MHL Hotel Collection, the hotel group backed by American billionaire John Malone, has agreed to buy two hotels serving Dublin Airport from Tifco in a deal understood to be worth €100 million.
The four-star Crowne Plaza and three-star Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport will be the 15th and 16th hotels acquired by MHL since its formation in 2013, when the deal, which is subject to approval by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, is completed.
The two hotels have a combined key count of 423 rooms, comprising 209 bedrooms and suites at the Crowne Plaza adjacent to the airport at Santry Demesne in Dublin 9, and 214 rooms at the nearby Holiday Inn Express.
Industry sources told The Irish Times that the transaction, which the parties expect to be concluded by the end of the summer, is worth around €100 million.
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Tifco operated the two properties under the IHG-owned Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands.
[ US fund Apollo raises €204m to buy Irish hotel group TifcoOpens in new window ]
In a statement, MHL co-founder and partner Paul Higgins said the agreement was the group’s “most significant” transaction in 10 years.
He said it would allow MHL “to participate in the Dublin Airport hotel market where we have not had a presence to date”.
Enda O’Meara, chief executive of Apollo Management-owned Tifco, said: “We are very happy that MHL Hotel Collection have signed an agreement to purchase the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport and Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport hotels, as they will continue to work with the wonderful teams at the hotels and grow on their legacy of excellent service and hospitality established over the past 23 years.”
The sale of the portfolio, dubbed Project Skyway, was handled by agents CBRE Hotels and JLL.
Paul Collins, head of hotels at CBRE Ireland, said the two properties occupied a “prime position in the heart of Dublin Airport”.
He said the impending removal of the passenger cap made it “an excellent time to deploy capital into the Dublin Airport market”.
Daniel O’Connor, head of hotels and living at JLL Ireland, said the transaction marked the largest and most valuable hotel deal ever at Dublin Airport.
“Furthermore, it is the most valuable hotel sale year-to-date in 2026 in Ireland,” he said. “The sales process produced strong domestic and international buyer interest, including multiple rounds of bidding, for Dublin’s only dual-branded hotel asset.”
MHL, which was founded by Malone, Higgins, and John Lally, recently completed a €190 million refinancing of four of its hotels with AIB.
Among other properties, the group owns the College Green, Intercontinental, Trinity City, Hilton Charlemont, Spencer, Morgan, Brooks and Moxy hotels in Dublin. Outside the city, it owns the five-star Powerscourt Hotel Resort & Spa in Co Wicklow and the Galmont in Galway city.
Tifco, meanwhile, was sold by Goldman Sachs to Apollo in 2018 in a €600 million deal.
Once the second-largest hotel owner in the Republic, the group has sold many of its assets in recent years, but continues to own the Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin 3, as well as the Crowne Plaza Blanchardstown in Dublin 15, among others.
