THE TRAVELODGE hotel chain posted pretax losses of more than €800,000 in Ireland last year according to abridged accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office.

Smorgs (Ireland) Limited, the company that trades as the Travelodge chain in Ireland, posted pretax losses of €870,415 for 2009, a significant drop from the pretax profits of €1.2 million recorded the previous year.

The company booked an operating loss of €877,165 last year, despite a reduction of €313,000 in the administrative expenses. In 2008, an operating profit of €1.2 million was recorded.

Travelodge Ireland’s tangible fixed assets stood at €7.24 million at the end of 2009, while its total assets less liabilities stood at just over €20 million.

Staff numbers fell by 14 last year, with the company employing a monthly average of 121 workers. The total cost of wages paid out by the company in 2009 was €2.8 million; this compares with €3.1 million the previous year.

Notes to the abridged accounts show that Smorgs Ltd entered into a lease agreement with Russki Developments in May 2008 to lease the Dublin Airport Hotel in Ballymun for €600,000 a year.

However, under a put/call option agreement, Smorgs has the ability to buy the property between October 2013 and October 2015 at an agreed price of €14 million from BBT Developments. The directors of the company noted that they “are of the opinion” that the company will exercise its rights under the option in accordance with the terms and agreements of this agreement.

The Irish chain of the Travelodge hotel and restaurant portfolio was taken over in 2004 by former Jurys Doyle executives Séamus McGowan and Richard O’Sullivan at a cost of €22.5 million. The hotel chain operates a low-cost business model cutting out frills and extras.