AT THE HELM OF A NEW ERA
WITH DALATA IN DUBLIN’S DOCKLANDS
For the past 19 years, Conor O’Kane has manned the helm of Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane, a 304-bedroom, 4-star property, located in the heart of the Dublin Docklands. During his tenure, O’Kane has seen the surrounding area transform from a post-industrial hinterland, to become a mecca of global tech, economic prosperity, cultural diversity and gastronomic excellence.
“What makes Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane so successful, is the people who work in it,” explains O’Kane.
“Of course, it helps that we have an incredible product and a fantastic location, but it is the experience and the attitude of my team that allows us to continually innovate and move with the times and together, we are very much looking forward to taking Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane into a new era.” The ‘new era’ O’Kane talks of,
comes off the back of significant investment into the property in recent years. A staged development plan has already seen the opening of their new Meeting and Events centre adjacent to the hotel, and further investment rounds in 2024 and 2025, will see a complete renovation of the hotel’s public spaces, and the construction of an additional 120 bedrooms to the hotel.
“The Dublin Docklands is poised for huge growth over
the coming years, with many companies moving into the area. This will bring an influx of people, and we intend on being ready to meet the demand,” explains O’Kane.
“When the development plan is complete, we will be one of Dublin’s largest city centre hotels, with 424-bedrooms, a state-of-the-art Meeting and Events centre, a very wellequipped gym and swimming pool, and a high-quality food and beverage offering all on-site.
“We
will be in a prime position to meet the needs of the many companies located in the Dublin Docklands, and a big focus for us, will be on capturing a share of Dublin’s Meeting & Conferencing business”
This area of Dublin is certainly on the rise. In 2023, Salesforce opened their largest European office on North Dock, Dublin 1, and Google, who are already a well-established part of the Docklands business community, are in the process of expanding the footprint of their European Headquarters Office. However, it is the much-anticipated arrival of TikTok into the Dockland that has O’Kane feeling very positive about the future.
“The past few years have been some of the most challenging of my career. All hotels were impacted by Covid restrictions, but as a city centre hotel, with an almost exclusively corporate client base, we really felt it!”
Having a company such as TikTok opening their office next to our hotel feels like a real ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ moment, and there is a sense that things are finally returning to normal at Cardiff Lane.
“Although we were successful in pivoting our offering to cater for the domestic leisure market during the Covid restrictions,
we always knew that the time would come when these restrictions would be lifted, and companies would scale up their operations again,” explains O’Kane.
“This is why I was very conscious of the needs of our corporate clients when it came to designing our new Meeting & Events centre.”
Meeting & Events centre
Walking through the Meeting & Events centre, this is apparent. It has street level access, with a full ground to ceiling glass façade, allowing for plenty of natural light to flow into the entrance lobby. The main plenary space, the Grand Canal suite, makes great use of two large sky lights in the ceiling, while the three lower groundfloor meeting rooms cleverly incorporate faux-windows, which give the effect of natural sunlight. The whole centre feels bright and airy, and this is enhanced by a sophisticated air filtration system that continually recirculates fresh air throughout the centre.
State-of-the-art conferencing technology has been installed
in all meeting rooms, allowing for a seamless and successful conferencing experience.
The Grand Canal Suite features a 170” LED screen, ceiling speakers and Clickshare wireless connectivity. Each of the smaller meeting rooms feature an 86” CleverTouch interactive presentation screen, with a built-in digital whiteboard and teleconferencing facilities; Ideal for hybrid meetings and events.
“The opening of our Meeting and Events centre, has really strengthened our hotel’s standing within the market,” says O’Kane.
“As a preferred hotel for many of the companies in the Docklands area, we are now in a position to partner as a full-service hospitality provider, and can cater for a wide variety of meetings, conferences and corporate lunches, dinners and BBQs.
“Marketing has been a huge focus area over the past year,” says O’Kane.
Conor and his Team at the launch of The Heart of Hospitality at Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane.
€3m Investment
“Dalata Hotel Group recently announced a €3m investment in its three main brands: Dalata Hotel Group, Clayton Hotels and Maldron Hotels. All three have all been redefined, resulting in both a clearer visual identity and stronger market positioning.
“The new visuals, alongside the carefully redefined messaging, will support Dalata in fostering closer relationships with its customer base, throughout the customer journey. The project commenced in 2023, with consumer research and brand design, which has led to the creation of new websites, brand imagery, brand creative and advertising campaigns.
New internal and external signage will be installed over the next 12 months across the portfolio.” Innovation is also a key focus for the Dalata Hotel Group, with continuous innovation aimed at driving efficiencies and building customer and employee satisfaction levels.
“In 2023, a time-in-motion study was completed on how we clean our rooms,” says O’Kane,
“and by looking at this in detail and refining how we do things, we reduced the time spent cleaning rooms at our Irish hotel by 10 percent and retained high customer satisfaction scores.
Another key area for us around innovation is that of our food offerings; customer tastes are continuously changing and we need to innovate to meet their expectations.”
Strong ESG Standards
The group are also setting the strongest standards in the area of ESG.
“In
terms of environmental sustainability, I am very lucky to have a committed team who have championed sustainability across the hotel,” says Conor.
“We have fostered a culture of reduce, reuse and recycle in the hotel.
Over the past year we have seen a marked reduction in waste, water and energy across the hotel, and the momentum is growing, with the help of an active Green Committee, made up of members from across various hotel departments.
This has resulted in us being awarded Gold standard by Green Tourism.
“We were honoured to receive the ‘Responsible Business Award’, at the 2023 Dockland Business Dinner. This shows companies in the area that we stand by the commitments we have made to the environment, our people and society.”
“At a group level, we are also continuing our journey on several key ESG related areas.”
Decreasing Emitions
Some of the highlights include decreasing Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions per room sold by 27% vs 2019 levels and we’ve reduced our water consumption per sleeper by 13% vs 2019 levels.
Dalata was delighted to achieve the Investors in Diversity Silver accreditation in 2023. This involved a survey of all employees on their real-life experiences of inclusion and diversity practices in Dalata. We also achieved accreditation in the form of the IBEC KeepWell Mark in Ireland & Health at Work Workplace Wellbeing Charter in the UK. These are the gold standard for health, safety, and workplace wellbeing in Ireland & the UK.”