A new £30 million five star hotel is to open in Booterstown, Co Dublin, next week creating 180 jobs.

The opening of the 151-bedroom Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel brings to seven the number of five star hotels competing in the Dublin area.

The hotel is centred around St Helen's House, an 18th century listed building, and covers 100,000 square feet. It includes two restaurants, 10 function rooms, two bars and parking for 230 cars.

The developer and owner of the hotel is the Cosgrave Property Group which has leased it for 20 years to Radisson SAS Hotels, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines Systems which currently has 99 hotels in 29 countries.

Mr Hans Peter Durr, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Radisson SAS Hotels, said the company is interested in operating other hotels in the Republic, "if suitable sites become available".

St Helen's is the first venture into hotels for the Cosgrave Property Group, one of the largest property companies in the Republic. Mr Cosgrave said the hotel will directly compete for corporate business with the Shelbourne Hotel, the Merrion Hotel, the Conrad Hotel and the Berkley Court hotel. "We believe we can compete against those more established names," he said. The general manager, Ms Aileesh Carew, said she expects 60 per cent of the hotel's customers to be overseas business people, with a significant amount of its business coming from the National Conference Centre.

The hotel offers single "garden rooms" for £175 a night and doubles at £195 a night. Its business class rooms cost £225 for a single and £245 for a double room, with suites costing between £270 and £315.