Irish hotels are coming on the market in greater numbers, with double the amount of deals over the first quarter of the year than we saw in the opening three months of 2013.
Estate agents Savills calculate that 13 hotels have been sold so far this year and that the total value of the deals was €85m. That compares to six hotel sales for €34m in 2013.
Savills also said that the figures do not factor in the number of hotels that are now sale agreed.
Significant hotel sales completed in the first quarter of 2014 include the Hilton Hotel in Dublin, which sold for about €30m. The former Clarion Dublin hotel at Dublin Airport and the Doonbeg Golf Resort were also both sold for about €15m.
Dublin properties launched recently include the Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links and the Pearse Hotel. The Westin Hotel is also due to come to the market shortly.
Two weeks ago the Irish hotel operator Dalata raised €265m through a listing of its shares on the Irish Stock Exchange. It said the bulk of the proceeds of that flotation will be used to acquire up to 25 hotels here.
"It has been a solid start to the year for the Irish hotel property market with almost €150m of hotels sold or at the sale agreed stage," commented Tom Barrett, Head of Hotels and Leisure at Savills.
