UK: Staycity Group has opened its seventh property in Dublin, and has agreed a £30m loan facility from OakNorth Bank.
The Europe-wide operator has undergone a period of prolific expansion over the past two years, opening 2,700 apartments across its Staycity Aparthotels and Wilde Aparthotels brands.
The loan from OakNorth Bank sees the conversion of a £15m COVID support loan, granted in 2020, become a regular loan facility on the back of Staycity’s like-for-like RevPAR (rooms revenue per available room) and operating margins now ahead of 2019 levels, together with healthy bookings into the final trading quarter of 2022. This robust performance leaves Staycity with around €55m of liquidity and an expectation of being debt-free in three years.
Further contingency has also been provided by ISIF, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, which has extended Staycity’s credit facility from €20m to €30m for five years if required.
The operator’s most recent opening, and seventh for Dublin, is on Little Mary Street, and is known as Dublin City Centre on the booking page of the website. It’s the largest of Staycity’s 32 European properties, with 340 studio and one-bed apartments.
Staycity Group CEO and co-founder Tom Walsh said: “Dublin City Centre completes our current phase of openings in Dublin and we’re delighted to be able to offer our guests a great choice of properties across the city. Dublin is immensely important to us and it’s fantastic to see the growing popularity of the city as a destination for both leisure and increasingly returning business travellers.”
The opening means Stay City has nearly 1,200 apartments in its home city and the operator’s rapid growth in Dublin has created some 300 jobs.
Walsh added: “Staycity is going into 2023 in a strong position with trading this year having surpassed our expectations. Our sales have been driven by leisure recovery and growth through our corporate channels. We are also pleased that our guest scores across both brands are very high. Looking forward, we’re cautious as all businesses are facing a number of macro economic threats including high levels of inflation, rising energy costs and the on-going impact of the war in Ukraine. With these new OakNorth and ISIF facilities in place we have contingency plans if the economy moves into recession. We are immensely proud and grateful for the on-going support and recognition we have from these two institutions.”
Staycity opened its sixth aparthotel in France this summer and Wayne Arthur, Staycity’s CFO, has also contributed to our recent piece about the energy crisis for the hospitality sector.
