Budget hotel group to expand in docklands

WITH MANY parts of the Irish hotel industry in trouble because of a downturn in business, Jurys Inns, the budget hotel group, is bucking the trend by deciding to proceed with a major extension of its hotel at Custom House Quay in the Dublin docklands.

The group has lodged a planning application with the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to add 84 new bedrooms to the hotel, bringing the total number up to 323. The plan provides for an extra 3,195sq m (34,391sq ft) of space at the hotel which first opened for business in 1996.

The extension will include a new bedroom core on the western gable of the building, providing an additional three bedrooms to floors two, three and four, and a further five new bedrooms on the fifth floor. The sixth floor will accommodate 36 new bedrooms and a new seventh level will house 34 bedrooms.

As well as extending the hotel, work is already under way on refurbishing the existing bedrooms, most of which will be completed by next May.

Joe Quinn, chief operations officer of Jurys Inns Group, said the hotel had continued to outperform the market despite the current economic challenges. With the recent opening of the O2, and the planned completion of the National Convention Centre in September 2010, as well as the extension of the Luas through the IFSC, they expect a significant rise in guest numbers.

Jurys Inns Group, which operates six hotels in Ireland and 19 in the UK, was acquired by the Dublin-based investment company Quinlan Private in June 2007 for €1.165 billion. It subsequently sold on a 50 per cent shareholding to an Oman investment group for €200 million.

Two new hotels were opened earlier this year in Sheffield and Watford and six more are in the pipeline.