A market insight report undertaken by JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group predicts that Dublin is suffering a major shortage in hotel rooms, and that it has an urgent need for an additional 3,000 rooms to satisfy current demand. The report states that a failure to address this supply shortfall could have significant negative impact on Irish tourism in the city.

For example, one of Dublin’s most high-profile international events, The Web Summit which took place last week, will be relocated to Lisbon next year, with the organisers citing the lack of good quality hotel rooms in the city centre as one of the primary reasons for this decision. It has been estimated that the loss of this single event will cost the Irish economy €100m.

Daniel O’Connor, senior VP of Hotels at JLL, says: “Improving levels of corporate and leisure bed night demand in Dublin City are fuelling the demand for new hotel developments. Such is the strength of the Dublin hotel market we estimate that average occupancy levels in the city would still remain at a healthy 80%, even if 3,000 additional guestrooms were to come online today.”

Dublin City is currently serviced by around 19,000 hotel rooms. Less than 300 additional rooms are predicted to come online by December 2016, leaving a serious shortfall and the potential for shrewd landlords in the city to take advantage of short-term letting opportunities.