Ireland’s hotel market has seen a significant uptick in investment activity in the first half of 2024, as EUR655m of properties were bought and sold.
The volume is nearly four times higher than that seen in the first half of 2023, when just EUR173m of assets traded, report agents Cushman & Wakefield. And it means that over the last 12 months close to EUR790m of hotels have sold, close to an all time high.
Big asset sales
Several major transactions helped to grow the first half total, including the sale of the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. The 265 room property was sold by Kennedy Wilson to investor Archer Capital with a price tag understood to have been close to EUR260m. In addition, a majority stake in the Dean Hotel Group changed hands. An investment vehicle led by Lifestyle Hospitality Capital acquired the stake in eight Irish hotels, which will continue to be managed by Dean Hotel Group.
Also moving into new ownership is Dublin’s Hard Rock hotel. It was bought after only four years as a Hard Rock by the Leonardo Hotels group, who have relaunched the 175 room hotel under its NYX brand. The rebrand means that there are no longer any Hard Rock hotels in the UK or Ireland.
Despite new supply coming into the market, hotel operators are continuing to see healthy trading. Cushman report revpar in Ireland was down by 1.2% in the first half, although hotel occupancy in Dublin, at 80% in the first half, was the second best for a city market in Europe.
The first half of 2024 saw 510 rooms of new supply added to the Dublin market, with a further pipeline supply of 1,700 rooms under construction across the city. The capital continues to attract international hotel brands, including CitizenM, which is building a 245 room hotel that will open in 2025. And one of Ennismore’s lifestyle brands, Hoxton, is also preparing to open its 129 room Dublin hotel by the end of 2024.
Also actively growing its presence in the Irish market is local group Dalata, which is building a 200 room Maldron branded hotel on a site adjacent to the city’s Croke Park stadium, as well as advancing plans to extend its Clayton Hotel in Cardiff Lane.
International brands head to Dublin
Hilton too is growing its Irish portfolio, with a 290 unit Home2 Suites project under construction by JMK Group in Dublin, likely to open in the second half of 2025. Looking further ahead the Standard brand will be arriving in the city in 2027, with a new 200 room hotel as part of the Dublin Arch mixed use redevelopment.
Outside Dublin, in the Irish regional market, Premier Inn opened a hotel in Cork in January 2024, and there are two more hotels in Cork preparing for openings later in the year. These additions will be a Moxy hotel and Residence Inn with a combined 194 rooms, both part of a redevelopment at Camden Quay being carried out by JMK Group.
