John Malone-backed MHL snaps up Dublin’s Brooks Hotel

The hotel is being sold by Charles Sinnott who opened it in 1997

The sale is understood to value the 98-bedroom, four-star Brooks Hotel at around €50m

Donal O'Donovan

Billionaire John Malone-backed MHL Hotel Collection has agreed a deal to buy Dublin’s Brooks Hotel on Drury Street in the city centre, the Irish Independent has learned.

Staff at the family-owned Brooks are understood to have been informed a deal was agreed on Tuesday.

It is being sold by businessman Charles Sinnott who opened the hotel in 1997 before extending it in 2003.

The sale is understood to value the 98-bedroom, four-star hotel at around €50m, similar to the price MHL paid in 2019 for the 200-bed Powerscourt Hotel and Resort in Enniskerry, just outside Dublin.

Brooks Hotel is located in the heart of Dublin’s fashionable south city centre, close to the Grafton Street shopping district and surrounded by bars and restaurants on nearby South William Street and South Great George’s Street.

Asked to comment on the deal, MHL confirmed it expects to complete the purchase over the next month or so.

Paul Higgins, Partner, MHL Hotel Collection said: “We have long admired Brooks Hotel and believe it will be a great addition to our hotel collection. We look forward to working with the team there and, post-acquisition, to continuing our tradition of continuous investment in our product and people.”

The deal will cement the MHL group’s status as the second biggest chain in the capital where it operates a number of five-star and four-star properties including the five-star InterContinental and Westin hotels. Its properties outside the capital including Glenlo Abbey in Galway, and the Limerick Strand Hotel.

Following the Brooks deal, the group will operate 13 hotels across Ireland with a combined 2,100 bedrooms.

MHL was formed in the wake of the financial crisis by US telecoms billionaire John Malone along with two Irish partners, hotelier John Lally and financier Paul Higgins.

Separately, the Radisson Hotel Group has announced plans for its first Prizeotel-branded property in the UK and Ireland which will open in Dublin’s Liberties.

Radisson said the Prizeotel brand aims to offer affordable, high-design accommodation. The property on James Street in Dublin is scheduled to open in early 2025.