RIU Hotels & Resorts, the Spanish hotel group headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, has completed a refurbishment of RIU Plaza The Gresham Dublin on O'Connell Street. The works added 16 new rooms, with "practically all" of the hotel's 404 rooms now fully refurbished.

RIU Hotels & Resorts is a family-owned Spanish hotel group operating around 98 hotels in more than 20 countries. The group reported turnover of 4.188 billion euro for 2025, though the Gresham Dublin's individual financial contribution to the group is not separately disclosed.

The Gresham dates back to 1817 and was acquired by RIU in 2016, with the group gradually increasing its room count over the past eight years to reach the current total of 404 rooms across the property.

All of the hotel's electrical consumption now comes from renewable sources, part of RIU's Proudly Committed Sustainability Strategy, which the group applies across its wider international hotel portfolio.

The structural driver is RIU Plaza's international urban expansion, a city hotel brand launched in Panama in 2010 that opened its first UK property near London's Victoria station last year.

Further Riu Plaza openings are planned in Chicago, Toronto and a third New York property, positioning the Gresham refurbishment within a wider push into city centre hotel markets beyond RIU's traditional resort base.

The refurbished property retains Toddy's Restaurant and the Writer's Lounge bar alongside a fitness centre and eleven meeting and events spaces, supporting its position as a four-star business and events venue on Dublin's main thoroughfare.

RIU's urban hotel operations sit alongside RIUSA II, the management company in which TUI Group holds a minority stake, linking the Gresham to RIU's broader European ownership structure and its long-standing tour operator partnership.

For the sector, the Gresham refurbishment reflects a wider pattern of international hotel groups reinvesting in established city centre properties rather than pursuing new-build development in mature markets like Dublin.

Source: Business Traveller / Wikipedia / TUI Group