Dalata Hotel Group has opened its 50th hotel, the four-star, 303-bedroom Clayton Hotel Glasgow City, creating 100 jobs locally, in what its described as a "significant milestone" for the compny
The hotel is the Clayton and Maldron operator's 17th in the UK, with four more under construction in Brighton, Manchester, Liverpool and London.
The group has 11 Clayton hotels and six Maldron hotels in the UK, adding to its 32 hotels in Ireland, and one hotel in continental Europe.
“The opening of our 50th hotel, Clayton Hotel Glasgow City is a significant milestone for us and is a further demonstration of the excellent team we have in Dalata, who continue to deliver on our ambitious growth strategy. We are delighted to expand our presence in Glasgow where we now have over 600 rooms," said Dermot Crowley, CEO of Dalata.
Clayton Hotel Glasgow City is located on Clyde Street in the Grade A-listed Custom House building, which is owned by landlords Union Investment and has been developed by Artisan Real Estate.
In Association with
It forms part of a significant restoration of the historical St Enoch area, close to Buchanan Street, the Style Mile, OVO Hydro Arena, Scottish Event Campus, and the Science Centre.
The refurbished building serves as the entrance to the hotel, with the reception, public area, ballroom and event spaces all located there. Adjacent to the historic building and connected, in part, by a glazed ceiling, the modern, 16-storey hotel also houses the Custom House Bar & Restaurant.
The hotel has a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating of Excellent and features high-specification meeting and event facilities for business guests as well as city and river views from the bedrooms and the seventh-floor terrace.
“The hotel, our first with investment partners Union Investment, has been expertly developed at Glasgow’s Custom House, an iconic listed building that has been part of Glasgow City for 180 years," Crowley said.
"This truly stand-out property has been made possible through the hard work of our partners on the project – McAleer and Rushe who constructed the hotel on behalf of the developers Artisan Real Estate and our landlords Union Investment.
Dalata said Glasgow typically achieves strong revenue per available room for hoteliers, making it an attractive market for the group, with 2.5m visitors generating £774m in 2019.
"This is good news for Glasgow’s tourism sector, its business community and its overall economy," Crowley continued.
"We have created 100 new jobs and have already assembled a great team under General Manager, Hazel Galloway, who successfully led the team at Maldron Hotel Glasgow City previously.
"Many of the team have moved to the hotel from other Dalata hotels in the UK, but we have also welcomed many new local faces into the Dalata family as part of this hotel opening.”
Martin Schaller, head of asset management hospitality at Union Investment, said: “We warmly welcome Dalata Hotel Group to our Custom House development, the second Scottish hotel property in Union Investment's portfolio.
"Glasgow is Scotland's second-largest hotel market after Edinburgh and is primarily characterised by national demand. Union Investment originally acquired the development in 2019, and the Clayton brand is a perfect and exciting tenant of our riverside upscale hotel in the development."
Clive Wilding, property director at Artisan Real Estate, said: “Seeing the Clayton Hotel open, supported by Union Investment, shows the benefit of international investment in the city of Glasgow.
"For Artisan, the opportunity to finally connect the busiest street of Glasgow, Buchanan Street, to the Clyde with high value all day use buildings, attracting more visitors into the city, whilst restoring the original historic Customs House as the centrepiece of the development, in historically the most challenging of times, has been a great joy. It demonstrates the value of true partnership.”
For the first six months of 2022, Dalata reported revenue of €220.2m and a profit after tax of €46.7m.
Photo: Clayton Hotel Glasgow City. (Pic: Dalata Hotel Group)
