With the AGM of Irish hotel group Dalata taking place on the morning of Thursday May 3 at The Clayton Hotel, Dublin Airport, company chairman John Hennessy has issued a statement revealing that the group is trading well so far in 2018.
According to Hennessy, "Following another very successful year in 2017, trading performance in the first four months of 2018 has been a little ahead of our expectations.
"RevPAR growth in our Dublin properties has been marginally ahead of our expectations. RevPAR growth in our Regional Ireland properties is in line with our expectations. STR have reported weaker market conditions in the UK for the first quarter of 2018 but we are delighted to report that we continue to outperform the market in terms of RevPAR growth and the performance of our UK properties is in line with our expectations. Management is very satisfied with the trading performance of the Group’s hotel portfolio in the first four months of the year. The outlook for the first six months of the year is positive.
"We are delighted that Maldron Hotel Belfast City opened ahead of schedule on March 13. Although, it is very early days, the hotel is trading well and most importantly, customer feedback has been very positive. The additional 106 rooms at Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport will open in the first week of June while Maldron Hotel Kevin Street Dublin will open in the first week of July. Construction of Clayton Hotel Charlemont Dublin (November 2018), Maldron Hotel South Mall Cork (December 2018) and Maldron Hotel Newcastle (February 2019) all remain on track to open on time and within budget. The extensions currently underway at Maldron Hotel Sandy Road Galway (June 2018), Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge Dublin (August 2018) and Maldron Hotel Parnell Square Dublin (December 2018) all remain on schedule and within budget. We have engaged Savills on our Tara Towers Hotel site and expect to finalise our approach to the redevelopment of this site in the coming months.
"We remain very encouraged by the quality and number of potential new developments that we are currently reviewing.
"We completed a large proportion of our annual capital refurbishment programme in the first quarter of this year and this has been well received by our customers. Our investment in technology continues apace. The rollout of our new procurement systems is being extended to additional suppliers this month, we completed the installation of the Opera property management system across our portfolio in March while we continue to invest in our website customer journey.
"It continues to be a very exciting time for the Group and Management remains focused on delivering excellent returns for our shareholders.”
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
