The new owners of the Lough Erne Resort plan to spend “several million” on the hotel over the next three years.

American hoteliers Mark Ward and Jeff Mahan were in the Fermanagh hotel last week to close the deal which had been held up since last October, due to a legal dispute with a local landowner over the signing of a lease.

The purchase of the five star hotel was completed at midnight last Wednesday by a US investment group led by Vine Avenue Advisors, headed by Chicago-based Michael Saliba, and TRU Hotels and Resorts, headed by Mr. Ward and Mr. Mahan, who will oversee the management of the resort.

In an exclusive interview with The Impartial Reporter, the pair reveal that their plans include contacting Nick Faldo, who originally designed the Lough Erne Faldo Championship Course, to ensure the course is ready in time for the 2017 Irish Open. They also intend to renovate the Castle Hume golf course. A survey will be conducted with the existing golf club members before deciding if they will implement a new pricing structure. They say they intend to “embrace the local community” and need to increase membership because “the success of the resort depends on it”.

The hotel will be renovated with carpets and furniture replaced and “completion work” carried out on the exterior.

The marketing budget will “significantly increase” to ensure “the whole world knows about the Lough Erne Resort”.

Describing the Lough Erne Resort as “the crown jewel of Northern Ireland tourism”, Mr. Ward states: “We are really excited to be here.” Having spent recent weeks in the resort and around the Fermanagh area, the golf enthusiasts comment that “the residents of Enniskillen and Fermanagh have been warm and extremely welcoming”.

Apart from Hawaii, this is their first hotel purchase outside of the United States mainland.

They were made aware of the hotel’s existence by an Irish American member of their hotel group who had come to Ireland to seek potential investment opportunities following the crash of the Celtic Tiger.

“He looked around for several years before finding this and calling us. We came over immediately and of course we fell in love with the place and saw the potential here,” Mr. Ward states, adding: “We really didn’t have any predetermined notions to come here, it just happened that way.” They were not aware that the G8 had been held at the Lough Erne Resort until after they had voiced their interest in the property. In fact, they state: “In the US, no-one knows about [the Lough Erne Resort], even people who knew about the G8 in Ireland, they didn’t know about the Resort.” Mr. Ward adds: “It was an added bonus when we came here to find out that the G8 was held here.” When they discovered the property, “there were a couple of other offers on the table and the administrators were about ready to go to contract”, Mr. Ward explains: “We came in and I think because of the financial strength of our group we were able to convince them. We outbid the others but we had a very short amount of time to really study the property; we did a little bit on faith.

“Normally on an investment like this you would take three to six months of due diligence before you would decide to purchase it, you would have a pretty definitive plan and a definitive budget. We didn’t have that, we had two weeks.” It is understood that the hotel was purchased for around £8 million.

The original intention was to close the deal last October. “Then we would have had the winter off-season to do what we wanted to do,” Mr. Ward says. They met with the neighbouring local land owners when they first visited the hotel last summer. Commenting on the legal dispute that has dragged out until recent weeks, Mr. Ward says: “We spent some time when we were first looking at the resort with both adjacent land owners and we had a really good chat with them, it’s all positive.” With the 2017 Irish Open in mind, the hoteliers want to enhance the resort’s golf product.

“While the golf course is stunning as it is and is in great shape, for Jeff and I who are both golfers, it’s as nice as a resort level course should be. But for a championship course like the Irish Open we are probably going to bring Nick Faldo’s people in to restore the course to whatever his original vision was,” Mr. Ward states.

“We do not have an agreement with him but it would be our intention to try and sit down with him soon and also to make the course into better condition than it is, the greens faster than they are, spend a lot of money on the sand traps.” Asked if they are willing to include and accommodate locals in their golf membership, Mr. Ward replies: “Absolutely, our philosophy is to embrace the local community, be part of the local community, to understand the local culture, not to move too quickly.” Mr. Mahan adds: “We’d love to increase the play on Lough Erne. Some of the renovation and deferred maintenance needs to happen with the Castle Hume course also; we’d love to bring that more into the community.

“[Membership fees] might change a little bit but providing better quality and better value and more resources will be the first play.

“Obviously the golf course could stand a lot more play than it gets,” Mr. Ward states. “We know from the few members that we have had discussions with they would all like to see more play. The success of the resort really depends on it.” The entire property leadership team met last Friday to discuss what needs to be done. “We will be getting their advice and input and we’ll put together a nice little plan,” says Mr. Mahan, adding: “Obviously it’s a beautiful resort, it’s not that old, there’s a lot that is already right and there’s a lot that’s in really good condition. It’s not like we are going to make any drastic changes by any means.” Attracting US tourists to the resort will be a key driver. Mr. Ward states: “We think the potential is incredible.” Mr. Mahan adds: “Northern Ireland, Ireland, UK, Europe, USA the whole world needs to know about the Lough Erne Resort.” Local custom will remain important, they state, with local packages available during the off-season.

Kilkenny native Andrew Phelan will remain in the management team.

The brainchild of Belcoo businessman Jim Treacy, the five star resort was put into administration in May 2011, owing £25 million to Bank of Scotland Ireland which decided to pull out of Ireland completely. At the time he blasted the bank as being “immoral” for its failure to take a long term view of the business which was making a £600,000 operational profit in only its third year of business.

Commending Mr. Treacy’s “vision”, Mr. Mahan states: “We think it’s really appropriate that we credit the original developer with creating a true gem. He had a vision that couldn’t be duplicated. It’s a fabulous asset and that’s a credit to him.” The pair recognise that “it’s a challenge, we’ve got our work ahead of us for sure”. They conclude: “We will be spending several million dollars over the next two to three years renovating the resort.”