Prem Group ‘actively looking’ for properties to house staff

Prem Group, the Dublin-based hotel operator behind the Premier Suites brand of serviced apartments, is “actively looking” to buy properties to house its staff to attract and retain workers amid soaring rents and elevated house prices, its chief executive Jim Murphy has said.

The group, in which Fortress Investment Group took a majority stake in 2021, confirmed it has already acquired one property to accommodate workers in Killarney, Co Kerry, where it operates the four-star Cahernane House Hotel.

Mr Murphy told The Irish Times that the Prem Group – which owns, leases and manages more than 30 properties in Ireland, Britain, Belgium, sometimes in partnership with other international brands like Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza – is actively looking for other properties around the country.

“If you want to attract and retain staff, you have to,” Mr Murphy said, adding that taking away the “headache” of finding suitable accommodation can be a selling point to workers in a highly competitive market for talent in the hospitality sector, which has struggled to recruit workers in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic

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Mr Murphy was speaking on Sunday after Supermacs chief executive Pat McDonagh told the Business Post that he will have to provide accommodation for up to a quarter of his staff if he wants to attract workers against the backdrop of the housing crisis.

Mr McDonagh, who also owns a portfolio of hotels in the midlands and west of Ireland, said: “Of the probably 1,400 to 1,500 we are employing at the minute, we have about 150 staying in accommodation that we have either sourced or supplied.” While it is “not a huge amount”, he said “it is growing” amid elevated rents and house prices and a shortage of rentable accommodation across the State.

Other hotels – including the Merrion Hotel in Dublin 2 and the Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa in Co Wicklow – are also weighing their options.

The Irish Times reported last December that the Merrion is looking at building accommodation for staff at the rear of a property it owns on Merrion Square.

“People on salaries that range from let’s say €13 to €18 an hour, can’t really afford accommodation in the city centre,” said general manager Peter MacCann at the time.

“So they’re forced out to Bettystown [in Meath], Gorey [in Wicklow] and all over the place. Commute times and public transport availability for shift work in a place like this just doesn’t work.”

The John Malone-led consortium behind Powerscourt, meanwhile, has been granted planning permission to build a 56-bed staff accommodation complex on an existing car park.

Mr Murphy said that the issue of talent retention amid rising rents and a cost-of-living crisis is not unique to Ireland. He said that Prem Group is also looking at buying properties in the Netherlands and Belgium where it operates hotels and apartments under brands including its own Leopold Hotel Collection and Premier Suites.

He said the group is also working with third-level institutions across the Continent to find and attract young workers.