Two city hotels to shut in shake-up

JURYS DOYLE’S hotels in Ballsbridge, Dublin, yesterday paid the price for failing to perform, as the company announced plans to cut its presence in the area from three of the city’s top hotels to a single four-star operation.

The company had become dissatisfied with the contribution from its four- and five-star hotels, which in recent years acted as a drag on the more efficient three-star inns.

Revenues from the Irish hotels division, which includes the three Ballsbridge hotels, the nearby Burlington and the Westbury, fell 5% last year on the back of increased competition, while trading profits tumbled 10%. But the six Irish inns, in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, increased trading profits by 5% and revenues by 12%. Hotels in Britain and America have also outperformed their struggling Irish equivalents.