Dalata Hotels boss - why we're opening our fourth Manchester hotel (and extending another)

The CEO of Ireland's largest hotels group says Greater Manchester is now its second largest hub after the opening this week of his fourth hotel there and with plans to extend another city venue.

Dalata Hotel Group's newly-built Maldron Hotel Manchester Cathedral Quarter is now open in Chapel Street, Salford, just a short walk from Deansgate.

Manchester is now the group's second largest hub after Dublin, with 1,160 rooms across four hotels. And there are more to come with the expansion of the Clayton Hotel at Manchester Airport. Dalata's other local hotels are Clayton Hotel Manchester City Centre located on Portland Street and Maldron Hotel Manchester City Centre on Charles Street.

Dalata Hotel Group CEO, Dermot Crowley told BusinessLive that the company is looking to expand further across the UK, with openings in Liverpool, Brighton and Shoreditch later this year. But Manchester is now its major UK hub.

Mr Crowley said: "First of all if you look at the size of Manchester - it's a similar size to Dublin, so it's quite often underestimated in terms of the size of the city and the economic activity there.

"It has numerous demand generators. So it's got a lot of corporate customers. We like to be in cities that have a strong mix of corporate and leisure, and Manchester has a lot of strong corporate business.

"There's a lot of events in Manchester. Obviously the football is huge as you've got two teams that are bringing huge numbers of foreign supporters in for every game. And then on top of that you've a lot of events, in terms of the arenas that are there, and concerts generate a lot of revenue for hotels.

"Obviously retail is still very strong in Manchester. And it's a good place to visit - if you're looking at places to go for a weekend in terms of retail, something to do, good bars and restaurants... So it has a lot of different demand generators which is really important when we look at cities we're going to go into.

"And obviously Manchester Airport is growing pretty rapidly and that feeds a lot of business into our airport hotel."

Next, Dalata will be adding another 216 rooms to its airport hotel.

"Basically it's like building another hotel in front of the hotel," Mr Crowley said. "There's a car park in the front, and we'll be building a new block of rooms there. We're going to put an Italian restaurant on the ground floor, similar to what we have at our Clayton at Dublin Airport, and then the whole entire ground floor will be redesigned and refurbished."

Proud Liverpool fan Mr Crowley is also excited about the opening of the Maldron hotel in Liverpool later this year.

"Liverpool is another target city for us," he smiled. "As a city, football is a big generator of business into it, and the whole musical background, not just The Beatles. As a leisure destination, I think people often underestimate the number of people who come to Liverpool to visit. And then on top of that, Liverpool is a big corporate city as well, so there's strong corporate demand during the week."

The latest Maldron hotels - including new openings this year in Shoreditch and Brighton - are being given a new colourful look. And Mr Crowley says he wants to open more Dalata hotels in the UK.

Mr Crowley said: "We've now repositioned both the Maldron and Clayton brands over the last few months, so we describe them as places where 'it starts here' - a base camp for what you can enjoy around the city."

Having a cluster of hotels in the North West also means Dalata can draw on a pool of experienced staff in Manchester and beyond.

Mr Crowley said: "We've got an internal Dalata academy, so we invest hugely in our staff, give them careers within hospitality. In Manchester, with four hotels there, you could start working as a food and beverage assistant and there's nothing stopping you becoming a general manager at some point.."

He added: "The staff and management team in that Manchester hotel and that Liverpool hotel have worked with Dalata for a number of years. So you're bringing that Maldron experience into the new hotel. It might be new, but you'll get that Maldron experience very quickly."

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