Kinsale hotel part of Carlton’s expansion drive

THE Irish-owned hotel group Carlton Hotels is looking to expand its number of properties into double digits over the next 18 months via a major multimillion euro expansion drive.

The group will, later this week, open its seventh hotel in Kinsale and is looking to open at least another three new hotels around the country inside the next two years.

The four-star Carlton Hotel and Spa Kinsale will feature 128 bedrooms, 40 adjacent family apartments and state-of-the-art leisure and spa treatment facilities.

The property — which is estimated to be worth around €30 million — will initially employ 70 people, most of whom will hail from the local region, and as many as 120 when fully operational. The hotel is due to officially open on Thursday.

Carlton Hotels owns and operates six other hotels around the country.

These include the Atlantic Coast Hotel in Westport, Co Mayo; the Redcastle on the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal; the Millrace Hotel and Spa in Bunclody, Co Wexford; the Carlton Dublin Airport and two properties in Co Kildare in the Abbey Hotel and Spa in Athy and the Stand House Hotel at the Curragh.

Most of its properties are in the four-star bracket.

It’s a busy week for the hotel industry in Munster. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is due to formally open the new Radisson SAS hotel at Fota Island in Co Cork on Friday evening as part of an event celebrating the expansion of the brand in Ireland.