Irish airport operator daa is seeking expressions of interest to design, build, finance and operate a new 400-bedroom terminal-linked hotel at Dublin Airport.
The new 4-star-plus hotel, which will be located on a site directly linked to Terminal 2 (T2), will be one of Ireland’s largest hotels. The hotel will be operated by the winning bidder for 100 years, before being transferred back to daa.
Planning permission has already been granted for the site, which is located between T2 and the adjacent multi-story car parking area; however, this permission runs out in March 2019. The winning bidder will have to apply for new planning permission for the hotel and may therefore decide to make modifications to the proposed internal layouts and bedroom configurations.
“This is a unique opportunity to build and operate a new terminal-linked hotel at one of Ireland’s premier locations,” said Vincent Harrison, managing director, Dublin Airport. “The airport and the greater Dublin area both require additional hotel beds and this development will bring significant economic benefits both to the local Fingal area and to the greater Dublin region.
“International research shows that terminal-linked hotels generate better room rates than those that are not directly linked to a terminal.”
Dave Murray, director, CBRE Hotels, the company retained by daa to seek expressions of interest for the project, said, “We are expecting strong interest from both Irish and international consortia. As a terminal-linked property, this will be the flagship hotel on the Dublin Airport campus, which will give it a significant trading advantage over its competitors as well as other planned hotel developments within the north Dublin area.”
Dublin Airport is one of the most important economic assets in the country. It supports or facilitates a total of 117,300 jobs – including the 19,200 jobs on campus – and contributes €8.3bn (US$10bn) annually to the economy. The new hotel is expected to create about 250 new jobs at Dublin Airport when it opens, while a further 150 people will be employed during the construction phase of the project.