Oriel House Hotel set to confirm Cork upturn

After selling five Cork hotels in the past 15 months, Savills is to embark on yet another marketing campaign, this time for the Oriel House Hotel in Ballincollig, which is expected to make about €6 million.

The four-star hotel is being sold on the instructions of receiver Kieran Wallace of KPMG. It was extensively redeveloped and extended and reopened for business in 2006.

The hotel has 78 bedrooms, two bars, restaurant, conference and banqueting facilities catering for up to 480 people and a leisure club featuring a 25-metre swimming pool and spa. The overall grounds extend to 2.3 acres and include 250 surface and underground car parking spaces.

The hotel was originally based on the 18th century Oriel House, a protected structure that features a classical Oriel window. It has traded as both a business and leisure hotel, attracting a strong wedding trade and also managing to cater for large corporates based in the area.

Oriel House is the only hotel in Ballincollig, a commuter town with a population of more than 25,000 which is still growing. It is a 15-minute drive from Cork city centre and Kent railway station, which has an hourly service to Dublin.

The sale comes after a successful trading year for the Cork hotel market which recorded a 10 per cent growth in revenue from room lettings. The Oriel has been successfully managed since 2012 by BDL Ireland. A new owner will have the right to decide on the management structure.

Tom Barrett of Savills said he was expecting good interest in the Oriel House Hotel after a good pick-up in the Cork hotel market.

The local hotels sold by Savills were the Ambassador, Cork International Airport Hotel, Kingsley Hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel in Little Island and the River Lee Hotel.