A strong recovery in trade at Ireland’s largest hotel company continued in the second half of the year.
Adjusted earnings at Dalata Hotel Group for the 12 months to December 31 are expected to hit €182 million against €162 million achieved in pre-pandemic 2019 with revenue sect to exceed a record €0.5 billion.
Corporate bookings picked up after the summer period with the company reported continued strong leisure demand and a “notable increase” in North American visitors supported by the favourable dollar exchange rate.
However, Dalata said: “Supply in Ireland remains constrained due to rooms in use for government related business, primarily the provision of emergency accommodation for refugees. The timing and degree to which these rooms will return to the market remains uncertain.”
The group said it was “cognisant of the cost-of-living challenges” and has announced pay increases of 6.5% for employees earning below €13/£13 per hour and 4% for those earning above this level, effective from January 1.
Dalata said it was “cautiously optimistic” on its outlook for 2023.
“Engagement with corporate customers and tour operators on demand and pricing has been positive,” the company added.
“There are also positive demand indicators in Ireland and the UK, including on the resumption of more normalised conference business levels and the continuing return of international travellers, in particular from the US market.
“We continue to monitor the macro-economic backdrop and any potential for a slowdown, most notably in domestic leisure demand. However, we are not seeing any such indicators in our trade levels to date.”
Chief executive Dermot Crowley said: “2022 has been a very successful year for Dalata where we demonstrated our ability to bounce back from the challenges of Covid-19.
“I am very pleased with how we managed the recovery in trade of our existing hotels, opened six new hotels and added our first hotel in continental Europe. We are proud to have recently opened our 50th hotel with the completion of Clayton Hotel Glasgow City.
“We remain mindful of global inflationary cost pressures and the potential impact on consumer discretionary spending. We will continue to focus our efforts on protecting and growing the business sustainably as we have always done.
“We are making efforts to alleviate the cost-of-living challenges for our people through meaningful pay increases and the provision of one-off vouchers. We also continue to provide other benefits important to our employees including quality staff meals, enhanced holiday leave and support through our employee assistance programme, as well as maintaining our investment in training and career development.”