Gresham Hotel Group said yesterday that it had received approaches in relation to a number of its properties, including its three west coast hotels, since March.
Chairman Mr Harvey Soning told the annual meeting that the board would examine and explore any serious approaches while safeguarding shareholder and staff interests.
Overseeing his first annual meeting since taking on the role of chairman, he outlined the company's new strategy to shareholders. It involves concentrating on the group's city-centre hotels and developing clusters of properties, which has fuelled speculation that it may sell its hotels in Galway, Limerick and Killarney.
Mr Soning said the company was particularly interested in developing its presence in Dublin, where "we would like to have another substantial hotel if the price was right".
Gresham also has an appetite for further expansion in London and is interested in some European cities to which Aer Lingus flies, according to Mr Soning.
The company is also looking at ways of enhancing the Gresham brand in the international market through a marketing alliance with a larger hotel brand, such as Marriott or Hilton.
"Tying up with a larger brand is something that is on the agenda for the coming months," said chief executive Mr Patrick Coyle.
Meanwhile, Gresham is also attempting to extract greater value from excess land it owns in Limerick and Killarney.
In Limerick, it has applied for planning permission for 50 residential units, 30 upmarket apartments and 20 duplex units on land adjacent to its hotel.
The Killarney application was still "fluid", Mr Coyle said, but was likely to involve a mix of development, including holiday homes and residential apartments.
Mr Soning told shareholders that market conditions remained challenging, with long-haul markets such as the US, Canada and Australia most adversely affected by the recent conflict in Iraq and the outbreak of the SARS virus.
"I can confirm that trading in the first quarter of the year is marginally ahead of the same period last year.
"However, I would stress that the reduced visibility within the market still persists," he said.
Mr Coyle said that, while occupancy levels were not the issue, with the latest figures showing an occupancy rate of 74 per cent, the pressure was on rates.
The big imponderable was the Special Olympics in June but 7,000-8,000 visitors were now expected in connection with the event compared with the original 40,000, he said.
The hotel group also said that Mr Jim O'Leary, who lectures in economics at NUI Maynooth and formerly worked as chief economist with Davy Stockbrokers, has joined the board.
