Ballyvaughan hotel asking price drops by €800,000

A LANDMARK North Clare hotel went on the market on Wednesday with a price tag of €1.4 million. The asking price has dropped by more than €800,000 since the property was initially put up for sale 18 months ago.
Hyland’s Burren Hotel, Ballyvaughan is on the market with commercial real estate agent CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Group. Having started out as an old coach house in 1780, the hotel is one of the oldest in Ireland and was within the extended Hyland family for generations until 2002 when it was bought by Signature Park Hotel Group.
Dermot Curtin, of CBRE Hotels, believes that despite a difficult economic climate, there are buyers out there.
“This is a beautiful hotel and in really good condition. There was a lot of money spent on it earlier this year when €130,000 of a refurbishment was undertaken on the ground floor. €500,000 was spent on it in total from 2002 to 2006 modernising the premises. It is a very attractive hotel, very well known and it is an ideal base for visitors to explore the uniqueness of the area,” he told The Clare Champion.
At the peak of the property market, the hotel is estimated to have been worth in the region of €2.5 to €3m. At €1.4m, Mr Curtin believes the landmark hotel is good value.
“There are buyers out there. There has been very little activity in the hotel property market in recent years. I think there was one hotel sold in 2009, two sold in 2010 and so far this year, there have been about half a dozen so there is only one way for the market to go and that is for the activity to increase. The problem comes from getting funding but this is priced at a level, which will encourage cash buyers to go for it,” he outlined.
“While the summer time is obviously the busiest season, Hyland’s could trade all year round to cater for the many groups that wish to avail of the excellent and wide variety of activities available in the area,” Mr Curtin remarked, adding that the sale of the hotel is “a unique opportunity to an enthusiastic, professional management team to own and operate a well-established and successful hotel business”.
For those employed at the hotel, their futures are safe, Mr Curtin confirmed.
“The hotel is being sold as a going concern so employees’ jobs are safe. Basically, it is just the captain of the ship that is changing, everything stays as is,” he said.