Ireland’s largest hotel operator, Dalata, will have spent up to €90m on Cork city hotels by next year, spanning purchases, upgrades and completion of its Beasley St hotel site off Cork’s South Mall and Parnell Place (pictured) where a €10.2m purchase from Nama has finally just completed.

AFTER a market revival in 2012 and 2013, 60 Irish hotels sold in 2014 for a total of €440m, double that of the prior year.

The face of the Irish hotel sector has changed significantly over the past number years as international owners and well-known brands have become more prevalent.

The country’s largest hotel group Dalata completed a transformational year with the announcement that it has added the Holiday Inn in Belfast to its portfolio of hotels for €25.7m.

Irish hotels are back in business - they’ve sold like hot-cakes during 2014, with over 50 finding new owners, with €450m changing hands in the process.