There has been a lot of talk in the media recently regarding the need for additional hotel rooms in Dublin.

• CSO released visitor numbers for the first nine months of 2015 being up 12.5%
• Lonely Planet listed Ireland as the 3rd best country to visit in 2016
• Overseas tourism brings in revenue of €4bn annually
• Dublin Airport has seen growth of 15% so far this year
• Transatlantic flights are up 18%
• Ireland is home to some of the world's largest multi-national businesses

Jones Lang LaSalle produced a recent report on the hotel sector which also had interesting comments.

• There was three significant new hotels developed and opened in Dublin in the past decade, adding 500 rooms.
• Their view is that occupancy rates would remain at a healthy 80% even if an additional 3,000 rooms were to come online immediately.
• Current capacity in Dublin is 18,531 rooms over 147 hotels representing 41,816 beds.
• New developments and extensions which are confirmed for 2015 and 2016 will add 280 rooms.
• There are 3,415 new rooms in pipeline, c. 50% of which have planning.

There is no doubt that the strong dollar has improved the figures in recent times and it is likely that the cost of a new hotel development is still more expensive than rescuing an existing hotel from a distressed borrower.  However, it still seems clear that there is a need to expand the current hotel stock to continue to cater to the country's important tourist and travelling corporate industry.

What questions do you have?

We are happy to help. Please post your comment below or call Paul Leonard, Partner at Cooney Carey, on 01 677 9000. Alternatively, send him an email: pleonard@cooneycarey.ie

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