AN Irish hotel company with 27 properties throughout Ireland and Britain is planning to double its portfolio of independent hotels and resorts over the next year.
Great National Hotels & Resorts will extend its collection of hotels by introducing three more properties in Britain by the end of this year.
The group - which recently launched a new hotel brand, Great National – says that the expansion will bring its total to 20 hotels in Ireland and 10 in Britain.
Recent additions to the group include Waterford Castle and Golf Resort in Waterford and Stoke Rochford Hall in Lincolnshire, England.
Managing Director, David Byrne, said the group aims to have 50 hotels by the end of next year, and projected that this figure would double by the end of 2015.
Great National has made the plans to establish itself in the market as a middle-point between the top hotel brands, such as Hilton, and hospitality organisations, such as Leading Hotels of the World.
“The big brands require their hotels to sign up to onerous long-term deals, while some of the marketing groups don’t actually do that much operationally for their hotels,” said Mr Byrne.
“We have tried to take the best of both worlds and come up with something in the middle.”
The next phase will see the group set out an expansion plan that will target three and four star independent hotels within a close proximity of Manchester.
It will also aim to secure more hotels in Ireland, primarily in the midlands and Ulster.
The group does not operate the hotels. They are independently owned and managed.
