The number of Irish hotels being rebranded is set to increase, according to property consultants, Savills Ireland. In its latest report, Savills note that the high volume of hotel sales in recent years has resulted in a significant change in ownership structures – enabling some to rebrand and others to be subsumed into existing larger hotel chains.
Tom Barrett, Director of Hotels & Leisure at Savills Ireland, commented:
“Traditionally, Ireland hasn’t been a location for hotel chains or brands; however, we are now witnessing a change of the guard in that respect. For example, in January the Four Seasons hotel in Dublin was re-named as the InterContinental Dublin. Last year, the Burlington Hotel was re-named as DoubleTree by Hilton and in the near future, Dalata will re-brand eight Irish and five UK hotels under the Clayton brand. We expect this trend to continue as more hotels are brought to the market for sale.”
Economic Factors
Elsewhere in the report Savills notes that strong economic factors should continue to boost the hotel sector. John McCartney, Economist and Director of Research at Savills Ireland commented:
“Strong economic growth in Ireland, the UK and the US in 2015 will support a further increase in domestic and overseas trips taken in Ireland. Moreover, Quantitative Easing (QE) will continue to put pressure on an already declining Euro which will be particularly beneficial for visitors from non-Euro Area countries who will get great value for money when visiting Ireland.”
Hotel Sales
According to Savills, these improving economic factors will result in the continued growth of hotel occupancy which, in turn, will support hotel trade and sales going forward. According to Tom Barrett:
“With more trips being taken, demand for hotel accommodation is strengthening and this is feeding through to an increase in hotel transactions. In 2014, almost sixty hotels changed ownership in deals worth €440m, double the value of 2013 transactions. In the first months of 2015, two notable deals have already been completed with Lone Star purchasing the Jurys Inn Group for over €900m and Dalata completing its purchase of nine Moran Bewley hotels. This is in addition to over €200m of individual hotel sales. Moreover, there were two substantial off-market transactions – the InterContinental Hotel in Ballsbridge acquired by John Malone and the Holiday Inn Belfast – another Dalata acquisition.”
The full report is available here
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