Dublin hotels edge towards 90% occupancy in October

Dublin hotels were 88.2 per cent full in October and achieved an average daily room rate of €142.77, data from travel research company STR shows.

The October occupancy rate was a 1.2 per cent increase on the same month last year, while the average daily room rate was up 8.5 per cent. Revenue per available room, a key metric in the hotel business, increased 9.9 per cent in October to €125.91 in Dublin.

While the hotel performance across Ireland as a whole wasn't quite as strong, occupancy, average daily room rate and the revenue per available room were all up on the same period last year. Occupancy in Ireland was 83 per cent in October, up 3.3 per cent, while the average daily room rate was €129.66, up 7.8 per cent.

For the period from the beginning of the year to October, occupancy held above the 80 per cent level across the country while the average daily rate stood at €128.17, up 7 per cent on the previous year.

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Director of client relations at STR, Sarah Duignan, says it is a good time to be an Irish hotel operator. "STR forecasts that hotel occupancy and average daily rate will be positive for Dublin and Ireland as a whole through the remainder of 2017 and continue throughout 2018 as a result of soaring inbound arrival numbers and strong economic growth," she said.

Ms Duignan also noted that while the growth of the room rates in Dublin has been a major story this year, “the Irish capital is still far from being one of Europe’s most expensive hotel markets”.