HOTEL & RESTAURANT SECTOR

Varadkar says businesses should plan to remain closed for three months

Irish Times – 07.01.2021
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has advised businesses that are closed at present to plan to remain closed for the first quarter of this year. When it was possible restrictions on businesses would be eased as they were closed, with sectors such as construction returning first, and moving down the list to non-essential retail. Mr Varadkar said he knew businesses wanted certainty, which he could not offer, so the best thing for them to do was to plan “that this will be a three-month period”. Business groups representing retail and hospitality reacted with an air of resignation to the Tánaiste’s prediction of a shutdown for the entire first quarter, given the scale of the public health challenge with galloping infection rates.

Dalata anticipates to end year marginally ahead of market expectations

Business Post – 18.12.2020
Dalata Hotel Group said that despite the challenging environment, its earnings for the year to the end of December are expected to be marginally ahead of market expectations. In a year end trading update, Dalata said its operations in the second half of the year was continually and acutely disrupted as a result of Covid-19 restrictions across its markets in Ireland and the UK. Dalata said that occupancy in the third quarter came in 26 per cent in Dublin, 60 per cent in its hotels around the country in Ireland and 36 per cent in the UK.