Dalata Revenue Tops €500M

Dalata Hotel Group's annual revenues exceeded €0.5 billion for the first time in 2022 as the company opened six new hotels, including its first hotel in continental Europe - the Clayton Hotel Dusseldorf.

The company said its revenues for the year to the end of December increased to €558.3m from €192m in 2021 when Covid travel restrictions were still in place. This also compared to revenues of €429m in pre-Covid 2019 - an increase of 20%.

The hotel group's profit before tax increased to €109.7m from a loss of €11.4m in 2021 and profit before tax of €89.7m in 2019. Profits after tax came to €96.7m, up 24% on 2019.

“We're delighted to exceed revenue of over half a billion for the first time,” said Dalata CEO Dermot Crowley. “That's been helped hugely by opening six new hotels last year and taking over our first hotel in Europe, and our RevPAR on a like-for-like basis is up 14% on 2019.”

The company said it added more than 1,900 new rooms to its portfolio of 50 hotels last year, as it added six leased hotels and one owned hotel. It also has a pipeline of 1,333 rooms for the coming months.

Group RevPAR (revenue per available room) rose to €102.23 from €40.02 in 2022 and €93.43 in 2019, while its average room rate increased to €134.80 from €100.71 in 2022 and €113.14 in 2019.

While occupancy levels at its hotels were still below pre-Covid levels, they rose to 75.8% in 2022 from 39.7% in 2021. Occupancy levels had reached 82.6% in 2019 before the outbreak of Covid hit the travel and hospitality sectors.

Mr Crowley said their revenue per available room in Dublin was up 10% last year.

“When you compare to what we've suffered in terms of inflation on the cost side, isn't a huge increase,” he said. “During a busy summer period in Dublin last year, our average room rate during those four months was €166, and our average room rate for the year was €148. For a four star hotel in Dublin I think that represents good value.”

Mr Crowley said he could not forecast what their average room rate would be in the coming summer, however he said he did not believe Irish hotels were pricing themselves out of the international market.

“When we look at our customer satisfaction reviews and our ratings, we get very little negative feedback on pricing from our international customers,” he said.

The group said it remains cautiously optimistic on its outlook for 2023, adding that engagement with corporate customers and tour operators on demand and pricing has been positive.