East Coast Catering Ireland has acquired the Crowne Plaza Dundalk from the Tifco Hotel Group for around €11M in a deal handled by CBRE’s hotel division.

The acquisition comes as Ireland’s hotel sector is bouncing back, with hospitality giant Dalata in June reporting strong trading in the second quarter of the year, with earnings expected to be more than €100M for the first six months of 2023.

Dalata said revenue per available room is expected to be 29% ahead of the same period in 2019, and compared with 2022 levels, like-for-like revenue was 11% higher overall in the second quarter, with the UK and regional Ireland hotels up 15% and Dublin up 10%.

The Crowne Plaza Dundalk has 129 rooms and suites, nine meeting rooms, conference facilities, a gym, a rooftop restaurant and a 160-space car park.

East Coast Catering, led by Dundalk-born, Canada-based businessman Patrick O’Callaghan, has so far primarily been associated with the accommodation of asylum-seekers in Ireland through facilities including Balseskin Reception Centre near Dublin Airport and Hatch Hall in Dublin city centre.

However, it has interests in the hotel sector, too, and the Crowne Plaza is its second hotel acquisition in Dundalk after the €2.5M purchase of the former Fairways Hotel in 2015.

East Coast redeveloped the site into a scheme comprising a supermarket, coffee shop and pharmacy along with 48 apartments and the 113-bedroom, four-star Fairways Hotel managed by iNua as part of its iNua Collection.

In June, Tifco’s 393-room Travelodge Plus on Townsend Street in Dublin city centre opened after a delay from the original opening of January 2022 due to a contract with the state to use the property to accommodate asylum-seekers.

Tifco is one of the largest hotel groups in Ireland with almost 3,000 rooms, and its portfolio includes 11 Travelodge hotels, the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport, Crowne Plaza Blanchardstown, Hard Rock Dublin, the Holiday Inn Express Hotel at Dublin Airport and the Arthaus Hotel Dublin.

In addition, Tifco manages the Clontarf Castle Hotel, Hilton Dublin Kilmainham, The Hendrick Dublin Smithfield, Kinsale Hotel & Spa, Hotel Killarney, Innisfallen Hotel Killarney and the Clybaun Hotel Galway.