Hotel rush after 10-year lull in Cork

A number of firms plan to take advantage of the rising demand for hotel beds in Cork, writes CBRE’s Denis O’Donoghue.

It is no secret that the hospitality sector in Ireland has been one of the major successes in our economic recovery story. In 2016, visitor numbers to Ireland reached more than 10 million, surpassing all previous records. While the response to rising hotel demand in the capital has been well documented, so too is Cork’s somewhat more low-key response, with 11 projects and 1,308 bedrooms at various stages of the development and planning process.

To look at the metrics behind this potential supply increase, it is important to look at the trading performance of the sector over the past number of years. The graph above, taken from Trending.ie, illustrates the trading performance of Cork hotels in terms of occupancy and average room rate from the last peak in 2007 to the end of August 2017.