The rising cost of staying in Irish hotels is expected to overtake pre-recession peak levels by the end of this year, raising concerns over how overseas tourists might start viewing Ireland as an affordable travel destination.

Who will go head to head with Dalata in bidding for the investment sale of the Maldron Hotel, in the historic heart of Cork City centre, under Shandon Steeple?

Ireland’s largest hotel group, Dalata, is interested in adding the Clarion Hotel in Sligo to its portfolio.

Increased tourism, a weak euro, and recovering domestic demand are helping hotels across the country to reach healthier financial positions. 

The Cheltenham Bumper winner for 2017 may well have been sorted yesterday when a half-brother to the versatile Publican and the winning mare, Misspublican, was knocked down to Harold Kirk at Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sales for a world record for a national hunt three-year-old store of €320,000.

Almost a quarter of the 145 hotels put into receivership at the end of last year are yet to come to market creating a pipeline of properties that will help transactions reach record highs again this year.

The Irish hotel industry is showing strong signs of recovery.

Higher occupancy rates, increased room prices and a positive outlook for the future are all indications that the Irish hotel sector is recovering as it emerges from the difficulties of the past number of years.

NAMA is expected to pick up the pace of Irish hotel sales in the coming 18 months — so far, it has sold just 19 of the 136 in its control, and so has 117 left to sell, a conference organised by the Irish Hotel Federation heard this week.

Recovery in the Irish hotel and hospitality sector is to be analysed, parsed and predicted by Nine Wise Men, overseen by a male Fulbright scholar — with not a single woman speaker on the bill — at an Irish Hotels Federation seminar next week.

Brides-to-be breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when it became clear in the High Court that receptions they booked at the four-star Waterford Castle and Hotel will go ahead despite the financial crash of the complex.

Aiden Murphy of Crowe Horwath has been confirmed as official liquidator to Newgold Ltd and Cendant Ltd, the trading companies of the Waterford Castle Hotel & Golf Resort.

Irish hotels have experienced a small resurgence in occupancy and the room prices they can charge, but they are still operating with far less custom than at the height of the boom.

A provisional liquidator has been appointed to two companies which own and operate the deluxe Waterford Castle Hotel and Golf Club.

Waterford Castle has been placed into provisional liquidation and a receiver has been appointed.

The hotel industry is attracting more customers, who are paying more money, but the industry is being crippled by massive debts it cannot afford to service.

MORE than one in 10 hotels in Ireland are in receivership, and the sector has warned the days of rock-bottom prices is coming to an end.

Some 11% of Irish hotel rooms are in receivership, according to an industry survey published today which nonetheless indicated that hoteliers are optimistic of the prospects of an upturn.

A THIRD of Irish hotels are in difficulty at a time when room rates have plunged to lows last seen a decade ago.

PROFITS generated by Irish hotels are set to plunge 70% this year as occupancy levels hit a 15-year low.

PROFITS at Irish hotels fell 25% to hit a 15-year low in 2008, and could fall by as much 70% this year, threatening the survival of many establishments, according to accountants Horwath Bastow Charleton (HBC).

THE slowdown in tourist numbers is leading to cut-price rates for Irish holiday makers in some of the country’s swankiest hotels.

HOTELS in counties such as Galway, Clare and Mayo are struggling to fill beds as Dublin hotels show record occupancy levels.

TOURISM in the West and other areas low on infrastructure are losing the battle for overseas visitors, a new study found.

A 57-year-old Cobh seaman has been jailed for 15 years, for a series of sexual assaults on three of his nephews when they were young boys.

A 49-year-old Cork woman has been jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to stealing a quarter of a million pounds from the credit union where she worked.