For decades Jurys Hotel has been part of the Dublin 4 landscape, just as much as the American embassy and the RDS. That is about to change with the decision by the Jurys Doyle group to sell off its landmark hotel in Ballsbridge and the adjoining Jurys Towers with the loss of hundreds of jobs. The move is a defensive one aimed at seeing off an unwanted takeover bid by Precinct Investments Ltd. Analysts believe much of the value Precinct sees in Jurys is in the underused Ballsbridge site.
The sale of five acres of the most valuable development land in Dublin will generate enormous interest among leading builders. The two hotels will be demolished and Jury's vast surface car-park redeveloped. The location, beside so many transport links, will almost certainly allow the new owners to secure planning permission for a high density scheme, possibly as high as the 32 storeys permitted elsewhere. There are compelling reasons for a mixed use scheme on the site. Ballsbridge lacks a high profile commercial centre as well as the village atmosphere which local shops and services would provide.
Although prompted by Precinct's attention, Jurys' decision to offload most of its Ballsbridge site, and downgrade its adjoining Berkeley Court Hotel on Lansdowne Road into a four-star operation, will not come as a surprise to the hotel industry which has gone through rapid change. The days of silver service, cabarets and Sunday afternoon tea dances are all but over, and there is a limited market for the all-night mixed grill in the legendary Coffee Dock in Jurys.
Dublin, and Ireland, has seen a vast increase in the number of new hotels, each more shiny than the last. This trend is continuing, with a string of outlets about to open in the suburbs, largely driven by tax incentives. The new emphasis on value for money has seen developments like the Bewleys hotel chain take an increasing share of the market with its nice-but-no-frills service. Jurys itself has done exceptionally well out of its Jurys Inns chain.
However, the group's grip on the upper end of the market has been less sure, and it has had powerful competition in Ballsbridge from the nearby Four Seasons Hotel. Jurys Hotel - 40 years old, and looking every day of it - must have found it hard to compete for the custom of the wealthy and the fashionable. At the same time it suffered because of the dramatic fall-off in American tour trade.
Jurys has decided that its future lies in the moderately priced mass market. Ironically, only the very wealthy will be able to afford a room on the Ballsbridge site after it is redeveloped for expensive apartments. Some things never change.