NEW YORK — Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has spent about $185 million to acquire a stake in Canadian luxury hotel operator Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. and plans to push the hotel company's management to improve its share price through a sale of the entire business or in individual properties.

Fairmont operates the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island and the Fairmont Kea Lani Maui.

Icahn announced his stake in Fairmont — 6.7 million shares, or about 9.3 percent — in documents filed with regulators on Monday. News of Icahn's purchase spurred a flurry of activity in Fairmont shares, with volume of 3.66 million shares by yesterday afternoon, about six times its normal volume.

Fairmont shares traded as high as $37.10 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, above a 52-week high of $35.98. They later retreated, rising 72 cents, 2 percent, to close at $36.29.

Fairmont operates 88 hotels geared to the affluent. The company did not return calls yesterday regarding Icahn's stake.

In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Icahn said he plans to "encourage" Fairmont to pursue strategic alternatives to maximize the company's value. Those alternatives include the sale of the entire company or the sale of its hotels. The sales' proceeds could be distributed to shareholders through a dividend or stock buyback, according to a report published by analysts at JP Morgan Chase in response to Icahn's announcement.

According to regulatory documents, Icahn purchased shares in the hotel chain on Aug. 24 and continued buying through this week.

Icahn's filing said he plans to meet with Fairmont executives to discuss his ideas and said he might try to get a seat on Fairmont's board.

Icahn is known for taking stakes in companies and then agitating for change, often receiving a large payout in the process.

Earlier this year he dropped a bid to sit on the board of Kerr-McGee Corp. after the energy company agreed to divest of its chemical business and spend $4 billion to buy back a large number of its own shares. Icahn is also wrangling with Time Warner Inc. management over changes to boost shareholder value.

Last month, Raymond James analyst Gail Mifsud issued a "strong buy" rating on Fairmont in a report recommending the hotelier's stock to long-term investors amid what she termed as "the recovery in the Canadian lodging industry."

Mifsud, who set a target price of $40 for the company's stock in that Oct. 27 report, said the company's shares are trading at a discount to the underlying net asset value.