One third of Irish hotels have changed hands since 2011 for a combined sales value of approximately €2.4bn, according to a study from property consultants, Savills Ireland. The study reported that Dublin, Cork and Limerick experienced the highest number of hotel sales.
Discussing Dublin's hotel scene, Tom Barrett, head of hotels & leisure at Savills Ireland said: "Hotel development, like many areas of the property sector, stopped during the downturn, so there is a big element of catch up in Dublin. This, coupled with air traffic surpassing all previous records in 2016 – with further growth expected this year – means there is a real need for new bedroom stock in the right areas."
New supply will remain small in 2017 with approximately 180 bedrooms, which are extensions to existing properties. The most significant addition is 73 bedrooms to the North Star Hotel on Amiens Street in Dublin 1. Savills expect approximately 1,500 net new bedrooms in 2018, helped by Dalata opening two new hotels, a Clayton on Charlemont Street in Dublin 2 (178 bedrooms) and a Maldron on Kevin Street Upper in Dublin 8.
A 202-bedroom Aloft Hotel is under construction as part of a mixed-use scheme in Dublin’s Liberties and Oakmount will also open a 41 bedroom hotel in Ranelagh.
2019 could see the delivery of in excess of 2,000 bedrooms in Dublin which will include the new 402-bedroom Terminal 2 linked hotel at Dublin Airport and extensions to a number of existing airport hotels. There are ten potential new Dublin aparthotel developments raging in size from 50 to 250 bedrooms, which are described as an "interesting trend" by Savills.
2016 saw over €850m of hotels traded, the second largest year of the five-year period examined and with such an intense level of activity over the past five years, Savills expects the volume of sales to normalise in the coming years.
