Maldron owner Dalata hits record revenues and promises dividends following room rate increases

Dalata CEO, Dermot Crowley

Maldron hotel owner Dalata reached record annual revenues of more than €500m, surpassing pre-covid figures, allowing it to reintroduce dividends for the first time since 2020.

The first of these dividends is expected half way through the year as the company posted positive results for 2022 following room rate increases.

“We have emerged from the pandemic and its after-effects with a business that has grown in scale and ambition,” said Dermot Crowley, Dalata CEO.

Its financial results show less people stayed in the company’s hotels last year amid a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by inflation. Those that did stay in the hotels though were paying higher prices than they were pre-covid.

The average room rate in a Dalata owned hotel was €135 last year, compared to €101 in 2021 and €113 in 2019 while occupancy, was still struggling to catch up to pre-pandemic levels.

This growth is set to continue into the first quarter of this year as revenue per average room for January and February is expected to be 17% ahead of 2019 levels in Dublin, 54% in regional Ireland and 27% in the UK.

However, the group said it still remains “cautiously optimistic” on its outlook for the year.

“Growing geopolitical uncertainty and the broader economic conditions following the pandemic have created a period of market uncertainty,” the company said.

However, Dalata is confident there will be a tourism boom this year as hospitality businesses continue to enjoy the post-covid pent-up demand among consumers.

“There are positive demand indicators in Ireland and the UK, including on the resumption of more normalised conference and events business levels and the continuing return of international travellers, in particular from the US market,” the company said.

“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,” it continued.