Stockholders' Deficiency (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
Stockholders' Deficiency (Details) (USD $)	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Jun. 23, 2009 Series B Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock	Jun. 30, 2009 Series B Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Series B Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Series B Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock Prior to July 15, 2014	Dec. 31, 2012 Series B Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock After July 15, 2014	Mar. 31, 2010 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Common Stock	Oct. 31, 2010 Common Stock Warrants	Oct. 31, 2010 Common Stock Warrants Maximum
Share holders' equity
Preferred stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Number of preferred stock authorized to sell under the purchase agreement (in shares)	5,000,000	5,000,000
Series B Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock, dividend rate (as a percent)	10.00%	10.00%
Liquidation preference (in dollars per share)	$ 1,000	$ 1,000
Preferred stock issued (in shares)	57,500	57,500
Aggregate liquidation preference of the preferred stock sold	$ 50,516,000	$ 57,266,000
Offering and related costs										1,200,000
Maximum dividend payments in a year				5,750,000			5,750,000
Preferred stock, additional conversion rate (as a percent)							10.00%
Unpaid dividends							2,700,000
Deferred dividend							2,700,000
Initial conversion rate of preferred stock						264.5503
Initial conversion price (in dollars per share)						$ 3.78
Preferred stock conversion premium (as a percent)					10.00%
Closing bid price of common stock (in dollars per share)					$ 3.43					$ 6.00
Percentage of the conversion price that the closing price of the entity's common stock must exceed in order to convert the preferred stock								150.00%	125.00%
Number of days within a period of 30 consecutive trading days during which the closing price of the entity's common stock must exceed the specified percentage of the conversion price in order to convert the preferred stock								20 days	20 days
Number of consecutive trading days during which the closing price of the entity's common stock must exceed the specified percentage of the conversion price for at least 20 days in order to convert the preferred stock								30 days	30 days
Percentage of common stock market price								97.50%
Common Stock
Number of shares of common stock sold to underwriter for resale to public										2,160,000
Common stock par value per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ 0.01								$ 0.01
Common stock price per share (in dollars per share)					$ 3.43					$ 6.00
Underwriting discount for sale of common stock (in dollars per share)										$ 0.36
Additional shares of common stock purchased by underwriter to cover overallotment										324,000
Aggregate common stock sold (in shares)										2,484,000	2,484,000
Aggregate value of common stock sold			13,658,000								25,000
Aggregate value of common stock sold										14,900,000
Net proceeds from issuance of common stock			13,658,000							13,700,000
Offering and related costs, common stock										1,200,000
Warrants
Right to purchase common stock under warrant (in shares)													25,000
Exercise price (in dollars per share)												$ 3.75
Proceeds from issuance of stock warrants			$ 46,000									$ 46,000

LODGENET INTERACTIVE CORP 10-K