Fast-expanding aparthotel operator Staycity Group has opened its seventh property in Dublin, and announced on top of that a five-year £30m loan facility from OakNorth Bank.
Over the past two years, despite the pandemic, Staycity has undergone a period of prolific expansion, opening 2,700 self-catering apartments across its Staycity Aparthotels and Wilde Aparthotels brands. The most recent opened being its new flagship in Dublin’s Little Mary Street, the largest of its 32 European properties to date with 340 studio and one-bed apartments.
The new backing 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 and operating margins now ahead of 2019 levels together with healthy bookings into the final trading quarter of 2022.
This good 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.
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 its fantastic to see the growing popularity of the city as a destination for both leisure and increasingly returning business travellers. […] 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.
Tom Walsh, co-founder and CEO of Staycity
