FOR the last four years we’ve all been hearing about the travails of the hotel sector but one owner at least seems to be preparing for an upturn at the top end of the market.
Low profile businessman Michael Holland, who owns the Fitzwilliam Hotel overlooking St Stephen’s Green, has applied to add 34 new hotel bedrooms at the five-star hotel.
Holland, who previously owned the Royal Dublin Hotel, recently rescued the Four Star Pizza chain from examinership and plans to double the number of outlets over the next three years.
His other business interests include a stake in the Racing Post, a favourite of punters all over the country.
Holland holds most of his business interests, including the Fitzwilliam Hotel, through a group company called Gonville. Its last accounts, for the 19-month period to the end of July 2009, showed an after tax profit of €13.8m, bringing shareholders funds at the group to a very healthy €42.5m.
Holland is one of those active types – he loves long distance sailing and skippered a crew that went from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
He is also involved in Hotel Partners, the company which provides management services to a number of hotels, including the 130-bedroom Fitzwilliam in Belfast which opened in 2009 and the 106-bedroom Park Plaza in the same city.
Its also worked with a number of other hotels including the Fitzwilton in Waterford, the Park Plaza on the outskirts of Dublin and the well-known Portmarnock Hotel Golf Links.
