Student accommodation provider Uninest is seeking permission to convert a number of its buildings in Dublin into temporary hotels.
According to The Business Post, several planning applications that have been submitted to Dublin City Council by Uninest state that the student accommodation provider is seeking permission to rent rooms at five of its student accommodation blocks in Dublin to tourists during the 2020/2021 academic year.
Student accommodation providers need specific permission to rent rooms to tourists or to offer them to let on the residential market.
The five student accommodation blocks that Uninest wants to convert into temporary hotels are Ardcairn House in Dublin 7, which contains 571 beds, a facility on the capital's North Circular Road that contains 444 beds, two buildings on Dominick Street in Dublin 7 and The Tannery block in Dublin 8.
These five properties have a combined bed count of over 1,600.
Extra Pressure On Hotels
If Uninest receives permission to convert these facilities into temporary hotels, the move is expected to put extra pressure on Dublin hotels, which have experienced a significant decrease in occupancy rates due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has objected to student accommodation being used as tourist accommodation in recent years.
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