There are now two large hotels for sale in Limerick with the decision this week by the Jurys Inn Hotel Group to seek a buyer for its high-profile budget hotel in the city centre.
John Hughes of CBRE is quoting in the region of €3 million for the three-star, 151-bedroom hotel which has been trading since 1997.
The announcement of the planned sale comes a week after Kirsty Rothwell of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald launched a marketing campaign for the Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa about 3km from the city on the Limerick-Shannon Road.
The four-star, 154-bedroom hotel, which is expected to make about €4 million, was built in 1970 and extensively renovated in 2002.
Restructuring
A spokesperson for Jurys Inn said that after receiving expressions of interest it had been decided to offer the Limerick hotel for sale as a going concern. The hotel would continue to trade as normal during the sales process and it would be "business as usual for the hotel's guests and staff."
There are no plans to sell any other hotels in the Jurys Inn group which has 32 hotels in Ireland, the UK and the Czech Republic. Earlier this year, the hotel chain completed a financial restructuring that resulted in its lenders taking a write-down on loans of about €351 million.
Additional investors were also brought on board with new equity of £120 million (€142 million) involved. The hotel chain is owned by a group of mainly overseas institutional investors led by the Oman Investment Fund.
The Limerick hotel occupies a commanding trading position at the junction of Lower Mallow Street and Dock Road overlooking the river Shannon.
Thomond Park
The area is to undergo major improvements with the decision by the city council to spend €5 million on upgrading the waterside location by providing boardwalks along the river, new pedestrian areas, seating and landscaping.
Jurys Inn is within 10 minutes' walk of the Munster rugby headquarters at Thomond Park and also benefits from a range of third-level colleges including the University of Limerick and the Mary Immaculate College.
The hotel appeals to a large number of visitors with its attractive bed and breakfast room rates, currently between €44 and €64 per night. Bedrooms in the six-storey building are designed for twin, double and triple occupancy, with some of the rooms offering interconnecting options.
There is a meeting room on the ground floor to accommodate 40 delegates and two passenger lifts serving the various floors. There is a restaurant and bar on the ground floor.
Meanwhile, Morrisseys is also quoting €3 million for the well-known Spanish Arch Hotel in Galway's busy Quay Street which is to be sold on the instructions of receiver Aiden Murphy of Crowe Horwath.
The highly-profitable business includes a successful bar at street level, a commercial kitchen on the first floor and 20 bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms on the upper floors. The various floors are serviced by a five-person passenger lift.
The Spanish Arch, like many other hotels in Galway, benefits from year-round tourism.
