Harvey’s Point Set To Invest €1.2m In Renovations This Year

The hotel was opened in 1989 by Jody Gysling, who died last December, and operated by hoteliers Deirdre McGlone and Marc Gysling for most of the past three decades. In March 2019, the property was acquired by the TMR Hotel Collection, an investment fund that owns 13 properties in Ireland.

TMR Hotel Collection Investment

Niall Coffey, who became general manager of the hotel in February 2020, said that Jody Gysling had created something “very special in Harvey’s” and was a man with “outstanding vision”.

“When some groups buy a hotel, they go in and want to do their own thing and change many things. Thomas Roggla, the owner of the hotel now, he wants to continue what Jody Gysling, Deirdre McGlone and Marc Gysling created,” Coffey told The Business Post.

Last year, the TMR Hotel Collection invested €3 million in the property, to add 28 new rooms to the hotel. The investment came after it spent more than €1 million to renovate the hotel’s ballroom in 2019.

Coffey said that a further €1.2 million would be invested in the hotel during 2022, to complete renovation works on existing hotel rooms.

“If anything positive is to come out of closing the hotel during the pandemic, it’s the new rooms. We had already appointed a builder before the pandemic, so when we were allowed, we were able to get the works done during the pandemic.

“We were lucky that the builder was working with us already and had our materials – because we’ve heard of shortages – but we were able to push ahead and get the work done quicker.”

Renovation Details

The building work involved creating 28 new rooms in total, including 20 new upstairs suites with private balconies. Following the development, Harvey’s Point now has 88 bedrooms.

Prior to joining Harvey’s Point, Coffey was general manager at Aghadoe Heights, in Kerry – another property that is part of the TMR Hotel Collection. Soon after he joined the Donegal hotel, the venue was forced to close due to pandemic-related restrictions.

Coffey said that following a big hit in 2020, the venue recorded a stronger performance in 2021.

Commenting on the forthcoming 12 months, he said that inflationary costs were of great concern to the business.

“Our electricity bill has doubled. Food is quite expensive – even a simple thing like flour has really gone up – but there’s only a certain amount you can charge a customer. We need to be very clever in how we manage our business. We can’t just charge the customer.”

In the coming year, a large number of weddings are scheduled to take place in the hotel, and Coffey expects a high occupancy rate in the summer months due to staycations.

“I think Irish people will holiday at home again in 2022. I don’t think we will continue to see the same level as we did in 2021, but I think there are still a lot of people who will choose to holiday in Ireland,” he said.