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30 June 2020: The Hilton Garden Inn Custom House hotel has re-opened to the public, having become the first Irish hotel to receive the ‘Safe to Trade’ hospitality industry accreditation, launched in direct response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Located on Dublin’s Custom House Quay, the hotel is managed by Amaris Hospitality (“the Group”) and is the first of the Group’s 30 hotels across the UK and Ireland to reopen to the public, following a significant investment of €600,000 in measures to safeguard the health and well-being of employees and guests across its portfolio.

Ahead of re-opening, Amaris Hospitality has undertaken an extensive training programme with employees and has made significant changes to its hotel operations in all areas as well as the provision of PPE equipment and rigorous cleaning regimes through Hilton’s CleanStay programme which has been designed to deliver an industry-defining standard of cleanliness and disinfection to Hilton properties.

Spearheaded by a board of leading hospitality experts, the ‘Safe to Trade’ scheme, was developed and launched by Shield Safety Group and is open to businesses in the UK and Ireland. It covers all aspects of hotel, restaurant and pub operations including front and back of house, customer management and adherence to all COVID-19 Government public health guidelines. Following an extensive remote and physical audit of the premises as well as an assessment of various performance metrics, the business was awarded the accreditation on Friday, June 26th.

As with a number of other hotels in the Group’s portfolio, the hotel continued to provide accommodation and services to key workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, with occupancy rates at around 30% in the period. Additionally, the hotel provided rooms to various workers in Dublin to support their accommodation needs during this time.

The hotel has already witnessed an increase in demand from clients and is expecting to be operating at above 50% capacity in the hotel in the immediate future, with employees returning in line with the scale of operations.

Hilton Garden Inn Custom House Hotel General Manager Niall Mitchell said: “It’s been important to us to be able to support key workers in Dublin throughout this difficult period. We’re now pleased to re-open our doors once again to our customers and are encouraged by the levels of demand we’ve witnessed so far, despite it being a challenging road ahead. Additionally, we’re delighted to have received this certification which highlights the efforts of all of our staff to deliver the highest possible standards of safety and assurance to the public as we re-open today.”

Peter Stack, CEO of Amaris Hospitality, said: “We’re delighted to be in a position to reopen our first hotel to the public. As is the case for many other hospitality businesses, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our business and with travel being extremely limited for the foreseeable future, this crisis will continue to have an impact for a considerable length of time. That said, we have a very strong business, with a dynamic portfolio of great hotels in strategic locations, including the Hilton Garden Inn Custom House which is a flagship hotel within our group,” Stack said.

Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, Amaris Hospitality had announced the completion of a €11.5million extension to Hilton Garden Inn hotel on Dublin’s Custom House Quay bringing the total number of rooms to 324, while also adding 3,195 square meters of new floor space to the existing building.

 

Amaris Hospitality is a leading hotel investment and management company with a portfolio of 30 hotels in the UK and Ireland trading under prestigious, international brands such as Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree by Hilton, Mercure and Ibis Styles.