June was a record-breaking month for hotels in Northern Ireland, with the highest-ever daily rate achieved, a report has said.
And the purchase by an Irish group of the former Park Inn Hotel in Belfast was among the transactions helping the sector in Northern Ireland to a “very strong” first half of 2024.
Commercial property practice CBRE NI’s quarterly research report said June was a record-smashing month, with the highest-ever average daily rate and revenue per available room for Northern Ireland’s hotels.
CBRE NI managing director Brian Lavery said: “Hotel occupancy rates have continued to strengthen, with plenty of visitors now coming across the border and a plethora of cruise ship dockings.”
According to Alex Speers, associate director of hotels at CBRE, occupancy and average daily rate in the first six months of the year had out-performed 2023. In Belfast, revenue per available room was up 11% on the year before.
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Major deals in the first half included MHL Hotel Collection’s acquisition of the 145-room former Park Inn, which had been used as accommodation for asylum seekers since 2021. It is to be refurbished and rebranded by MHL as a Moxy by Marriott hotel, reopening next year.
And Mr Lavery said the “excellent performance” of hotels had meant other properties were coming onto the market for sale.
The four-star Roe Park Resort outside Limavady is being sold through CBRE Hotels with a guide price of £14m, along with the Armagh City Hotel, with a guide price of £9m.
Mr Lavery added: “Until more rooms become available in 2024/25, we anticipate room revenue to remain high.”
The Bedford Hotel at the Scottish Mutual Building is due to open next year, after a planning application was submitted by Martin Property Group to increase the bedroom count to 102. Operator Focus Hotels is to run the business, subject to a management contract.
And hotel operator Andras House, now the biggest Northern Ireland hotels group, was granted planning permission in June to convert and extend Dorchester House on Great Victoria Street into a 136-unit aparthotel.
Andras House is also to open the 83-bedroom Marcus Hotel in Portrush before The Open in 2025, with the venue trading under the Tapestry Collection by Hilton.
In April, Press Up, an Irish hospitality and hotel group, submitted a planning application to convert 34-44 Bedford Street and 4-6 Clarence Street into an 88-bedroom hotel with a rooftop restaurant and swimming pool.
And in recent months, Hastings Hotels Group completed a £15m refurbishment of The Europa Hotel, and a £0.6m renovation of the ground floor of the Culloden Estate and Spa outside Belfast.
The former Park Inn will be the fourth hotel owned and operated by MHL Hotel Collection under a franchise agreement from Marriott International. It would become the second Moxy by Marriott within the collection.