Property deal values in Ireland’s luxury hotel sector are set to surpass €1 bn in 2024 for the first time in nine years.
This is double the average for recent years excluding pandemic and nearly treble the total value of sales in 2023, when 20 hotel deals were completed, with a total deal value of between €300 – €350m. Hotel transactions last peaked at €bn in 2015.
Much of this down to just two deals, the €350m paid for the portfolio of hotels within the Dean Hotel Group, including The Dean, The Mayson, The Clarence, The Devlin, The Leinster and Glasson Lakehouse, and the five-star Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin which was the most valuable sale this year, fetching €260m. Other important sales:
- Hard Rock Hotel Dublin – Sold for €65m.
- Jacobs Inn Hostel Dublin – Sold to Spanish real estate firm Azora, price not specified.
- Mount Juliet Hotel – Price not specified; set to be bought by a company controlled by the founder of Winthrop Technologies.
- Radisson Hotel Dublin Airport – Sold for €83m to Dalata Hotel Group.
- Radisson St Helen’s Hotel – Sold to the Scally family (price not specified).
- Slieve Russel Hotel, Co Cavan – Sold for around €35m to Brady Hotels Ireland.
- Yeats Country Hotel, Sligo – Placed on the market with a guide price of €7m.
Factors driving this growth include strong demand from affluent buyers, the resilience of hotels as an asset class, and the ongoing recovery of the tourism sector post-pandemic. Ironically, hotel revenues are expected to struggle in 2024, with a forecasted decline of 5pc overall.
Despite a projected decline in transaction volume for 2025, experts anticipate a stable market as luxury accommodations continue to attract interest from both domestic and international investors.
Of the 834 hotels registered with Fáilte Ireland, only 39 hotels are classified as five-star – less than 5pc of the total hotel stock.
