There's a new name appearing on the UK hotel scene... and it's making a big impact.
Dalata Hotel Group is Ireland’s largest hotel operator through its ownership of the Maldron and Clayton brands. Over the past few years, they have been expanding rapidly in the UK…and their first UK mainland Maldron hotel was Newcastle..
The hotel is built on a site that used to be the Newgate Shopping Centre. Work began in 2016 and the Maldron Hotel Newcastle opened for business in December 2018. Since then, Dalata have opened Maldron hotels in Glasgow and most recently in Manchester. With existing Clayton hotels in Leeds, Cambridge, London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Manchester. The company has actually bucked the trend, while other firms were struggling during the COVID pandemic, Dalata expanded. They now have 47 hotels across Ireland and the UK and have taken over their first hotel in Germany. Overall the company has more than 10,000 bedrooms across the estate. Seven more hotels are in the pipeline, either currently under construction or with sites acquired across UK and Ireland.
Maldron Newcastle is a stunning hotel and leading from the front is General Manager Anna Wadcock.
“I’m proud to say that I was here from the building stage right through to welcoming our first guests,” said Anna. “In one respect I’ve gone full circle because my first ever job in the hotel industry was when I was a student in Newcastle and needed a part time job. That job was here on the same site of the Maldron Hotel which was previously the Swallow Hotel (then Quality Hotel) which was once thriving as part of Newgate Shopping Centre. Sadly, the hotel and the shopping centre became very neglected and an eyesore. When the local council decided to redevelop the area, Dalata took the opportunity to establish this wonderful, four-star, luxury hotel.” The location is ideal…three minutes’ walk from Newcastle Central Station, close to the Metro system which has a direct link to Newcastle airport, and with Eldon Square, the Theatre Royal, Tyne Theatre, museums and St. James’s Park just on the door step. Brilliant. There are 265 air conditioned en-suite bedrooms including deluxe and executive rooms. They all feature bespoke King Koil beds and a flat screen TV with Chromecast. There’s also the Grain & Grill Restaurant bar and courtyard on the ground floor serving Vitality Breakfast, Red Bean Roastery Coffee and wonderful menus throughout the day and night. There are three meeting rooms with 75-inch 4k resolution screens. The largest room can hold up to 80 people. There’s even a brand-new fitness centre just recently installed.
Has the Maldron Newcastle made an impact? You bet it has, so it was no surprise when it was given a Gold Award for New Tourism Business in the 2020 North East Tourism Awards, as well as being shortlisted for the Large Hotel of the Year in this year’s Awards. The company is also hugely committed to the community and sustainability achieving a Gold Level Award from Visit Britain Green Tourism.
“We’re delighted with the way things have gone here at Maldron Hotel Newcastle. The feedback from guests has been terrific with seeing us placed in the top 5 hotels in the city on TripAdvisor. We’re ideally based in the centre of Newcastle and are attracting visitors who are here on business or tourists who are using Newcastle as a base to explore the North East. But it’s the service from the team that really bring the hotel to life. I have the pleasure of working with an amazing team who work hard to deliver fantastic service to our hundreds of guests everyday.”
Another feather in the cap of the hotel…is that when Dalata opened their latest property, Maldron Hotel Manchester City, the General Manager was none other than Carl Davies, who was the Deputy General Manager for the Newcastle opening.
“I’m really pleased for Carl,” adds Anna. “He’s a big miss here in Newcastle but I’m delighted that he’s now running his own hotel. So, if anyone is heading to Manchester, they’ll find that, much like us in Newcastle, that the Maldron is situated in the centre of the city on Charles Street, near Oxford Road Train Station. There are 278 bedrooms, bar & restaurant and fantastic meeting rooms, not forgetting the great Dalata hospitality.”