Jurys Inns in €97.4m plan for Britain

THE Jurys Inns budget hotel chain has announced a further €97.4 million expansion plan for the British market, which will see it open four new properties on top of the seven already due to open during the course of this year.

The four new hotels — earmarked for Glasgow, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Bradford — will open next year and represent a £90m (€97.4m) investment by Irish property development and investment company, McAleer & Rushe — which acts as strategic development partner to Jurys Inns owner, Quinlan Private.

“It is a significant vote of confidence in the Jurys Inn brand and business model that we can announce plans for four new hotels in today’s challenging economic climate,” said Jurys Inns’ acting chief executive John Brennan.

The company is banking on recent tourism industry research, in Britain, suggesting that as much as 50% — or 20 million people — of the population are planning to spend their holidays at home this year due to both the strength of the euro against their sterling and the general economic downturn.

Next year’s four additional hotels will create 300 jobs and 830 new hotel rooms, boosting the company’s plans to establish itself as the leading budget hotel chain across Ireland and Britain.

The long-term plan will also see it expand the chain into continental Europe.

The company is also expected to name a permanent chief executive during the second quarter of the year.

Yesterday’s announcement follows on from the news that seven Jurys Inns hotels are due to open across Britain and further afield this year. The first of those — a 259 room inn in Sheffield — opened last week.

The other six due to open this year will be located in Watford, just north of London; Exeter, Derby, Swindon and Aberdeen.

The first property in continental Europe — in the Czech capital of Prague — completes that list.

“We plan to grow the business aggressively this year and are seriously exploring increased numbers of new site opportunities emerging from the fast-changing British property market.

“We continue to look speculatively for new locations as site valuations drop and struggling four star hotels close and remain proactive and hungry for development and growth opportunities as the British hotel market consolidates,” added the company’s director of development, Simon Jones.