NI hotel on verge of being sold as move branded a ‘very positive development’

The Lodge Hotel in Coleraine is due to make an announcement on a change in ownership

Independent operators dominated the hotel industry in Northern Ireland, according to the NI Hotels Federation

thumbnail: The Lodge Hotel in Coleraine is due to make an announcement on a change in ownership
thumbnail: Independent operators dominated the hotel industry in Northern Ireland, according to the NI Hotels Federation

The owners of the Lodge Hotel in Coleraine has confirmed the site is close to being sold.

McKeever Hotel Group, based in Newtownabbey, has been linked to the purchase of the Co Londonderry venue.

Coleraine will benefit from rising demand for accommodation when golf tournament The Open returns to Royal Portrush next year.

The 56-bedroom Lodge Hotel would be McKeever Hotel Group’s sixth venue, joining Co Antrim hotels the Adair Arms, Dunsilly, Corrs Corner and the Dunadry, as well as Dillons Hotel in Letterkenny.

The Lodge Hotel’s website makes a selling point of its proximity to the “golfer’s paradise” of the north coast, with Royal Portrush “a mere 10 minutes drive away from the hotel”.

A spokesperson for The Lodge Hotel, which has been run by Norma Wilkinson for 30 years, said: “We are at the final stage of discussions and agreements with another party regarding the future ownership of our hotel and are hopeful we will soon be in a position to involve our employees and announce news of a very positive development.”

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Four members of the McKeever family are directors of newly-formed company The Lodge Hotel (Coleraine) Ltd, which was incorporated on April 23 2023.

In July 2023, McKeever Hotels reported a more than doubling of turnover and pre-tax profits in its first full year of trading since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Turnover for the company went from £5.4m to £13.6m in the year to September 2022. And there was a similar jump in pre-tax profits, from £0.7m to £1.9m.

But operations director Eddie McKeever told the Belfast Telegraph at the time that “the world has changed again” since the period covered in the results. Costs had risen extensively, he said, but could not be fully passed on to customers who were also facing rising prices.

Other hotels in Coleraine have changed hands recently, with Andras Hotel Group buying a property in the town. The former Premier Inn in the Riverside Retail Park has now been reopened as The Riverside Hotel following its acquisition in January last year.

According to research earlier this year by the NI Hotels Federation, independent operators like McKeever Hotel Group dominate the market here, accounting for 96 out of 143 businesses.

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News Catch Up: Monday 20th May 2024