McKeever Group set to snap up Lodge Hotel

The McKeever group is closing in on a deal to add a sixth hotel to its expanding hospitality portfolio, it has been reported.

The family-owned company behind the Dunadry and Dunsilly hotels in Co Antrim is believed to have agreed a deal to buy The Lodge Hotel in Coleraine, the Irish News reports.

A spokesperson for The Lodge Hotel told the paper: “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.”

The Coleraine hotel business is currently headed by Norma Wilkinson.

It comes seven years after Eugene and Catherine McKeever’s last acquisition, when their Newtownabbey-based hospitality business bought the Dunadry Hotel from the Mooney family.

McKeever Hotels also own Corr’s Corner Hotel in Newtownabbey, the Adair Arms Hotel in Ballymena and Dillons Hotel in Letterkenny.

The company, now headed by Eddie McKeever, has been undertaking a £3 million capital expenditure programme across its five existing hotels as part of a three-year strategic growth plan.

The hospitality group last month completed a £1m bedroom upgrade at the Dunsilly Hotel in Antrim.

Eddie McKeever is also president of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation, having been appointed in 2022.

The latest set of accounts published for McKeever Hotels show the company recorded a turnover of £13.6m in the year ending September 30 2022, producing a pre-tax profit of £1.93m.