Billionaire Denis O’Brien has halted the sale of his exclusive Quinta do Lago resort in Portugal after bids fell short of the asking price, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

There’s a new five-star hotel on the block. Earlier this year the Four Seasons became The InterContinental. And the Dublin 4 hotel now oozes even more luxury.

The former owners of the five-star Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin last year paid €2m in order to terminate its operating agreement with Four Seasons.

KEITH Hanley, who stars in the Everyman pantomime, says that if it wasn’t for performing in the annual Christmas show every year, he would never have had the confidence to take part in The Voice of Ireland.

Pre-tax losses at the firm that operates the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Dublin last year declined by 41% to just under €1.64m.

Bob Crewe, co-writer of Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, Big Girls Don’t Cry and many other pop hits, has died. He was 83.

Christopher Walken will star in 'Jersey Boys'.

Bill Gates is once again the world’s richest person.

A High Court judge has urged a Dublin family to "behave sensibly" in their battle with insurance giant Axa over water damage to their home in Sandymount.

A widowed mother of two alleged to be “destitute” and “homeless” after her south Dublin home was flooded has been offered over €800,000 towards repairs along with her chosen alternative accommodation in an apartment in the five-star Four Seasons Hotel.

LOTS of units are moving on Cork City’s MacCurtain Street in the run up to Christmas.

AS MORE and more Irish hotels are coming to market, the question of investor appetite raises its head.

AS developer Bernard McNamara’s misguided Burlington hotel purchase is put back for sale at a quarter the price he paid for it only five years ago, one of his other hotels is close to a sale via a receiver.

BANK of Ireland has launched a new farmer-focused deposit account which would allow them access to their savings once every three months.

London’s blue chip market broke through the 6,000 mark for the first time in more than a month today as its run of gains continued despite falls in the banking sector.

FOUR WEEKS after the birth of his first child, Elton John comes bounding into the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills beaming more broadly than a Cheshire cat on ecstasy.

CATHERINE Zeta-Jones and Douglas Hodge were winners at the Tony Awards in New York, picking up gongs for best actress and best actor in a musical.

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators clashed with Thai police and military troops trying to prevent them from leaving the capital’s commercial district today to stage protests elsewhere in Bangkok.

A property tycoon with ties to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s son was sentenced to death today for ordering the killing of a Lebanese pop star who had been his lover.

A DUBLIN hotels chain in fashionable Ballsbridge is offering customers family rooms for two adults and two children from €20 per night in a promotion designed to put “bums on seats”.

THREE-STAR hotels in Ireland cost €5 less per night than their one-star and two-star counterparts.

DEVELOPER Garrett Kelleher is a relieved man after the $40 million (€28m) penthouse in his unfinished Chicago Spire was sold — to the man who built his billions on Beanie Babies toys.

IRISH Ferries are promoting late Summer breaks in self-catering accommodation at the Port du Crouesty holiday village in Brittany.

A LETTER that arrived from Irish Life & Permanent in the Mahon Tribunal on March 5 was to prove pivotal in the inquiry’s investigation of Bertie Ahern’s finances and one that probably ultimately brought a premature end to his long tenure as taoiseach.

Eirgrid today urged households and offices to adopt aspects of yesterday’s Earth Hour ethos into their everyday lives by embracing energy saving measures.

DINERS at the Four Seasons in Dublin will be digging into their food by candlelight only tonight as the hotel’s restaurant switches off its lights for a major global environmental campaign.

Diners at the Four Seasons in Dublin will be digging into their food by candlelight tomorrow night as the hotel’s restaurant switches off its lights for a major global environmental campaign.

One of London’s best-appointed hotels was sold today as part of a £1.1bn (€1.6bn) transaction involving 47 Marriott sites.

The FTSE 100 Index powered through the 6,200 barrier today to close at its highest level since February 2001.

BARCHESTER, the nursing home group owned by JP McManus and John Magnier, has abandoned a takeover bid for its smaller rival BetterCare.

An Irish consortium, headed by former revenue inspector Derek Quinlan, is close to agreeing a deal to buy the Savoy hotel group in London from US investment firms the Blackstone group and Colony Capital.

ONLY in three luxury hotels in Ireland can satisfaction be virtually assured, according to an independent guide just published.

HILLARY CLINTON was so mobbed at her New York book party that it seemed she’d never get around to signing all the books. Luckily, husband Bill was helping.

Music stars such as Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, David Essex and voice of Bob The Builder, Neil Morrissey, are in line for a cash bonanza for unclaimed record royalties.