Revenues last year plummeted by €24.8 million at hotel group TIFCO before it struck a deal earlier this year with the State to operate hotel Covid-19 quarantine facilities.
TIFCO is Ireland's second largest hotel group and new accounts show that revenues last year declined by 67pc or €24.8m from €36.48m to €11.87m due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The plunging revenues put TIFCO Ltd into the red for 2020 where it recorded a pre-tax loss of €1.17m compared to a pre-tax profit of €7.8m in 2019.
The TIFCO hotel group operates the Crowne Plaza Hotels at Dublin airport, Blachardstown and Dundalk, the Hilton Hotel at Dublin Kilmainham, the Holiday Inn Express Dublin airport and a collection of non-branded hotels.
In 2020, TIFCO was able to cushion some of the revenue hit by securing a number of contracts from State bodies during 2020 related to the outbreak of Covid-19.
A note attached to the accounts states that the contracts have continued into 2021.
The note further states that the hotel quarantine contract was secured in April of this year where the Crowne Plaza Dublin hotels have been used exclusively under the contract.
Earlier this year, documents published by the Dept of Health show that the official value of the initial three-month contract award to the Tifco hotel group to operate the quarantine system for visitors to Ireland was €5.4m.
The documents state that it is anticipated that the cost of the mandatory hotel quarantine system will be "of neutral value" to taxpayers due to the charges to those being quarantined.
According to the Tifco directors, the Covid-19 pandemic "has severely impacted the business in 2020".
The directors state that the hotels have re-opened though occupancy is low.
"We have been able to mitigate some of this risk by being awarded a contract for hotel quarantine services.
"The outlook remains uncertain and in particular when business and leisure travel will return to historic levels," they said.
The accounts state that cost reduction plans have been implemented by management in line with the reduced level of activity.
Numbers employed by TIFCO last year reduced from 297 to 183 and staff costs reduced by 68% from €9.8m to €3.11m.
The accounts state that the staff costs "are net of Government wage subsidy".
The loss last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €3.55m.
