The O’Callaghan hotel group recently announced the completion of a major investment in its Dublin hotels. Despite the difficult trading conditions that many hotels in Dublin are currently experiencing this is the second major refurbishment process the group has embarked on in the last three years. In 2009 the group invested some €3.3m on a 21 bedroom extension to its Stephen’s Green hotel in the Irish capital. The O’Callaghan Group is a privately owned Dublin based hotel and apartment group whose properties include the O’Callaghan Alexander, Davenport, Stephen’s Green and Mont Clare hotels.

Bryan O’Callaghan, Head of Group Operations at the company, said that: “This investment is a very significant chapter in the success story of O’Callaghan Hotels Group. In what has been a challenging trading environment in the hospitality sector we have continued to invest in our business to offer our customers a consistently high level of service and care.”

The investment included a refurbishment of the hotel bedrooms in the St Stephen’s Green hotel as well as a major upgrade to the IT installations and energy efficiency the group’s Dublin hotels. The result is improved Wi-Fi systems with increased bandwidth and coverage and high-end Bose speakers with monitors, projectors and microphones in all the conferencing facilities. Mr...Click to read more about Uncategorized

The two concerts that English band Take That will be playing in Dublin this weekend are proving to be  very lucrative for many of the city’s hotels that have been hard-pressed due to the downturn in trade from the on-going economic crisis. Take That are bringing their Progress tour to Dublin and will play two concerts on both Saturday and Sunday night. The concerts will take place in Croke Park and the crowd capacity over the two nights is expected to be somewhere around 165,000 in what may well prove to be the biggest music event of the year in Dublin.

The band has already arrived in Dublin and are reported to have booked the entire top floor of the Four Seasons hotel for themselves and their entourage. Ordinary fans, however, may not have the same luck if they have left it to the last minute to find a hotel room in the city. The Irish Times reported earlier in the week that the hotels.com website was showing that 235 hotels and guesthouses in Dublin had no availability left for Saturday night. Of those that did show availability it was reported that the Gresham had only a couple of rooms and the price was €390 for the night. The...Click to read more about Uncategorized

The five star Four Seasons hotel on Simmonscourt Road in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin, a favourite haunt of developers and speculators during the height of the property boom, was put on the market at the end of last year with the sale being handled by property consultancy CB Richard Ellis. It is thought that CBRE initially targetted investment funds in Europe and the US as well as overseas proprietors of luxury hotels since, because of the depth of the domestic banking crisis and economic downturn, it was considered unlikely an Irish buyer would come forward.

Although no guide price was quoted initially for the 197 bedroom hotel, last year the Irish Times reported market sources as suggesting that the owners would be happy to sell the property for around €30 million. Even if the hotel were to achieve this price it would fall well short of the €50 million loan advanced by Anglo Irish Bank to Nollaig Partnership, the 18-strong syndicate that developed the hotel over ten years ago. Although the hotel is reported to have posted losses of around €2 million in 2009, trading has apparently picked up in the interim in line with various recent international studies of the hotel industry which show that room occupancy...Click to read more about Uncategorized

On Friday the National Asset Management Agency moved to take control of more hotels in Dublin. The Dublin hotels in question were all connected to property developer Paddy Kelly. The Independent reported that Dublin-based NAMA took the action as a deal could not be agreed where assets would be sold off to pay outstanding debts amounting to more than €1.5 billion. The move means that NAMA will now get the benefit of the rental income from the properties in question and eventually the hotels could be sold off to help clear any outstanding debts. The hotels taken over include the Clarion hotels in both the IFSC and at Dublin airport as well as the Clarion Liffey Valley in Dublin 22, the Maldron Hotel Citywest on the Naas Road, the Days Inn on Talbot Street and the Marriott in Ashbourne.

The hotels have over 1,000 members of staff on their rotas and will continue to trade as the move by NAMA is related mainly to the properties themselves rather than actual the management of the hotels. As Frankie Whelehan, who looks after the four Clarion properties put it, “The only thing this means is that someone else is getting the rent.” The receiver from KPMG also said...Click to read more about Uncategorized

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has, according to the Irish Times, emerged as the company most likely to acquire the almost-completed five star Grand Canal Square Hotel in the south docklands area of Dublin. Peter Norman of Hyatt Hotel Corporation is quoted as saying that the hotel was one of a number of possibilities that the group was currently looking at in Dublin. However, talks had not yet advanced to a stage which would allow the group to announce that they had concluded a deal to acquire one of the newest hotels in Dublin. Should Hyatt eventually emerge as the new owner of the hotel it could represent a welcome lift to the hotel and tourism sector at a time when there is a surplus of hotels not only in Dublin but in many other parts of Ireland as well.

The 169-bedroom hotel, which is located beside the Grand Canal Theatre, was almost brought to completion over two years ago but the company behind the development, Birchford Investments, is reported to have notched up losses of some €18 million in 2009 and had difficulty raising further finance to finish the project. The hotel is expected to sell for somewhere between €20 and €25 million, although fitting the hotel...Click to read more about Uncategorized