‘Business as usual’ as receiver appointed to Radisson hotel

Couples who booked their wedding receptions at the Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa in Limerick were told yesterday their bookings were safe, after the hotel entered receivership.

Management at the hotel began contacting clients on Tuesday to inform them it was “business as usual”. The hotel employs 60 people, and is also a popular venue for business conferences.

“We paid a deposit by credit card. It’s all I need now to be honest,” said one concerned groom.

“If all comes to all, we’ll get a barbecue and a tent and hold it in the back garden at home,” he finally joked.

The couple planned to hold their reception at the hotel, on the Ennis Rd, because it best suited their needs. “We have been looking forward to the whole day. I’ve been to weddings there before and the hotel does a good job,” the man said.

“We got a bit of a shock but I’m still quiet happy to keep the booking. They said it was ‘business as usual’.”

Management at the hotel could not be reached for comment. An employee confirmed: “All I know is that we’re in receivership and that’s it.”

The receiver was appointed on Tuesday — the same day a survey by hotels.com showed hotel rooms in Limerick City are the cheapest in the country.

Michael Vaughan, the president of the Irish Hotels Federation, said there were approximately 90 hotels throughout the country in receivership.

Mr Vaughan — who runs the Vaughan Lodge Hotel in Lahinch, Co Clare — said receivers to hotels in general, were attempting to “sort out very complicated arrangements in hotels who borrowed way to much money, which cannot be repaid”.

“Speaking generally, the view of hotel fed is that these hotels need to be brought back into ownership of people with long- term interest in running them.

Banks will tell you themselves they don’t want to be running hotels.”

He said there was a strong market of people who wanted to purchase hotels but that their plans were proving “difficult to finance”.