This year has proven to be a very successful one for hotels in Dublin, with average occupancy rates running at approximately 82% while the average room rate has been around €129 per night.
However, as reported by The Irish Times, Irish Hotel Federation (IHF) chief executive Tim Fenn has said that despite the success experienced by hotels in the capital this year, as well as in regions located along the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East, there are still areas in the country where business could have been better, particularly in the midlands.
According to the IH?F, there are currently 820 hotels in Ireland with a total of 57,000 bedrooms between them. The latter figure is up 659 on the same time in 2016, yet still 3,000 below the number at the peak of the market in 2008.
Fenn said: "We expect to see 1,000 new rooms in Dublin in 2018 and another 2,000 in 2019."
The first half of this year saw the sale of 18 hotels valued at almost €75 million in the Republic of Ireland. This was down from 29 hotels sold at a value of €136 million during the same period last year.
Hotel sales for the second half of 2017 and the year as a whole were given a boost this week with the sales of Carton House in Kildare and the Knightsbrook in Trim for €57 million and €19.5 million, respectively, while the €87 million sale of Dublin's Gibson Hotel is expected to be finalised before the end of December.
Although there are a number of new hotels in the pipeline for Dublin in 2018, including Dalata's Grand Canal adjacent Clayton Hotel, a Maldron on Kevin Street and new venues from both Starwood and the Pressup Group, the McGettigan Group's Address hotel on Amiens Street was the only hotel to open in the capital in 2017.
Meanwhile, work is underway on a new Maldron hotel in Cork, with planning permission pending for a floating hotel at the city's Penrose Quay, an extention to the Metropole Hotel, and a new hotel and office development on Horgan's Quay.
