Hotelier joins Residence management

CO KERRY-BASED hotelier Marie Chawke has emerged as one of the new management team behind the pending rebirth of high-profile Dublin members club, Residence.

Ms Chawke will divide her time between her general manager role at the five-star Aghadoe Heights Hotel & Spa near Killarney and Residence, where she will have an executive director role.

The new management team, of which she is part, officially takes over at the beginning of next month.

Residence was opened on St Stephen’s Green just over two years ago by entrepreneurial brothers Christian and Simon Stokes. It went into receivership earlier this year, after the owners’ failure to pay debts to the Revenue Commissioners and was formally taken over by millionaire businesswoman and seasoned club and restaurant owner Olivia Gaynor-Long in July through her investment vehicle Tarrango Ltd.

Residence will be jointly managed on a day-to-day basis by Ms Chawke and general manager Seamus Dooley; who was formerly assistant general manager of Doonbeg Hotel and Golf Club in Co Clare.

Although she was unavailable for direct comment, yesterday, a spokesperson for Ms Chawke said her new role would not impinge on her work at Aghadoe (which she has co-managed with her husband, Pat, for the past 10 years).

While the Co Kerry hotel previously closed for the winter season, it now opens in the off-peak time from Thursday to Sunday.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Residence said that Ms Gaynor-Long’s plans for the club were not fully finalised, but would feature an investment in facilities and an enhancement in member services.

Ms Gaynor-Long was already a member of the club, which has around 1,500 members paying an annual subscription of €1,600 on top of a once-off joining fee of €250. The rental for the premises stands at over €200,000 per year.