Has the new Caiseal Mara owner bought the business or just the building?
The new owner of the Caiseal Mara was up from Dublin this week to look around his now possession. He got a real bargain there paying just €175,000 for a hotel with 48 bedrooms.
If he runs it right it could be worth several millions in 5-10 years time.
But has he bought the business or has he just bought the business?
The difference is important.
Important Difference
If he has just bought the building and has to build up the business from scratch he has a lot of work on his hands and a lot of expense.
I called up the auctioneers in Dublin and they were a bit flummoxed about the question and the importance of it. They told me that he had just bought the building and that he would have to talk to the sellers about the rest.
If he can get hold of the website then he can get the business up and running very quickly. When people are looking up hotels in Moville it is the current Caiseal Mara website that comes up in Google and that says the hotel is closed. Even if he builds a new website the current website will rank above it in Google for years to come.
Automatic Booking
The website has automatic booking on it so, if got control of that, he could have people automatically booking the rooms without any effort from him.
However, it is not known who owns the website. It is known, though, who owns the domain name www.CaisealMaraHotel.com. It’s a Joe Byrne from Donegal Town who owns it.
If the new owner gets hold of the domain name and website he could be up and running very quickly. However, did the bank repossess the building or did they repossess the business?
That’s a very important question for the new owner.