Scandic has recently received a lot of attention since the chain announced that it will not include hotel breakfast in the room price. Guests who want breakfast will instead have to add it separately.
CEO Jens Mathiesen says that it is already common around the world that breakfast is not included and that it is important to push down prices.
We think it's positive for the guests that they get the opportunity to pay a little less if they don't eat breakfast. That's the goal, he says and continues:
We have airport hotels with travelers who have to leave early in the morning. They don't have time to eat breakfast, it's not reasonable to basically pay for something they don't get.
Irish market
On Tuesday morning, it was announced that Scandic plans to enter the Irish and British hotel market by acquiring the Irish hotel company Dalata together with, among others, the hotel property company Pandox. The purchase means that Scandic increases its debt and cancels the previously announced repurchase program.
This opportunity was too good to pass up, says Mathiesen.
For the second quarter, which runs from April 1 to June 30, the operating profit was slightly lower than the same period last year. In addition to the fact that Easter was late this year, which according to Scandic affected business travel, there was also a "Taylor Swift effect".
It's a bit tough comparison figures with Taylor Swift last year. She has an effect on the economy in general.
Selling more hotel rooms
The operating profit landed at 816 million kronor for the second quarter. During the same period last year, the company made an operating profit of 927 million.
Net sales for the period amounted to 5.8 billion kronor, a decrease of 1.3 percent compared to the same period last year. It was also slightly lower than the market's expectations of 5.88 billion kronor.
In the interim report for the second quarter, the company provides a forecast for the third quarter. A better booking situation than at the same time last year gives an impression, according to Jens Mathiesen.
We have a very strong event calendar for this year, with major concerts in Gothenburg and Stockholm. It's also very positive to see that Gothenburg has had Håkan Hellström who has sold out several concerts.
