Kevin Markham: Hotel list every bit as fickle as world golf rankings

Lucky 8

The 62nd Forbes Travel Guide 2020 Stars Awards were published last week.

Exclusive hotel names? Absolutely. Eyebrows raised? You bet.

This list compiles the best hotels in the world, from modern luxury to those steeped in history.

Eight Irish hotels made the list. Only two of these are outside Dublin, with both having their own golf course/s.

The K-Club, in Kildare, which sold for between €55m and €75m last November, is one, while the other is Ashford Castle, in Mayo. The Co Mayo hotel regularly tops hotel rankings around the world, but not many people know that it has its own 9-hole golf course.

The eight hotels are The K-Club, Ashford Castle, The Shelbourne, The Merrion, The Marker Hotel, The Fitzwilliam Hotel, The Westbury, and Intercontinental Dublin.

There’s no Adare Manor, no Ballyfin, no Cliff House Hotel, Harvey’s Point or Hayfield Manor… proving that the ‘best’ lists of hotels can sometimes turn out to be are just as temperamental as golf course rankings.

Open Doors

Time flies. The former Galway Bay Resort Hotel has been given a green light to progress major renovation works which will see the derelict hotel re-open after more than a decade.

Connacht Accommodations Ltd has secured planning permission to expand the existing hotel and add new leisure facilities, including a pool, gym, and spa.

The hotel adjoins the Galway Bay Golf Resort, which became part of the Connacht Hospitality Group in November 2019. The ‘new’ hotel will undoubtedly boost the business of an already busy golf course.

“We welcome visitors to the golf course from all over the world,” said Galway Bay Golf Resort general manager Barry Phelan, “but it will be fantastic to have a top-class hotel on the grounds to match our world-class golf course.”

The hotel will be joined to the clubhouse, and is set to offer stunning views across Galway Bay into the city and beyond.

“The Connacht Hospitality Group has three top-class hotels already in their portfolio,” Phelan continues, “including Galway’s biggest hotel, The Connacht.

“The hotel next door to us is the fourth.”

All going to plan, the hotel will open in Spring 2021.

A New Era

It may be a short-term role but the newly elected Golfing Union of Ireland president John Ferriter will be busy before the official handover to Golf Ireland in January 2021.

Ferriter was elected the 72nd president at the union’s AGM at Carton House on February 15.

Afterwards, he said:

I’m looking forward to serving the union as president, sentimentally. As it’s the last year of the union it will be an important one and I’m looking forward to the year ahead.

And an interesting year it is going to be, with the new World Handicap System also to be introduced in November.