Hotel & Catering Review Top 20 by Jemma Publications

T H E G O L D L I S T 2 0 1 0 : T his Y ear ’ s G old M edal AWA R D S W I N N E R S & F I N A L I S T S

SEPTEMBER 2010

The Top 20

2010 Big Movers in this Year’s Top Hotel Operators

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COVER STORY

The Heritage Portlaoise and the Maldron Hotel Parnell Square, operated by Dalata, Ireland’s largest hotel operating group.

Dalata HITS THE TOP

The group takes the lead in Hotel & Catering Review’s table of Top 20 Hotel Operating Groups. Report by SARAH GRENNAN.

alata, the group run by former Jurys Doyle chief Pat McCann, is now the largest hotel operator in Ireland, leapfrogging past The Rezidor Hotel Group, which has occupied the pole position for the last two years. Dalata assumes the number one spot in Hotel & Catering Review’s fifth annual table of Ireland’s Top 20 Operating Hotel Groups, ascending to the top this year after securing a raft of new management contracts under its Dalata Management Services division. With 2,980 hotel rooms under management in Ireland, Dalata is now more than 900 rooms ahead of its nearest competitor on the list, Rezidor, whose room and hotel numbers remain constant with last year’s figures (2,065). Ranking hotel groups by room numbers to gain a clearer picture of size, Hotel & Catering Review only factors hotels operated directly by hotel groups, and does not include franchised properties or marketing affiliations. It’s been a dramatic year for the Irish hotel industry since we compiled our last table of Top 20 Hotel Groups (see HCR September 2009). When we signed off last year’s list there were 926 hotels in the Republic of Ireland and 60,812 hotel rooms. As we go to press in September 2010 there are currently 906 hotels trading in the 26 counties, with a total of 60,318 rooms, suggesting that it is the smaller hotels, and not the large scale operators, which have closed

RANK

GROUP

ROOMS

HOTELS

STARS

2009 RANKING

Dalata Management Services

2980

3, 4

The Rezidor Hotel Group

2065

3, 4, 5

Choice Hotels Ireland

1746

3, 4

Moran Hotel Group

1653

3, 4

Tifco

1608

3, 4

Jurys Inns

1274

Carlton Hotel Group

1215

3, 4

Hilton Hotels Corporation

884

4, 5

Lynch Hotel Group

869

Irish Court Hotels

855

Travelodge Ireland

841

White’s Hotel Group

804

Hastings Hotel Group

773

4, 5

Cara Hotels

741

Brennan Hotels

666

3, 4

Cordia Hotel Group

664

3, 4

The Gleneagle Hotel Group

658

3, 4

The Doyle Collection

618

4, 5

Brian McEniff Hotels

609

PREM Group

596

3, 4

20 Returning entrant

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NEWS

Radisson Blu Hotel Belfast Radisson Blu St Helen’s Hotel, Dublin

their doors in the last 12 months. The companies listed on the hotel table who operate in the Republic (18), account for a 34% share of the market with 20,681 rooms between them, spread over their combined 144 hotels. The biggest impact on this year’s Top 20 table is the developments in the Mansfield Group, whose hotels in Citywest, Saggart and Finnstown House, Lucan, Co Dublin were seized by lenders earlier this year. As Jim Mansfield’s company is no longer in control of the hotels and operating them directly, we have deleted the group from the table this year. Receiver Martin Ferris of Ferris & Associates has appointed Dalata Management Services to run both properties and it is this deal which has boosted Dalata’s room numbers substantially from the 2,030 rooms it operated last year. Bewleys Hotel Dublin Airport As well as the 774 bedroom Citywest Hotel & Golf Resort and the 82-room Finnstown House Hotel, Dalata has also been appointed by receivers to manage the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel which contains 110 rooms. The group continues to operate the 98-room Heritage Golf & Spa Resort in Killenard, which was already on its books when lenders took control of the hotel from its owners earlier in the summer. Other hotels operated by Dalata Management Services include the three star Belvedere Hotel in Dublin (92 rooms); the Clayton Hotel, Galway (196); Diamond The Red Cow Moran Hotel, Dublin Coast Hotel, Enniscrone (89); and White’s of Wexford (157). The Maldron Hotel chain, which Pat McCann launched following his 2007 deal with Davy Private Clients to buy the Quality and Comfort Inn leaseholds from Choice Hotels Ireland, gives Dalata 1,381 rooms spread across 10 hotels in Dublin (5), Cork, Galway, Limerick, Portlaoise and Wexford. The Rezidor Hotel Group, the parent company of the Radisson Blu and Park Inn brands, has dropped to second place on this year’s table, maintaining the 2,065 rooms it controls across 13 hotels on the island of Ireland. As well as the Radisson Blu Hotels Rezidor operates in Cavan, Cork (2), Dublin (3), Galway, Letterkenny, Limerick and Sligo (total rooms, 1,659), the group operates the Park Inn, Shannon (114) in the Republic, one of three former Great Southern Hotels the group was appointed to manage in 2007 (the others being Radisson Blu Dublin Airport and Cork Airport). In Northern Ireland, Rezidor operates an additional 265 rooms – Radisson Blu Hotel, Belfast (120) and Park Inn Belfast (145). The Radisson Blu Hotels in Athlone and Limavady are not included in our figures as these are franchised properties. Following The Rezidor Hotel Group is another former number one on our Top 20 Hotels table, Choice Hotels Ireland, the group led by Frankie Whelehan which relinquished the top spot in 2008 when it sold its Quality and Comfort Inns division to Dalata. Choice Hotels Ireland’s numbers have been boosted by this year’s launch of the new Gibson Hotel in Harry Crosbie’s Point Village, Dublin, which, considering its location next to the 02 is aptly named after the Gibson guitar. The hotel’s 252 rooms swell Choice’s room numbers to 1,746. The remaining rooms span over 8

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COVER STORY

The Carlton Millrace Hotel, Bunclody

The C Spa at the Carlton Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe

the Clarion brand’s seven hotels in Dublin (3), Limerick (2), Cork and Sligo, as well as the 165-room, four star Carton House Hotel in Maynooth, Co Kildare, which has been making a splash in the sports market with its new training facilities over the last year which have attracted Real Madrid, Villa Real, and a number of rugby, soccer and GAA teams. Choice’s progression this year sees The Moran & Bewleys Hotel Group take a step back down to fourth position. The group, which was one of three companies on this year’s Top 20 table to be nominated for this month’s Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Hotel Groups, sponsored by Ireland.com, operates six hotels and 1,653 rooms in Ireland under the Bewleys (four Dublin hotels, 1,421 rooms) and Moran (Red Cow, Dublin-123 and Silver Springs, Cork-109) brands. The group, which expanded considerably when the Moran family bought the Bewleys chain from Bert Allen in 2007 in a deal rumoured to be in the region of e700m, also owns and operates four hotels in the UK – the Crown Moran and Chiswick Moran in London (total 244 rooms) and the Bewleys Hotels in Leeds and Manchester Airport (699 combined). While Moran & Bewleys is the fourth largest hotel operator on the island, the group is Ireland’s largest hotel owner. Conrad Dublin Hilton Belfast Chasing Moran’s tail is Tifco, another company which has hoovered up a number of new management contracts in the recession. Built on the solid foundation of Clontarf Castle, the four star, 111-bedroom hotel which Tifco owns and operates in Dublin 3, the group has expanded over recent years to include Crowne Plaza operations in Northwood and Blanchardstown in Dublin and Dundalk (combined 522 rooms), three hotels which Tifco owns and operates directly under the Crowne Plaza brand from the Intercontinental Hotels Group. Another hotel in the

Leaders of the Pack

Ireland’s Largest Hotel Groups 2006-2010 2006: Choice Hotels Ireland 2007: Choice Hotels Ireland 2008: The Rezidor Hotel Group 2009: The Rezidor Hotel Group 2010: Dalata

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SURVEYS Northwood Park in Santry, the 114-bedroom Holiday Inn Express, gives the group a second property close to Dublin Airport. Tifco, which was also nominated as a finalist in the Hotel Groups category at this month’s Gold Medal Awards, has expanded its portfolio with a raft of new contracts picked up in the heat of the downturn, the most recent of which is the 126-room Johnstown House Hotel & Spa in Enfield, Co Meath which, until last year, was operated under the Marriott brand. The hotel, which was part of John Sweeney’s Black Shore hotel portfolio, was recently handed to Tifco to operate by receivers. Tifco has also picked up contracts from Sweeney’s fellow Shelbourne Hotel investor, Bernard McNamara, whose gamble on the landmark Burlington Hotel site in Dublin 4 did not pay off when he failed to secure planning permission for apartments on the site in the dying days of the Celtic Tiger. The contract to operate The Burlington handsomely boosts Tifco’s room count, adding an additional 501 rooms to the portfolio, and the group also runs fellow McNamara controlled properties, the avant-garde Cork International Airport Hotel (150 rooms) and the 84-room Kerry resort, Parknasilla, which McNamara purchased during the boom in the State sale of the Great Southern Hotel Group. Sixth on our list, and holding the same position as last year, is the Jurys Inn Group, which operates seven hotels and 1,274 rooms across the island, in Dublin (3), Cork, Galway, Limerick and Belfast. The group has continued its expansion overseas, with an impressive 6,050 rooms spread across 24 hotels in the UK and one in Prague. The group opened seven new hotels last year and one this year, in Bradford, adding more than 1,100 rooms to the portfolio and creating 700 additional jobs. While on the expansion trail, the group has also invested in existing stock, launching a e9m refurbishment programme for its hotels, in addition to the e4.6m already invested in Christchurch and Custom House Quay makeovers. Jurys Inns, which was sold by the then JurysDoyle Hotel Group to a consortium led by Quinlan Private for a reputed e1.165bn in 2007, plans to continue refurb work over the next three years. The ‘to do’ list includes the extension to its Islington hotel, and the group is also actively working to increase its footprint in the London market, it says. Next up is Carlton Hotel Group, the burgeoning Irish hotel company led by chief executive and chairman Michael Kearney, which has jumped up a place from last year due to the departure of the Mansfield Hotel Group. With 10 hotels and 1,215 rooms, the Carlton Group has also grown in recent years, with the addition of a number of new hotels secured on management contract. In addition to the existing four star Carlton Hotels operated by the group in Dublin Airport, Kinsale, Bunclody, Westport, Athy, and Ballinasloe, the group has also taken over contracts to run hotels in Galway (the former Ryan Hotel, and latterly Days Hotel, which is the only three star hotel in 8

The Brehon Hotel, Killarney and The Maritime Hotel, Bantry in the Gleneagle Hotel Group, number 17 on this year’s table

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COVER STORY

Carlton’s portfolio), Limerick (Carlton Castletroy Park, rescued by Carlton after the former Chuck Feeney-developed hotel closed last year) and Carlton Tralee, the former Fels Point Hotel which was built by property developer Liam Carroll. In eighth position is Hilton Hotels Corporation with 884 rooms. The group exited Mount Juliet at the end of last year, where it operated the Kilkenny resort under the Conrad brand for a number of years. Today it continues to operate the five star, 191-room Conrad Dublin and Hiltons in Belfast and Templepatrick in the North, and Charlemont Place and Dublin Airport in Dublin (693 in total). The Hilton Hotel Kilmainham is a franchise property and not taken into account in the calculation of this table. Behind Hilton in ninth place is the Lynch Hotel Group, which went through a high profile examinership process last year but managed to successfully hold on to all its hotels and, according to reports in The Irish Times, narrowed its pre-tax losses in the 21 months to the end of 2009 to e680,000. This is an improvement on the e2.8m loss it recorded in the previous 12 months. The group operates seven hotels in the two and three

star market in the west of Ireland with a combined 869 rooms. The hotels are Breaffy House and Breaffy Woods in Castlebar, The Clare Inn in Dromoland, The West County in Ennis, The Ocean Cove in Kilkee and The George and The South Court in Limerick. Irish Court Hotels, the family-owned company operated by the Lyons, kicks off the double digits on this year’s chart, with 10 hotels and 855 rooms in Clare (Shannon Court Hotel, Auburn Lodge, Queens Hotel, Lahinch Golf & Leisure Hotel),

The Causerie Restaurant at the Europa Hotel and The Stormont Hotel, Belfast in the Hastings Hotel Group

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Whither the Internationals? The exodus of international operators from the Irish market continued to gain pace this year. While The Rezidor Hotel Group retains its firm grasp on the market, with 13 hotels and 2,065 rooms operated directly by the hotel across the island, a number of other international brands have retrenched in recent years. As of earlier this year, the Marriott brand is no longer over the door in the Druid’s Glen Resort in Wicklow, or in Johnstown House Hotel in Enfield, Co Meath, which is now operated by Tifco. While in Dublin, the staff and owners at the landmark Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen’s Green are waiting to hear the result of the recent arbitration between Marriott, which operates the hotel under its high end Renaissance brand, and The Shelbourne’s shareholders. In Cork, Fota Island Resort and Sheraton parted ways in the last 12 months, while in Kilkenny, Mount Juliet’s owners did not renew its deal with Conrad when it reached the end of its mangement contract in December. Aside from Radisson, which is controlled from a head office in Brussels, and Hilton, which operates 884 rooms across five hotels on the island of Ireland, the remaining big players in the Irish market are either indigenous Irish brands or brands such as Clarion or Crowne Plaza, which are under licence but operated directly by Irish management companies. PREM Group, the company headed by Jim Murphy, which operates three hotels under the Days Hotel and Days Inn brands in Dublin and Kilkenny, is due to introduce a new Irish brand, Aspect Hotels, to the market imminently.

The River Lee Hotel, Cork and The Westbury Hotel, Dublin, part of The Doyle Collection, winner of this year’s Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Hotel Groups, sponsored by Ireland.com

Kerry (Kenmare Bay Hotel, Killarney Court Hotel, Killarney Riverside Hotel), Donegal (Letterkenny Court Hotel), Waterford (Waterford Marina Hotel) and Sligo (Riverside Suites). Hot on Irish Court Hotels’ heels is Travelodge Ireland, the budget hotel brand which has been growing its base, today operating 11 hotels and 841 rooms across the island of Ireland in Dublin (four), Belfast, Cork, Galway, Waterford, Limerick (two) and Derry City. At number 12 comes the White’s Hotel Group, which specialises in catering to tour groups. The group has grown its numbers over the last year with the addition of the Nesbitt Arms in Ardara, Co Donegal. Also in Donegal are The Abbey Hotel and The Central Hotel, while Ireland’s matchmaking capital of Lisdoonvarna remains a stronghold for the group which operates three hotels in the village: The Hydro, The Imperial and the King Thomond. Elsewhere in the Burren, the group operates the Burren Castle and, in its only operation in the east of the country, White’s runs Lawlors in Dungarvan. Lucky for some, at number 13 is Northern Ireland’s Hastings Hotel Group, the hotel company established in the 1950s by Sir William Hastings, and now run by his son Howard Hastings (chair of the Northern Irish Tourist Board) together with sisters Julie, Allyson and Aileen. Financial controller, Edward Carson, and Slieve Donard general 8

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COVER STORY Irish Overseas

With overcapacity the topic du jour in the Irish hotel industry, it is little surprise that Irish hotel companies are looking overseas for prospective growth. The biggest Irish operators overseas at present are: Jurys Inns: 25 hotels, 6,050 rooms PREM Group: 17 hotels, 1,776 rooms The Doyle Collection: Eight hotels, 1,520 rooms The Moran & Bewleys Hotel Group: Four hotels, 943 rooms Expect to see more developments internationally in the future as Irish hotel companies seek to expand their operations in new markets. The Arklow Bay Hotel and the Clonmel Park Hotel, part of Brennan Hotels

manager, John Toner, also sit on the board. The group operates six hotels in Northern Ireland and 773 rooms in the Culloden Estate & Spa in Hollywood, the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa in Newcastle, Belfast’s Europa and Stormont Hotels, Ballygally Castle in Co Antrim and The Everglades in Derry. As well as the six Northern Irish properties, the Hastings family also hold a 50% stake in Dublin’s five star Merrion Hotel. The Merrion Hotel, the only business in the country to win a coveted Gold Medal Award for Excellence twice (2003 and 2008), does not operate under the Hastings Hotels banner and therefore is not included in this table. Sean McEniff ’s Cara Hotels runs five hotels in Dublin and Donegal, giving the group 741 rooms and putting it in 14th place on the table. Sean is one of two McEniffs on the table once again this year, with his brother Brian’s hotel group making an appearance at number 19. Cara Hotel’s hotels are the Mount Errigal Hotel and Allingham Arms in Donegal and the Ardmore, Camden Court and Grand Canal Hotels in Dublin. Just two hotel rooms separates the next two groups. Brennan Hotels, the company run by Brian Brennan, comes in at number 15 with 666 rooms in the Bettystown Court Hotel in Meath, the Clonmel Park in Tipperary, the

Arklow Bay in Wicklow, Springhill Court in Kilkenny and the Green Isle Hotel at Newland’s Cross in Dublin. Just two rooms behind the Brennans is another Northern Ireland operator, the Cordia Hotel Group run by Lord Diljit Rana which has a big presence in the bustling Belfast market. Its 664 rooms are spread between the Ramada and Days Hotels, the Holiday Inn Express Belfast City and the Ibis Hotel Belfast City Centre and the Ibis Belfast Queens Quarter. With 658 rooms is the Gleneagle Hotel Group, which has a stronghold in the Kingdom, and operates the three star Gleneagle Hotel; the four star, Gold Medal Award nominated Brehon Hotel; Scotts Hotel and The Travel Inn in Killarney. The group also operates The Maritime Hotel in Bantry, placing it at 17 on the Top 20 table. At number 18 is The Doyle Collection, the winner of this year’s coveted Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Hotel Groups, sponsored by Ireland.com. Founded 40 years ago by the legendary hotelier PV Doyle, the luxury hotel group is now run by the next generation of the Doyle and Beatty families. Here in Ireland, the group owns and operates 618 rooms in three hotels, the flagship Westbury Hotel off Grafton Street in Dublin, the Croke Park Hotel opposite GAA HQ in Drumcondra and The River Lee Hotel in Cork. The Croke Park and River Lee properties have been rebranded from Jurys Hotels as part of the group’s ongoing repositioning, which also saw the company change its name from the JurysDoyle Hotel Group to The Doyle Collection. The company is currently investing significantly in a multimillion euro refurbishment programme designed to cement its position in the luxury segment of the market. As well as the three Irish hotels, The Doyle Collection also operates four hotels in the UK (The Kensington,

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Marylebone and Bloomsbury Hotels in London and The Bristol Hotel) and a further four in the US (The Dupont Hotel, The Normandy Hotel and Dupont Circle Courtyard by Marriott in Washington DC and The Back Bay Hotel in Boston), giving it a total of 1,520 rooms overseas. Following The Doyle Collection in 19th place is our second McEniff entry this year, Brian McEniff Hotels. The company has risen one place due to the exit of the Mansfield Hotel Group, and continues to operate 608 rooms in six hotels in Dublin and the west and northwest of Ireland. They are the Great Northern Hotel and the Holyrood Hotel in Donegal, the Sligo Southern and the Yeats Country Hotel in Sligo, the Westport Woods Hotel in Mayo and the Best Western Skylon Hotel in Dublin. Mansfield’s exit has also made way for the return of the PREM Group, the company run by former IHF president Jim Murphy, which has been expanding significantly in Europe in recent years (see Jim Murphy’s opinion piece on the challenges facing the Irish hotel industry on page 12 in this issue). Here in Ireland, the company operates seven hotels – the Days Inn Talbot Street and the Days Hotel Parkwest in Dublin and the Days Hotel Kilkenny, plus the Park Hotel Virginia, the Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort in Wicklow, The Osprey Hotel & Spa in Kildare and the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny, the last four of which are management contracts picked up by PREM’s Hotel Asset Management Services (HAMS) arm. The group is on the cusp of introducing a new brand for Ireland, Aspect Hotels, which it will introduce to a number of its Days properties. PREM is introducing the brand, says Jim Murphy, following a review of ‘the effectiveness of international brands in Ireland’. ‘In the current market we believe that system delivery of the international brands

in a small market like Ireland is not sufficient justification for the fees required by these brands. Therefore, drawing on our significant experience of branding, PREM Group will be launching a new home grown brand for the Irish market in the coming weeks,’ he told Hotel & Catering Review. Away from the troubled Irish market, PREM continues to thrive, with a burgeoning portfolio of 17 hotels and 1,776 rooms in the UK, Belgium and France. The group also operates a significant serviced apartment business. With 596 rooms in Ireland, PREM makes a return to the Top 20 table this year following a twoyear hiatus, and although the group plans to concentrate most of its growth efforts in Europe in the future (it is currently chasing projects in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland), it also expects to remain busy in the distressed hotel sector here at home. With the Irish hotel sector going through its most challenging period in history and the number of hotels entering receivership growing by the week (over 30 currently, with an expected 100 hotels to enter receivership by the year end), we expect the landscape to change significantly once again over the next year, and indeed, in the coming months. u Hotel & Catering Review’s survey of the country’s Top 20 Hotel Groups features Ireland’s top hotel operating companies. Figures are verified with Fáilte Ireland’s database of registered hotels and hotel room numbers in Ireland. In line with Fáilte Ireland guidelines, only guestrooms within the hotel structure are taken into account for the purpose of this survey. Additional rooms in ancillary housing are not included. Figures relate to hotel rooms managed and operated directly by the hotel groups only, and do not include franchised properties operated independently.

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