A GALWAY hotelier, Mr Charles Sinnott, has announced details of a new hotel he is to open in Dublin city centre at a cost of over £6 million.
It will be known as Brooks Hotel and located at Drury Street, Dublin 2.
The hotel will have 90 bedrooms, rising later to more than 120 as more space is acquired. It will he a four star hotel with a staff of between 60 and 70 initially. Facilities will include a restaurant catering for 80 people a large bar, extensive meeting rooms, and secure car parking for 450 vehicles opposite the hotel.
Bedrooms will include facilities for integrated televisions allowing video conferencing between rooms - computer points and a fax machine. Access to rooms will be by "key card", which will activate all electrical fittings. Each room would be able to double up as a boardroom, meeting room or stock display area.
Mr Sinnott said: "This is the `hotel of tomorrow'. As the public travels more, expectations rise. People are becoming far more discerning and selective. This hotel will anticipate that. It will combine a premier location with facilities well up to what you would expect into the next century.
Mr Sinnott envisaged expanding his group to three hotels in the short term with the Dublin outlet opening in November, and by a further one or two later, including one in Galway city.
His existing hotels include the Connemara Coast in Furbo, a four star Grade A hotel, and the Connemara Gateway in Oughterard, a three star Grade A hotel.
They employ an average of 90 people and generate an annual turnover in excess of £3 million.
"They are well established, focused and successfully run," he said. Customer loyalty built up over 15 years in Galway would benefit the Dublin outlet while business for his Galway hotels would, in time, be generated from the capital, Mr Sinnott said.
The market for tourism in the Galway area was close to saturation point, he felt. While existing operators may have room for growth, speculative development might experience difficulties there.
He said recent bombings in Britain were a setback for everyone. It underlined how fragile the market could be. Extensive marketing with EU support had allowed the whole of Ireland to be promoted as a destination since the peace process began. "There is less of a distinction between the two destinations (North and South). That is why the bombing is so serious, particularly for new operators who feature Ireland."
Tour operators were still being weaned onto the Irish market. Recent events, therefore, meant "there's a lot of nervous people out there". This is only a few months after a record tourism year, and comes after years of trying to convince the Government of the merits of major investment in tourism on the basis that it is labour intensive and an important service industry.
Against that background, he said, if tourism got into difficulties, the effect throughout the Irish economy would be very serious.