Hotel and aparthotel planning applications in Dublin — 253 files in three years, three-quarters of them in the city

In the 36 months to 14 September 2026 the seven Greater Dublin registers received 253 applications whose description mentions a hotel, aparthotel or hostel. One hundred and forty-one were granted and 35 refused, an 80% rate, and ten are open today. Dublin City accounts for 185 of the 253, Meath 18, Kildare 16, South Dublin and Wicklow 14 each, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown five and Fingal one. The last two are undercounts, because their registers hold a short description; a Fingal hotel at the airport can be on file as "development at" an address.

What a hotel file is

Most of the 253 are not new hotels. The keyword catches the extension of an existing one, a change of use into or out of hotel use, signage, a rooftop bar, retention of a marquee, and an apartment scheme whose description says the site is "adjacent to the hotel". Reading the Dublin City files in the window, the new-build and major-conversion hotels are a minority, and they are the ones that matter for a neighbour or an investor:

• A ten-year permission sought for the Citigroup building at 1 North Wall Quay, Dublin 1, lodged on 24 July 2026 (WEB2850/26) after a first lodgement four days earlier was invalidated; the observation window has closed and the file is undecided.
• A 188-bedroom hotel of up to five storeys at the IDA Business and Technology Park on the Donore Road, Drogheda, to Meath County Council, lodged on 3 June 2026 and undecided.
• The change of use of the first to third floors of 13–14 Dame Court, Dublin 2, from nightclub to a 14-bedroom boutique hotel, lodged on 25 June 2026.
• Revisions to easyHotel's permitted scheme at 28–31 Benburb Street and Wood Lane, Dublin 7, lodged on 7 July 2026.
• Hotel works on protected structures: 30–33 College Green, where the façade and chimneys are retained and the rest rebuilt, granted on the second lodgement (WEB2128/26, lodged 8 May 2026); 130 Baggot Street Lower with Pembroke Street, lodged on 30 June 2026; the Alex Hotel on Cumberland Street South, granted in 2026 (WEB1779/26).

Where hotels are refused

Dublin City refused 26 of its 126 decided hotel files, about one in five, and the other councils refused between one and two each. The refusals in the city are of three kinds. The first is the plan's hotel policy: the 2022 development plan asks for a mix of uses in the core and resists hotels and aparthotels on sites that should be housing, so a hotel on a residentially zoned site, or one that displaces a permitted apartment scheme, is refused on the plan's hotel and aparthotel policy and the zoning. The second is heritage: a hotel in a Georgian terrace or an architectural conservation area is refused where the works to a protected structure go beyond what Part IV allows, and the College Green file shows how narrow the permitted band is. The third is amenity for the street: a rooftop bar, a late-night terrace, a coach set-down on a narrow road.

Outside the city the register is small and the refusals are scattered: a temporary five-year change of use of a three-storey building at Knockmitten in the Western Industrial Estate to a hotel was refused by South Dublin on 15 July 2026 (SD25A/0212W), and Fingal's one file was refused.

Hostels and short-term letting

The match includes "hostel", and the line between a hostel, an aparthotel and short-term letting of apartments is where several of the refusals sit. A hostel is a change of use from residential and needs permission; a building let by the night as apartments is also a change of use, since the 2019 regulations on short-term letting in rent pressure zones, and the change-of-use guide covers the section 5 declaration a landlord can seek to settle which side of the line a building is on. The Grant's Row file in the table, an office to a tourist hostel in Dublin 2, is the ordinary case: it will be decided on bin storage, fire safety and the plan's mix-of-uses policy, not on whether a hostel is welcome.

Frequently asked questions

How many hotel planning applications are there in Dublin?

Two hundred and fifty-three applications mentioning a hotel, aparthotel or hostel reached the seven Greater Dublin registers in the 36 months to 14 September 2026, 185 of them to Dublin City. One hundred and forty-one were granted and 35 refused; most of the files are extensions, changes of use and signage rather than new hotels.

Why does Dublin City refuse hotels?

The 2022 to 2028 development plan resists hotels on sites it wants for housing and asks for a mix of uses in the core, and much of the city's hotel stock is in protected structures where Part IV limits the works. Twenty-six of the city's 126 decided hotel files in the window were refused.

Does converting an office or pub to a hotel need permission?

Yes, as a material change of use under section 34, and the Dame Court, Grant's Row and Knockmitten files in the table are that application. The decision turns on zoning, the plan's hotel policy, fire safety and servicing.

Can I object to a hotel near me?

Yes. A written submission with the €20 fee within five weeks of the council receiving the application. Making the submission is what gives you the right to appeal the decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

Every file in the table above opens on its own page with the council's document link. The change-of-use guide covers the conversions; the protected structures guide explains the heritage refusals. See the docklands hotel files on the Explorer.

Figures from the register on 14 September 2026 (live callouts refresh hourly); law checked 14 September 2026. Check with the council or a planning consultant before relying on this.