The Shelbourne Hotel’s owner, US property giant Kennedy Wilson, has reported that the hotel generated $3m (€2.5m) for the six months ended June 30, down from $7.3m (€6.2m) in the same period last year.

In Kennedy Wilson’s Q2 results, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic is shown on the five-star hotel.

The $4.3m (€3.7m) year-on-year decrease in revenue in the six-month period resulted from a lockdown at the beginning of the year. The Dublin hotel was open for normal operations through to March 15 last year.

The results show that hotel revenue in the three months ended June 30, 2021, was $2.2m (€1.9m), up from just $100,000 (€85,000) over the same period last year.

Kennedy Wilson said the $2.1m (€1.8m) increase was primarily due to the reopening of operations at some capacity at the Shelbourne during the reporting period. It compared to the severely limited operations of the Shelbourne during the three months to June 30, 2020, as Ireland was in lockdown.

Kennedy Wilson said Government regulations at the time only allowed essential employees to book rooms.

In a call with analysts regarding the Q2 results, president of Kennedy Wilson Mary Ricks said in 2020 the company expected to hit net operating income (NOI) of $19.5m (€16.7m) for the Shelbourne. She said it was now using an estimated annual net operating income of $9.1m (€7.8m).

“Really, there’s $10m of NOI upside when things return to normal, and things are picking up [as] Ireland is reopened. So we think that we’re going to see a really nice increase in our NOI,” Ricks said.

In 2014, Kennedy Wilson acquired the debt secured by the Shelbourne for $152m (€130m) in a complex transaction involving multiple sellers.

According to the Irish Independent, accounts for Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate show the Shelbourne had revenue of £10.7m (€12.6m) in 2020.