Downgraded hotels have status restored

Four Dublin hotels which were downgraded from five-star to four-star had their status reinstated yesterday on a website run by Fáilte Ireland and Excellence in Tourism Ltd, the company which rates hotels on behalf of Fáilte Ireland.

The reinstatement of the hotels to five-star by Excellence in Tourism Ltd, on the www.gulliver.ie site, came after it was instructed to do so by Fáilte Ireland.

The Irish Hotels Federation and a number of the State's best known five-star hotels have strongly criticised Excellence in Tourism Ltd.

The chief executive of the Irish Hotels' Federation, Mr John Power, said Excellence in Tourism Ltd had been premature in issuing a press release on Monday confirming that four hotels were to be downgraded to four-star.

"It was wrongly handled in that the release should not have been put out until such time that the hotels were given a chance to launch an appeal," he said. Under the appeals process the hotels have 30 days to launch an appeal. They will remain five-star until that appeals process is exhausted.

The four hotels are: the Shelbourne, St Stephen's Green; the Radisson, Stillorgan Road; the Conrad, Earlsfort Terrace; Jurys, Ballsbridge.

All four are to appeal the decision to an appeals committee made up of a number of tourism representatives including individuals from the hotels' federation and Fáilte Ireland. The appeals mechanism has never been tested before.

The hotels were informed last Friday by Excellence in Tourism Ltd that they were to be downgraded to four-star. The Conrad has confirmed that it was informed its dining facilities were not classed as a fine dining experience, one of the criteria for five-star status. The other three hotels did not comment yesterday on the reasons for their downgrading.

The Conrad's sales and convention director, Ms Yvonne Donohue, said the hotel remained a five-star establishment despite reports to the contrary. "We've been opened for 15 years and we've always been a five-star hotel and we would say that we still offer five-star service. All of the Conrad hotels around the world are five-star."

The Dublin hotel had spent €10 million on refurbishments in the last two years and planned to spend another €1.5 million on the lobby and other public areas in the next eight months. Ms Donohue said the hotel was disappointed it had not been afforded the 30-day period to appeal before information on its rating status was released.

"We very much feel that the process is ongoing," she said.

Ms Jackie Sandford, director of sales at the Radisson, said the hotel had requested a meeting with Excellence in Tourism Ltd, and hoped to "work through" any issues which might prevent it from retaining its five-star status. "We're very taken aback by this," she said.

Mr Phillip Spencer, general manager of the Shelbourne Hotel, said it would engage in a review with Excellence in Tourism Ltd to work on any areas which the company felt needed improvement. He added that the Shelbourne was about to engage in a major refurbishment project which would restore the hotel to its "former glory".

Jurys in Ballsbridge released a short statement saying the decision on the downgrading was an "interim" one.