‘Very disappointing’ Dublin hotels take shine off upbeat Jurys Doyle

JURYS Doyle Group says trading at its Dublin hotels has been disappointing so far this year. It is reviewing the future of its four properties in the Ballsbridge area.

The company, which has indicated potential redundancies at the Burlington Hotel in Ballsbridge if it does not get improved productivity from staff, is also reviewing the future of its three nearby hotels - The Towers, Jurys Ballsbridge Hotel and the Berkeley Court.

Jurys chief executive Pat McCann said it was too early to comment on the outcome of the review, but the company would still have a hotel in the area.

“This is a very important site for us,” Mr McCann said after the company’s annual general meeting yesterday.

The plans for the hotels are believed to include a complete refurbishment of the Burlington and its conference facilities. Having four properties in such close proximity is unusual, but Mr McCann would not say yesterday if any of the hotels faced closure.

“I know what we are looking at and I know what we are trying to do and until the final decision is taken by the board, we’re not commenting.”

The review is being undertaken as a glut of upmarket hotels come on to the Irish market.

“If you look back five years ago, you had 9,000 rooms in the city, now you have 14,000. It is a more challenging market,” Mr McCann said. The problems in the Dublin market took the shine off an upbeat trading statement from the company yesterday.

It said profits at its American hotels and the Jurys Inn portfolio were ahead of last year, but the Dublin properties were “very disappointing.”

“It is still early days in 2005 and we are confident that these performances will improve as the year progresses. Taking into account the above comments, the business outlook for 2005 remains broadly positive,” the company told shareholders.

The company will also take a €3 million hit from the closure of its four-star hotel in Cork.

Mr McCann said the company was also planning to expand to Europe for the first time. Jurys owns four properties in the US, but the bulk of its hotels are in Britain and Ireland. The initial focus will be on the 10 accession states in Eastern Europe. “There is a lot more stability in those environments because they are part of the EU and they will be part of the euro currency at some stage in the future. There is opportunity there for us.”