Business

Hastings hotels chain hits £41m in sales, adds 138 staff - and has a first birthday bash

Pictured celebrating the first year anniversary of the Grand Central Hotel are (from left) Damien McDonald, food & beverage manager; Stephen Meldrum, general manager; Ian Jameson, concierge; Deborah Galloway, deputy general manager and Damian Tumilty, executive head chef
Pictured celebrating the first year anniversary of the Grand Central Hotel are (from left) Damien McDonald, food & beverage manager; Stephen Meldrum, general manager; Ian Jameson, concierge; Deborah Galloway, deputy general manager and Damian Tumilty, Pictured celebrating the first year anniversary of the Grand Central Hotel are (from left) Damien McDonald, food & beverage manager; Stephen Meldrum, general manager; Ian Jameson, concierge; Deborah Galloway, deputy general manager and Damian Tumilty, executive head chef

THE north's biggest hotel group had sales of more than £41 million in the year to last October, its just-published accounts show.

And although its bottom-line profits slipped back slightly (it came in the same trading period in which it opened its marque £53 million Grand Central Hotel), the family-owned firm is sitting on assets of £46.4 million.

The hospitality and catering giant posted pre-tax profits of £3,2m in 2018 (down from £5.2m the year before), and its overall profit came in at £2.7m against £4.4m previously.

But the group, which owns and operates seven venues across the north, is in rude health, with the directors proclaiming the year as satisfactory.

It also hired an additional 138 staff over the trading year, with its payroll jumping from 1,106 to 1,244 (significantly, all but two of the new-starts are full-timers).

That pushed Hastings Group's annual pay bill from £13.3m to £14.8m, the accounts show.

In a strategic report accompanying the accounts, the directors pledged to continue to “seek every opportunity to increase profitable turnover”.

Despite the chain named Best Luxury Hotel Group at the annual Travel Media Awards in Dublin, the directors say it still faces key business risks in relation to competition from other licensed premises and hotel groups - and staff retention.

But it says the board carries out regular strategic reviews and assessments of competitors' activity and prices, and addresses them through "strong customer service and investment in our people and facilities."

As well as the Grand Central on the site of the former Windsor House office tower, the Hastings Group also owns Belfast’s Europa, Stormont and Culloden hotels, as well as Derry’s Everglades, Larne’s Ballygally Castle and Newcastle’s Slieve Donard. It also owns a 50 per cent stake in Dublin’s Merrion Hotel.

Just this week the Grand Central marked its first birthday, during which time it has made 78,000 beds and served 38,000 cocktails and 11,000 pints in the Observatory, won numerous awards and was named one of Ireland’s 50 best places to stay in 2019.

During its first year the hotel has welcomed royalty (Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall) and presidency (Michael D Higgins) as well as a clutch of global stars like Shania Twain, Jodie Kidd and Jamie Dornan.

Grand Central's general manager Stephen Meldrum said: “We've already firmly established ourselves as one of Northern Ireland’s leading hotels.

“Opening Northern Ireland's largest-ever hotel is no mean feat, but we've risen to the challenge and believe we offer a luxuriously unique proposition, having welcomed hundreds of thousands of people from around the world."

He added: "2018 saw an additional 107,000 hotel room nights sold in Northern Ireland compared to 2017 and I'm confident the Grand Central played a major part in giving visitors an extra reason to visit.”