The hospitality industry in Manchester was among the hardest hit during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hundreds of jobs were lost and iconic hotels across the city were forced to close for months on end.
However, the industry has since been attempting to bounce back and while many venues such as pubs, bars and clubs are still fighting for survival, a number of luxury hotels in the city centre have recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Below, the Manchester Evening News has taken a look at how two of the city centre's most luxurious hotels have recovered from the pandemic.
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Hotel Gotham
Hotel Gotham is set in one of the most iconic buildings in the city centre, and was even used in hit BBC One show, Peaky Blinders. But newly-published accounts have revealed the hotel has bounced back to where it was before Covid-19 struck.
The hotel has posted a turnover of £5.1m for the 12 months to March 31, 2022, compared to £1.3m in the prior year. It also made a pre-tax profit of £881,168, recovering from a loss of £453,260.
The figures compare to a turnover of £5m and profit of £164,741 in 2019, the last full year not impacted by the pandemic.
Hotel Gotham in King Street was opened in 2015 in a former bank building designed by Edwin Lutyens that had been originally constructed in 1935.
A statement signed off by the board said: "The business has been severely impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic and was forced to close due to Government restrictions. The business started to trade again during May 2021 and was back up to occupancy levels of above 70% within a month.
"The reduced rate of VAT positively impacted the revenues throughout the year to March 2022. Whilst comparisons to previous years are skewed by the impact of enforced closures and the reduced rate of VAT, the underlying business is now trading strongly."
The hotel warned that its energy prices had been fixed until the end of September 2022 and that a "significant increase" was expected after the contract ended.
Hotel Gotham is run by Warrington-based Bespoke Hotels which also counts the Chester Grosvenor Hotel among its portfolio.
Stock Exchange Hotel
How the Stock Exchange Hotel, which is owned by former Manchester United stars Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs has performed has also been revealed.
Mr Neville has revealed the Norfolk Street hotel is "outperforming its competitors" and that its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic has been "very encouraging". The luxury hotel is based in a Grade II-listed building completed in 1906.
Mr Neville added that the hotel, which was first opened in November 2019, had achieved record average room rates over the last 12 months. The comments have been included in accounts for the hotel's operating business for 2021 which were only published on Companies House on January 17, 2023.
This is the first year for which the hotel's finances have been published in full. Its accounts for 2022 are expected to be published by the end of September this year.
During 2021, the hotel's turnover increased from £1.6m to £3.9m while its pre-tax losses were cut from £2.3m to £1m.
A statement signed off by Gary Neville this week said: "The directors have continued their policy of investing in the hotel to improve operational performance and to promote the 'Stock Exchange' brand even post the pandemic year. The directors feel that whatever the case, the quality of the brand and the property they manage cannot be sacrificed.
"There is a strong focus on always investing and enhancing the customer experience and providing a high level of service. The directors appreciate that the financial year ending 31 December 2021 was not a normal year with the world still in the midst of a pandemic, even though business started to pick up.
"During this period, the hotel was open all year but the first six months of operation were bit drastically by the effects of the pandemic restrictions in place and this has obviously affected the financial figures of the business.
"Financial year 2021 continued to be a year of the 'unknown', especially in the beginning six months because of the pandemic but also because the challenges around inflation and the labour market continue up to this day.
"One also needs to not underestimate the significance that the hospitality industry is still regarded as a high risk industry by the financial markets in general and by employees.
"Our sales team also made sure to continue with their networking albeit on a limited basis, especially in the first six months of the year, and after most of the restrictions were lifted physical meetings with present and potential new clients started taking place."
On how it faired during 2022, Mr Neville said the hotel had aimed to get back to its pre-pandemic performance while its forecasts showed a "positive positioning for the hotel in terms of average room rate (ADR), occupancy, EBITDA and cash generation".
He added that the figures are "very encouraging, whereby the property has achieved record ADRs as well as outperforming its competitors".
Mr Neville said: "This shows that our investment in service and operational delivery continues to be recognised with excellent review scores from leading internationally established online review sites."
Towards the end of last year it was announced that the restaurant run by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge at the hotel was to close. The three Michelin-starred chef launched The Bull & Bear at Stock Exchange Hotel towards the end of 2019.
It was later confirmed that the group behind Manchester bars Schofield's Bar, Atomeca and Sterling will open what will be its first restaurant in February.
The new concept has been described as a "British Brasserie, with touches of elegance from continental Europe, all served with homely and comforting flavours from the UK".
It will be led by head chef Joshua Reed-Cooper who has previously worked for Simon Rogan at The French, Sam Buckley at Where The Light Gets In and Manchester’s only Michelin-starred restaurant, MANA.
The group is run by brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield who opened a cocktail bar at the hotel in the summer of 2022.
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