The property firm is now planning to almost double the number of Malmaison’s within five years. MWB said its hotels division had been performing increasingly strongly since the start of this year, especially since the summer.
Despite this, the company, including the hotels, is still in the red, with its serviced offices division and the London high-street icon Liberty both reporting tough trading. Group pre-tax losses came in at £3.28m, compared with a loss of £63.9m last year, on turnover of £240.9m, from £220.8m the year before.
MWB’s hotels’ portfolio comprises Malmaison, the five-star Howard Hotel in London, operated by Swissotel – which the firm is putting on the market for £75m - the Park Lane Marriott, the Glasgow Radisson, and the West India Quay Marriott, which opened in June.
Malmaison reported turnover of £32.6m, and the other hotels came in at £34.7m. Pre-tax losses were £2.8m for Malmaison and £4.7m for the others respectively.Growth in the past six months had been fuelled by the opening of the Malmaison in the City’s Charterhouse Square, its first in London, which was now reporting 80% occupancy rates and a room rate of more than £135, said MWB.
A refurbishment programme at its 120-bedroom Newcastle and 112-bedroom Manchester Malmaisons was also helping.The Birmingham Malmaison, after a slow start since opening in 2003, was now reporting occupancy of up to 74%, from 48% last year.
Malmaison's first hotel in Belfast, set to open in December, and one in Oxford for later next year, will take Malmaison to a nine-strong chain.
'Our present objective is to increase the size of the Malmaison group from the existing eight to about 15 hotels within the next five years', said chief executive Richard Balfour-Lynn.'We are currently exploring the potential of a second hotel in London as well as a number of interesting opportunities in other major UK centres', he added.
The firm was developing a central reservation centre and new booking engine for its on-line bookings, which, it hoped, would lead to “substantial” growth in this area.The Howard had seen steady growth since last autumn, and occupancy levels were averaging in the high 70%s, and were up to 87% in June. The Park Lane Marriott was doing well too, reporting occupancy over the year of mid-80%, and 90% in June. The Glasgow Radisson had first-half occupancy of about 62%, increasing to 70% in the second six months of the year.
This month MWB started its first graduate intake programme, with the aim of training new graduates to become deputy general managers within three years, said Balfour-Lynn.
