Premier Inn's Irish revenues rise 85% to €35m
The Premier Inn operates six hotels in Ireland, five in Dublin and one on Cork's Morrison's Island.
Premier Inn owner the Whitbread Group reported a 14% drop in its annual profit, hurt by rising costs of living and a growth revival strategy that targeted underperforming restaurants.
The company operates six hotels in Ireland, five in Dublin and one in Cork, with plans to open a second Cork hotel on the site of the Coliseum.
The UK company reported an adjusted pretax profit of £483m (€563.1m) for the year ended February 27, down from last year's £561m (€660m).
In Ireland, revenues rose to £29.6m (€34.8m) in the year to the end of February compared to £16m (€18.8m) the year before.
The company, which owns more than 900 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Germany, is facing significant headwinds in its core UK market as high inflation and rising living costs have led to consumers cutting back on discretionary spending.
The company is closing 238 underperforming branded restaurants and turning them into hotel rooms to combat weak growth at its UK inns.
Premier Inn opened a new hotel on Cork's Morrison's Island in January 2024. The company also acquired the former Colliseum cinema and gaming centre on the city's Brian Boru Street for €5.5m. In December, Cork City Council planners ordered Premier Inn to go back to the drawing board for their plans to build a 173-bed hotel on the site.
Planners said the proposed design would result “in a large generic block”, at odds with the surrounding historic environment. That environment includes the Victorian buildings of MacCurtain St’s Architectural Conservation Area (ACA); the former postal sorting office, a protected structure on Brian Boru St and Trinity Presbyterian Church at the bottom of Summerhill North, also a protected structure as well as a local landmark building.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
