Belfast hotel group took £17m pandemic hit

Andras House, the group behind some of the best-known hotels in Belfast, saw turnover during the first year of the pandemic fall 68%, resulting in a loss of £512,317.

The company which owns the Crowne Plaza, Hampton by Hilton, two Ibis hotels and a Holiday Inn and Holiday Express in the city, saw turnover drop £16.8m to £7.75m for the year ending April 30, 2021.

Pre-tax profits also sunk at the Group to £222,265 from the previous year’s £4.3m.

Andras House, headed by Rajesh Rana, above, has an extensive commercial property portfolio including a number of office buildings, restaurants, retail outlets and health clubs. It said the commercial property end of the business is almost fully let.

Despite the loss, the group said it continued to invest during 2020-21, opening a new health club at the Crowne Plaza in April 2021.

‘Pursuing developments’

Since the company launched in 1981, it has grown to become Northern Ireland’s largest hotelier, with 956 rooms across seven properties.

Andras House said it’s continuing to pursue new developments, with six live projects in the pipeline. It includes an aparthotel with offices and cafes in Belfast, with additional development planned for Portrush.

In April 2020 it bought the Dorchester House building, formerly owned by HMRC, in Belfast for an undisclosed sum, with support from Danske Bank.

At the time, it said it will transform the 10-floor, 52,000 sq ft property into grade A office space, with plans to add two additional floors and almost 10,000 sq ft extra floor space.

Mr Rana said at the time: “Great Victoria Street has been rather neglected in recent years, but we believe it will become an attractive destination following the development of the Transport Hub. We have already seen a lot of recent office activity coming back to the south city centre core.”

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