The five-star Ashford Castle hotel is on course this year to top the €27.1 million revenues recorded by the luxury resort in 2022.
That is according to managing director at Ashford Castle, Niall Rochford who said on Wednesday that "the Covid-19 bounce to business from 2022 has continued into 2023".
In an interview on Ashford Castle Hotel Ltd’s new 2022 accounts, Mr Rochford said that 2023 "will be a very strong year building on success of 2022 with an increase in revenues but the challenge is the cost base in terms of food and energy costs”.
The new accounts show that the hotel firm last year recorded pre-tax profits of €19.33 million as revenues more than doubled. The €19.33 million pre-tax profit followed a pre-tax loss of €3.06 million in 2022.
The new accounts filed by Ashford Castle Hotel Ltd show that the hotel returned to pre-tax profit as revenues increased by 117 per cent rising from €12.5 million to €27.1 million last year.
The hotel firm’s pre-tax profits were boosted by the non-cash reversal of a property impairment of €17.6 million.
The firm recorded operating profits of €20.46 million and interest payments of €1.13 million reduced profits to a pre-tax profit of €19.33 million.
The directors state that the overall results of the year "are due to improved market conditions and the return of international travel”.
They state that "the company is expecting the continued trading improvements in the market to continue in 2023 and has seen an uplift to date”. The directors state that the firm’s earnings before tax interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) last year totalled €7.68 million.
Mr Rochford said that last year, there was a strong rebound from the US market with US visitors now making up 60 per cent of bed nights.
He said: “We now have product in Ireland that has put the country on the ultra luxury map and is a destination of choice for ultra luxury for US travellers. "
Mr Rochford said that the Red Carnation-owned hotel’s US business "is now year round as is our Irish business".
Mr Rochford said that Irish customers who stayed at the hotel during Covid when international travel restrictions were in place have remained loyal and the hotel is enjoying repeat business from Irish guests.
Looking ahead to 2024, Mr Rochford said: "We are cautious about 2024 - we won't see the same percentage increase as last year.”
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €4.8 million. Numbers employed last year increased from 264 to 326 as staff costs rose from €7.53 million to €8.43 million.
The hotel firm received €950,222 in Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) payments last year compared to €4.88 million under the same scheme in 2021. Cash funds last year increased from €4.85 million to €6.09 million.
