Seven provincial hotels on the market for more than €35m

Seven hotels with an estimated value of more than €35 million are to be offered for sale just as the provincial hotel market shows signs of recovery.

Although six of them are being sold as distressed assets by the funding banks, all of them are profitable, according to John Hughes of selling agents CBRE. The seventh hotel, the Metropole in Cork, is also trading successfully.

The highest value hotel going on the market is the Glenroyal Hotel & Leisure Centre in Maynooth, Co Kildare, which has a price tag of €10.5 million and was owned by Ray Grehan, the developer who will be forever remembered for paying €171 million for the 2.04-acre former UCD Veterinary College in Ballsbridge in 2004.

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Glenroyal Hotel & Leisure Centre in Maynooth, Co Kildare: has a price tag of €10.5 million

CBRE is confident of finding buyers for all seven hotels which will either be sold as one lot, or in blocks, or individually. Last year 63 hotels changed hands at an overall valuation of just over €341 million. The consensus is that possibly as many again could be offered for sale this year as banks continue deleveraging.

There is also the likelihood that many firms which acquired hotels in recent years either as property assets or loan sales will want to sell them on to cash in on the rebound in property values, which have been most marked in Dublin. While the occupancy rate in the city is among the highest in Europe, the average charge per room is still lagging behind most other countries.

The Glenroyal hotel has a three-star grading and 113 bedrooms. It has a particularly successful leisure club with 3,488 members recorded last July, as well as conference and banqueting facilities. The Glenroyal, currently being managed by the Prem Group, is located close to the train station and the local university.

There is also likely to be strong bidding for the Johnstown House Hotel & Spa, beside Enfield, Co Meath, which has a guide price of in excess of €6.5 million.

The four-star hotel is based on a Georgian-style country house and has 126 bedrooms as well as an Elemis spa and leisure centre. Johnstown's ability to cater for up to 900 people in its conference and banqueting facilities is likely to prove an important selling point for a hotel along the M4 Galway motorway and within easy commuting distance of Dublin. The hotel has traded since 2000.

Two of the hotels for sale have guide prices of more than €4 million – the Metropole on MacCurtain Street in Cork and Fels Point Hotel in Tralee, Co Kerry. The landmark three-star hotel in Cork dates back to 1897 and has 112 bedrooms. It has a particularly popular leisure centre with 1,000 members who have the use of a 20m swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, stream room and fully equipped gym. The hotel also has 11 separate meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 500 people.

The Tralee hotel has 145 bedrooms including 18 executive rooms. It also has function rooms, a bar and restaurant. The four-star hotel occupies a highly visible site close to the town centre and is synonymous with the annual Rose of Tralee Festival.

Only one of the seven hotels going for sale – the three-star Maldron Hotel at Bamstown, Wexford – is to be sold as an investment. The agents are quoting a guide price of €3.5 million for the 108-bedroom hotel which is leased to the Dalata Hotel Group for 25 years from December, 2002, at a current rent of €300,000 per annum. The contemporary style hotel is on the Dublin to Wexford and Rosslare road and has a leisure club, function rooms, bar and restaurant.

The Killeshin Hotel on the outskirts of Portlaoise town has a guide price of €3 million. The four-star business opened in 2007 and has 87 bedrooms as well as extensive conference and banqueting facilities, a leisure centre with gymnasium and swimming pool. It has excellent car parking at basement and surface level.

CBRE is suggesting a guide of €2 million for the South Court Hotel in Raheen, Limerick, which has some of the largest conference facilities in the region, capable of accommodating up to 1,200 people.

The three-storey over basement hotel has the now standard gymnasium and a wide variety of bedroom types including high quality suites designer by Paul Costelloe.