Most of 130 luxury hotel staff will be laid off

MOST of the 130 staff at a luxury hotel destroyed in the flood, just 18 months after a €30 million upgrade, will have to be laid off.

The news was broken to the staff at the five-star Kingsley Hotel on the Carrigrohane Road in Cork yesterday.

The staff were devastated with the bombshell coming just five weeks before Christmas.

“This has deeply affected everybody. Staff have been in tears over the weekend. It is just so sad to see. We’re absolutely devastated,” said the hotel’s marketing manager, Seamus Heaney.

“We are thankful there were no injuries last week but our worry now is for the staff going forward.”

The 131-bedroom hotel, voted the best business hotel in Ireland for two years in a row, was hit by a “mini tsunami” in the early hours of Friday morning when the Lee burst its banks forcing the evacuation of 232 guests.

Its ground floor was completed destroyed. Its electrical, gas, fire alarm and lifts system have been ruined. Floors have buckled, wood panelling needs to be replaced. Its kitchens, fridges and library area will have to be gutted. The pool and sauna area of its leisure centre have also been destroyed.

The staff were told the damage is so extensive, the hotel will be closed for some time — perhaps even months.

Assessors and engineers are still examining the damage but Mr Heaney said the destruction to the entire ground floor is total. The repair bill could run to several million euro.

“We will not be open for Christmas. We’ll need a miracle to reopen in time for the new year,” he said.

Weddings, conferences and bookings have been cancelled, resulting in the loss of millions more in income.

The weddings have been out-booked to other city hotels.

Enquires were being made yesterday from Britain and the US about whether or not the hotel will be able to honour bookings for next year.

Mr Heaney said it is just too early to be able to say with certainty when the hotel will reopen.

But he said the support from other hotels, businesses and multi-nationals around the country has been overwhelming.

It included a phone call from President Mary McAleese, who has stayed at the hotel on several occasions.

Mr Heaney said the hotel’s owners, Tom McCarthy and Tom Kelly, who also own the Midleton Park Hotel, would like to express their “deep gratitude” to everybody who has offered support.