. As a result of the recession, other Vegas casinos also joined forces with hotel companies to try and broaden their business. Wyndham announced it would franchise the Planet Hollywood brand. A couple months later, IHG announced a deal with Las Vegas Sands that connects The Venetian and The Palazzo to IHG’s distribution network.

Kimpton Hotels sold the 201-room Hotel Monaco in San Francisco to LaSalle Hotel Properties for $68.5 million earlier this year, helping set off a feeding frenzy of activity among trophy assets in major markets.

4. Transactions Return in Big Way. Whether the “buying opportunity of a lifetime” has come and gone or never even arrived is hard to say, but several big-ticket transactions made headlines throughout the year. It was mostly public REITs buying trophy assets in gateway cities, like LaSalle Hotel Properties’ $95-million acquisition of the Sofitel Lafayette Square in Philadelphia and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust’s $74-mlllion purchase of the Hotel Monaco in Washington DC. Jones Lang LaSalle, which tracks asset sales of $10 million and higher, projected $6.5 billion in transactions this year compared to just $2.2 billion a year ago. Many smaller properties also traded, and distress was certainly a factor in many of the deals. Ultimately, though, it was the rebound of the industry through occupancy and RevPAR and continued forecasts for more improvement that fueled confidence in both buyers and sellers.

3. Carlson Gets Ambitious. In March, CEO Hubert Joly announced ‘Ambition 2015,’ an aggressive plan to grow and reshape the company and all its hotel brands. Headlining the plan was a makeover of the flagship Radisson chain in North America. Admitting Radisson needed a new and more consistent look; Carlson took the lead from its European partner, Rezidor, and unveiled new design and service standards and introduced the upper-upscale Radisson Blu concept for North America. Carlson will invest up to $700 million in developing flagship locations of Radisson in the U.S. (Chicago and Minneapolis are the first two). Also during the year, Carlson became the majority shareholder of Rezidor and sold the Regent luxury hotel business to Formosa International Hotels Corp.

2. Branson, Schrager and More Launch Lifestyle Brands. The industry must be on the rebound. After an almost two-year hiatus from any new brand launches, plans for several have been announced this year, including those from serious players like Richard Branson and Ian Schrager. At the Lodging Conference, Virgin Hotels unveiled its plan to create a chain of hip four-star lifestyle properties using Virgin’s DNA of high style and service-oriented consumer products. Earlier this month, Schrager, the boutique hotel pioneer who founded Morgans Hotel Group, sold his stake in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park Hotel and announced plans to launch two new lifestyle brands. Schrager and Branson weren’t alone. B Hotels & Resorts and Advaya Hospitality, John Russell’s latest venture, also announced plans for new lifestyle brands.

Attendees packed any session at almost every event to hear about how to avoid, survive and take advantage of distress. This example was at the Midwest Lodging Investors Summit in Chicago.

1. Distress, Need We Say More? After more than a year of dismal operating results and a near complete freezing of all credit, many, if not most, owners found themselves in challenging financial situations with properties mortgaged for more than they were worth. With owners unable to pay debt service, lenders “extended and pretended” rather than write down loans or foreclose. Special servicers emerged as key players in the industry as CMBS loans defaulted with more on the horizon. Asset managers and consultants created distress divisions and programs to capitalize on the growing problem. Buyers built war chests and waited to purchase properties expected to go for cents on the dollar. Brokers scrambled to get troubled owners and opportunistic buyers to meet in the middle. General managers and their quickly dwindling staffs were forced to do more with less to cut expenses. Brand companies looked the other way as payments from franchisees were missed and renovations were put on hold. We could go on. Distress was the topic of every industry event: How to avoid it, how to overcome it and how to take advantage of it. There is no doubt distress was the word of the year in the hotel industry. The good news is that year is almost over.