Hotel Owner Hotel Owner May 2017 digital | Page 25

COMPANY Q&A
OXFORD MARCO PIERRE WHITE RESTAURANT
CARDIFF BOARDROOM
years time we will be recognised very well Hotel Collection. Part of the reason for a hotels in places like Edinburgh or Brighton,
by our customers for the parts of our offer significant growth in occupancy overall was they are the kind of locations that people go
that we hang our hat on. that we brought those hotels into the kind to for those longer stays.
of occupancy levels that we would expect
Does having a parent company such as from a Jurys Inn property - that’s a big part Do you see the staycation trend
Amaris help in regards to continuous of the reason for a spike in visitors. Another continuing over the next few years,
investments? reason was that Ireland in particular last particularly with Brexit and the falling
We invested significantly in the brand last year was very positive in terms of visitor value of the pound?
year, we refurbished the nine hotels that numbers - 2016 was a record year for Ireland I do, I think as long as there’s that
came over to use from Thistle and The as far as visitors go. We have hotels in uncertainty it will continue. Clearly people
Hotel Collection - every single aspect of fantastic locations and with the increase in travelling abroad are concerned about the
the properties was changed. We continue domestic visitors or staycations to hotels, strength of the pound and how expensive it
that level of refurbishment as we move we’ve also benefitted from that. Having is, we see very good advance reservations
into 2017. This year we will refurbish an
additional 660 rooms, and we are adding
a further 80 rooms on to Jurys Inn Belfast.
We are also in the process of refurbishing
restaurants and public areas in various
hotels across the country.
Who owns Jurys Inn?
Amaris is the parent company, which was
set up by US-based private equity firm Lone
Star Funds, and Jurys Inn is a division within
that. All of the properties are owned and
managed by us.
You welcomed a record 5 million guests
in 2016, what were the factors in that
increase?
We transitioned some hotels into Jurys Inn
last year, as part of Lone Star’s acquisition
of various hotels from Thistle and The
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May 2017
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