The booming property market was a major factor behind the Jurys decision, writes Arthur Beesley.
In their heyday, the Jurys Doyle hotels in Ballsbridge were host to figures as prominent in the global arena as Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan.
Home to the Jurys cabaret and the scene of many a party after big matches in Lansdowne Road, the hotels seemed for a couple of generations to be at the centre of social life in Dublin. No longer.
With rivals such as the Four Seasons and Merrion hotels setting the pace at the luxury end of the market, heads of state and celebrities seem to stay elsewhere these days.
But the group has enjoyed considerable success with the Jurys Inn brand, a much-copied model that offers fewer frills but lower prices. After decades as the shining star of the Irish hotel business, the group now sees its future in the middle of the market and just below the top.
The sale of five acres in Ballsbridge could yield in excess of €160 million for the group, which it will use to develop or acquire new four-star hotels and develop new Jurys Inns, most likely in Britain. The landmark Jurys Ballsbridge hotel will be knocked to the ground, as will the Towers and the Berkeley Court. However, the group will build a new hotel on the site of the Berkeley Court. That this five-star hotel will be replaced with a four-star building is a mark of the group's move away from the top end of the market.
In addition to swisher competition in Ballsbridge and the city centre, the group's board was confronted with three issues as it reviewed its options for the Ballsbridge site, one of the most prestigious in Dublin.
The first was the booming property market, a factor that meant the argument for keeping the three hotels in business was countered by the value they would realise on the property market.
This was a major factor in the unsolicited approaches to buy the entire group in recent weeks from the consortium that now owns the Gresham group. After rejecting a second approach this week, Jurys Doyle had no option but to set out its plans to realise value from the Ballsbridge site.
Another issue facing the group was that the buildings themselves did not easily lend themselves to redevelopment.
This is particularly so in the case of the low-rise Jurys Ballsbridge, which dates from the 1960s and where much valuable space is wasted on car-parking. Jurys Doyle could not build more rooms upward, or build underground parking, without razing the entire building.
Yet more difficulty centred on "work practices", with Jurys Doyle constrained by a clear demarcation between the work of bar staff, for example, and that of waiting staff. While other hotel groups can have the same staff work bar and restaurant shifts, Jurys Doyle was tied into contracts that did not embrace this flexibility.
In addition, Jurys Doyle faces new competition for conference business outside the city centre at locations such as the Citywest Hotel. The Ballsbridge hotels also faced internal competition from the group's Burlington hotel only down the road.
Jurys Doyle chief executive Pat McCann said there was no doubt that a "sizeable number of people" from its 410 full-time and 230 part-time casual staff at Ballsbridge are facing redundancy .
However, he said some will be offered redeployment in the group at a new four-star hotel in Croke Park, due to open next September.
For many in Dublin, the Coffee Dock at Jurys Ballsbridge was where many a good night out came to an end.
That tradition will come to an end itself when the hotel closes its doors for the last time early in 2007.