Irish hotel group Dalata swoops in for £91m Aldgate site
Ireland’s largest hotel operator has agreed a £91m deal for a site under development on the edge of the Square Mile.
In the latest sign of London’s burgeoning hotel market, the aim-listed Dalata Hotel Group has snapped up the Clayton Hotel in Aldgate, which is situated near the new Crossrail station at Whitechapel.
The deal for the Clayton development, which is set to open its 212 rooms in December this year, comes several weeks after a new report showed that the hotel industry saw a 37 per cent rise in newly built hotels in the last year, reflecting a 2.4 per cent growth in the UK’s hotel supply.
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In Greater London alone more than 20 new build hotels have opened in the last 12 months, according to findings from the annual UK Hotel Development Opportunities report.
"London is a very attractive hotel city – for tourists it is a place on everyone's bucket list" according to Dermot Crowley, the chief financial officer of Dalata.
Crowley told Morning Wire that while he was cautious in the run up to Brexit negotiations with the EU, "the outlook of the hotel market broadly speaking is good".
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He added: "The worst time to buy a hotel is when everyone thinks the market is strong, because that’s when the prices are at their highest. Areas like the fringe of the City are a low-risk hotel market, with good areas for transport and many generators of demand."