The six Bewleys hotels in Dublin and Britain have been sold to the Dublin-based Moran Hotel Group for more than €500 million. The three-star hotels have a total of 2,094 bedrooms.
The Moran group, headed by businessman Tom Moran, owns the Red Cow Hotel on the Naas Road in Dublin. It also has five bars, the Silver Springs Hotel and conference centre in Cork and a new hotel at Chiswick in London.
The Bewleys hotels were developed over the past 11 years by Bert Allen who also controls Slaney Meats in Wexford. He is heavily involved in the property market and, two years ago, redeveloped the Killiney Court Hotel as an apartment scheme.
Mr Allen is expected to invest part of his windfall in the German property market.
Garvan Walsh of Dublin estate agents Kelly Walsh, who handled the sale, said yesterday that he was not in a position to comment.
Mr Allen's decision to sell the group of hotels in an off-market deal will take the hotel industry by surprise, particularly as the chain was trading successfully.
However, the businessman, like other hoteliers, is understood to have been concerned about the rapid growth in the number of new hotels around the State.
An estimated 110 new hotels have opened in the last two years alone, about one-third of them in the Dublin area. Average occupancy rates have been around 70 per cent in the city area and 59 per cent elsewhere in the State.
The boom in new hotels has been triggered largely by the availability of tax allowances and a desire by many wealthy property developers to diversify into the industry.
Bewleys' 460-bedroom hotel at Dublin airport is one of six new hotels within the perimeter of the airport. Its extensive car park, where park-and-ride facilities are offered to airport travellers, has become another important money spinner.
Group policy of maintaining its room rates across all seasons - it currently charges €89 per room except in Ballsbridge where the rate is €109 - has helped it to retain a large segment of the market.
The Ballsbridge room rate of €109 compares with a room charge last night of €260 at the Four Seasons Hotel on the opposite side of the road.
Bewleys Ballsbridge Hotel, with 300 bedrooms, is the top performing hotel in the group closely followed by Leopardstown which has 300 rooms. The hotel at Newlands Cross, also with 300 rooms, is believed to be trading below expectations.
The Manchester hotel beside the main airport is the only Bewleys building held on a long lease. It was expanded by Mr Allen to provide 400 rooms. The second hotel at Leeds has 330 rooms. Both hotels charge £69 per night.
