More huge student buildings to become Airbnb-style lets in summer: Shift brings almost 500 beds onto Belfast market

The move will bring almost 500 beds onto the scene, in what’s starting to become a regular shift among large-scale student accommodation built in the city centre over the past few years.

Previous changes have earned the ire of the hotel sector in Northern Ireland’s capital city, however, with representatives complaining earlier this year that the changes amount to unfair competition as the hundreds of new short-term lets won’t face the same tight regulations and taxes that hotels do.

And since Belfast has seen a glut of student housing blocks built in central locations over the last few years, hotels are worried a precedent is being set that could see all of the city’s purpose-built student accommodation turned into Airbnb-style lets every summer.

Under moves that are due to get a green light from planners this week, Alma Place on Library Street will see 342 of its student rooms become short-term lets during July and August, while 144 beds in The Edge on Frederick Street will shift to the new use. That’s less half the rooms in The Edge, but more than three-quarters of those in Alma Place.

Student rents in Alma Place range from £612 to £1,160 a month depending on the size of room, while The Edge charges between £740 and £1,000 per month for its accommodation. It’s not clear how much the buildings’ respective owners would charge for Airbnb-stye lets.

Representatives of industry body the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation objected to the changes, arguing they will add “quasi-hotel capacity into an already competitive city-centre visitor market without equivalent regulatory burden, standards, or tax treatment”.

States the body: “Hotels operate under strict regulation, incur higher operating costs, and contribute substantially to employment and tourism infrastructure. Introducing additional short-term let supply erodes this regulated framework and risks financial displacement during peak trading months.

“This accommodation will compete with other certified products including, hotels, hostels, guest accommodation and self-catering accommodation.”

They also point out that over the past couple of years, the council has given a green light for several hundred student rooms to become short-term lets.

This year alone, March saw 450 beds over two buildings given a go-ahead to become Airbnb-style lets, while last summer the council approved a £65m project that will see a disused office block on the capital city’s Corporation Street, close to landmarks Albert Clock and Custom House Square, demolished to make way for a huge 900-bed student building in which half of the rooms will be short-term lets in summer.

But planners are due to overrule the body’s objections, stating in official reports seen by the News Letter that Belfast is trying to increase its tourism offering over the next 10 years and as such the moves “comply with relevant policy”, adding: “Financial impacts on existing tourism provision is not a determining factor in [planning] assessment.”

Planners also state the changes will not “undermine or erode the supply of student housing, as the proposed change of use relates solely outside of term time”.