Having paid €11 million in 2015 to acquire the Premier Inn Dublin Airport Hotel from Nama, Limerick-based Kirkland Investments has instructed joint agents Savills and Cushman & Wakefield to find a buyer for the property. Since purchasing the hotel, Kirkland, which is led by its founders Robert and Rudi Butler, has increased its capacity from 155 rooms to 213 rooms through the construction of a new extension. The combination of the hotel’s additional guest accommodation, its refurbishment by the current owners and long-term lease to Premier Inn are reflected in the guide price of €33 million. The figure equates to a net initial yield of 5.35 per cent and a price per key of €154,929.
Located at Airside Business Park in Swords, the Premier Inn sits less than 10 minutes’ drive from Dublin Airport and the M1 and M50 motorways. The property’s accessibility is set to be enhanced in the next number of years with the development of the proposed Metro North rail line, which will stop at Fosterstown directly across from the hotel’s entrance. The hotel also has 201 car-parking spaces, and a dedicated shuttle-bus service to and from the airport.
The Premier Inn Dublin Airport Hotel is let under a 25-year lease from January 15th, 2018, to PI Hotels and Restaurants Ireland Ltd, guaranteed by Whitbread Group plc. The weighted average unexpired lease term is about 12 years to break and 16½ years to lease expiry.
The current passing rent of the hotel is €1,822,666 a year and the lease incorporates five-yearly rent reviews linked to the consumer price index (CPI), subject to a 4 per cent annual cap and a 0 per cent collar. Following the CPI-linked hotel rent review due in January 2028, the net initial yield could increase from its current level of 5.35 per cent to approximately 6 per cent, according to the selling agents.
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The adjoining cafe is let to Esquires Restaurant on a 25-year lease from 2004 and generates a passing rent of €100,000 a year, which is guaranteed by Whitbread Group plc. The hotel generates additional revenue from roof masts, which brings the total rental income for the property to €1,944,916 a year.
The Dublin hotel market recorded an average daily rate (ADR) of €175 in 2024, which is well up on the €142 rate recorded in 2019. The rate is forecast to increase to €176 in 2027. In terms of occupancy, Dublin recorded the second highest level of any major European city in 2024, with an average of 82 per cent of rooms occupied during the year. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) came in at €144 in 2024, which amounted to a 23 per cent increase on the €117 rate seen in 2019. RevPAR is forecast to return to €147 by 2028.
Quite apart from the current strength of the city’s hotel market, Dublin Airport recorded its busiest June ever this year, with a total of 3.54 million passengers passing through. It is on track to exceed 36 million passengers in 2025. While that level of visitor traffic offers clear potential benefit for the Premier Inn Dublin Airport Hotel, the Government’s determination to lift the airport passenger cap could present further opportunities for increasing its room count and income.
The sale of the Premier Inn Dublin Airport Hotel is being handled jointly by Kevin McMahon and James Scott of Savills and Patricia Staunton and Ryan Murphy of Cushman & Wakefield.
