Business

Dalata spends €3m on refresh of four-star hotels and group

Dalata chief executive Dermot Crowley says the investment will deliver consistency in its communications with customers

Dalata CEO Dermot Crowley and chief marketing officer Roma O'Connor pictured with images of the hotel group's new corporate brands. Photograph: Matthieu Chardon

Ciarán Hancock
Mon May 6 2024 - 06:00

Dalata Hotel Group has spent €3 million on a refresh of its three main brands to give them a “clearer visual identity and stronger market positioning” with customers.

The investment covers the group’s three main brands – Dalata Hotel Group (the parent entity) and the four-star Clayton and Maldron hotels.

The new signage will be installed over the next 12 months across its 53 hotels. It also involves new websites, brand imagery, brand creative and advertising campaigns. It has been designed so that customers understand what to expect when staying at a Dalata hotel, according to the company.

Dalata was founded in 2007 and is now Ireland’s largest hotel operator with a growing presence in the UK and continental Europe, employing more than 5,500 people. It is due to add four more hotels in the UK later this year – in Manchester, Liverpool, London and Brighton.

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Speaking to The Irish Times, Dermot Crowley, chief executive of Dalata Hotel Group, said customer research had showed that while consumers liked the hotels, the service and the staff, “there wasn’t as much of a connection with the brand as there should be”.

“And we didn’t have consistency”, he said citing changes made for its Clayton brand. “By getting consistent communications through video on demand that we put up online, and we have only one website with branches off for each hotel ... there’s a consistency in the language on the websites that feeds into social media ... feeds into email communications and the signage around the hotels.

“For this to have a real impact, it will take a couple of years before people really understand it but they didn’t feel an emotional connections with the brands and the key thing was that there was no consistency. Some might decide in a hotel that they’ll do a different menu to everyone else ... or they’d go to a local supplier for signage and the colour was a bit off. This is a blueprint now for operating the hotels.”

Commenting on the refresh, Roma O’Connor Dalata’s chief marketing officer, said: “The relaunch is the culmination of more than a year’s work researching how our customers perceive us and developing a better understanding of their hospitality needs. Our refreshed brands will deliver more impactful customer communications, easier online journeys and a stronger understanding of Dalata’s unique customer proposition.”

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times

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