News Blog - Hotel and Catering Review

Mercantile Plans Major Revamp

The Mercantile hospitality group is planning a a20m investment programme following the settlement of legal disputes between shareholders which sees the 11 venues in the group being split between the two sides. Former Chief Executive Frank Gleeson will take control of restaurants Green Hen and Marcel’s, Farrier & Draper bar, and two suburban Dublin pub sites. The majority shareholders of Mercantile, including US-Irish building magnates Maurice [...]

SODEXO RECOGNISED AS A BUSINESS ALL-STAR

Sodexo, one of Ireland’s leading on-site services providers, was recognised as a Business All-Star Irish Global Multinational Corporation for 2019-20 by the All-Ireland Business Foundation at the accreditation ceremony in Croke Park, Dublin on Tuesday 12th March 2019. It is an independently verified standard mark for Irish businesses that is based on rigorous selection criteria; performance, trust and customer centricity. Irish businesses that successfully navigate the Foundation’s six-step adjudication [...]

Markree Castle Re-Opens

Sligo’s Markree Castle re-opened in March as an exclusive wedding and event venue following a a12m renovation that lasted two years. Along with weddings, Markree will also offer conference, incentive and team building packages. The 17th century Gothic castle in Co Sligo joins Ballyseede Castle, Bellingham Castle and Cabra Castle in the Corscadden family’s hotel and venue portfolio of the ‘Romantic Castles of Ireland’. The Gothic [...]

A Decade of Dylan

The Dylan Hotel just off Upper Baggot Street in Dublin 4 celebrated a decade since its opening by recently unveiling a a10m renovation that adds 28 guest bedrooms to its 44 guestrooms, creates 15 jobs, including roles in sales and for front of house and chefs, and multiple interior updates to the building. Formerly the Nurses’ Home for the Royal City of Dublin Hospital, the hotel’s [...]

Musgrave Offers Taste of Summer

Food lovers gathered at Musgrave MarketPlace Ballymun on June 27th for the Musgrave MarketPlace Summer Food Stories event, which offered attendees expert tips and hints from key tastemakers in the food industry. The event, which was hosted by John Healy of popular TV3 show ‘The Restaurant’, saw author, blogger and columnist Indy Power demonstrate summer-inspired dishes from her bestselling book, ‘The Little Green Spoon’. Taking inspiration from [...]

Taking the Wild Atlantic Way Around The World

The Aghadoe Heights Hotel in Killarney was the venue for the June board meeting of Tourism Ireland, which took place on June 14th. The board members met with local tourism operators prior to the meeting to discuss the tourism season and the extensive promotional programme that Tourism Ireland is undertaking to highlight Kerry, the Wild Atlantic Way, and the island of Ireland around the world this [...]

Cork Airport Opens New Restaurants

Cork Airport has launched its new and improved food offerings at Food Republic and Kinsale Café Bar following major investment from Aramark food services. Local suppliers for the new restaurants at Cork Airport include Fingal Ferguson (Gubbeen chorizo), Jane Murphy (Ardsallagh goat’s cheese), Bandonvale cheddar, Flahavan’s Oat porridge, G’s jams, Co Laois, Ballycotton smoked salmon, Glenillen yoghurts, Glenown ice cream, and Pallas Green for locally grown [...]

New Association for Visitor Attractions

The new Association of Visitor Experience and Attractions (AVEA) was launched at an event in the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks on May 31st. The AVEA will provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge, information and advice between members, as well as offering external support systems and professional insight into the delivery of best practice in customer care, interpretation, and service standards. AVEA’s [...]

Teeling Celebrates 2nd Anniversary

Teeling Whiskey celebrated the second anniversary of its award-winning distillery on June 7th as it welcomed its 185,000th visitors through the door, Patricia Lienig and Vwe von Aeewoeselen from Frankfurt in Germany. Visitor numbers to the distillery have doubled in the past 12 months alone. Teeling Whiskey, which is now Ireland’s fastest growing whiskey brand, has launched three new products over the past year, including the [...]

Guinness’ Gravity Bar to Double in Size

The multi award winning Guinness Storehouse announced details of a 116m expansion plan which will see the iconic Gravity Bar double in size. With its panoramic 360 degree views over the city, Dublin’s highest bar has proven to be a highlight for the 16.5 million people who have visited the Guinness Storehouse since it opened in 2000. Subject to planning permission, it is hoped that construction [...]

Impressive Growth in Business Tourism Sector

The latest Fáilte Ireland estimates, based on CSO figures, indicate that business travel from overseas markets is worth in excess of a 700m to the Irish economy after growing by seven per cent during the period 2015 to 2016. The sector is estimated to support approximately 21,000 jobs. Reflecting this growth, Fáilte Ireland’s Business Tourism & Events team have directly influenced a 198m of promotable business [...]

Incentivising Corporate Buyers to Choose Ireland

A group of North American corporate and incentive buyers arrived in Ireland in May for a five day fact finding trip hosted by Fáilte Ireland in conjunction with Tourism Ireland.The buyers, who arrived into Shannon Airport, had the chance to carry out a number of site inspections at key venues across the country, including Adare Manor, Co Mayo, The Killarney Park Hotel and The Europe, Co [...]

Powerscourt Joins Luxury Global Network

Powerscourt Hotel Resort & Spa in Co Wicklow has become a member of prestigious global travel network Virtuoso, the number one network in the luxury travel industry, spanning more than 26 countries. “There’s a real kudos attached to being part of this network connecting prestige clients with leading travel providers like ourselves,” says John Costelloe, Assistant Director of Sales at Powerscourt Hotel Resort & Spa. Powerscourt’s [...]

Promoting WAW’s Cycling Potential

Fáilte Ireland announced on July 13th that it was teaming up with cycling specialists Ride Wild to launch the Wild Atlantic Way Cycle Sportif, a series of bi-annual cycling events along the coastal route (from Kinsale in West Cork to Muff in Donegal). The idea is to promote the Wild Atlantic Way as a cycling destination internationally and domestically, as well as attract visitors across the [...]

Ireland Breaks 1 Million US Visitors Barrier

Fáilte Ireland published its preliminary Tourism Facts 2016, a compilation of key findings on tourism performance in Ireland in 2016, on June 20th. With data from a number of sources, the report provides detail on where tourists came from, where they went in Ireland, why overseas tourists came to Ireland, where they stayed and what they did during last year. “This comprehensive reference guide for tourism [...]

TripAdvisor and Deliveroo Integrate Service Offering

TripAdvisor and Deliveroo recently announced the integration of Deliveroo’s restaurant network into the TripAdvisor desktop website, mobile web and mobile app experiences across 12 countries. Consumers browsing TripAdvisor restaurant listings now have the option to order food from more than 20,000 of Deliveroo’s restaurant partners spanning across 12 countries and more than 140 cities. By clicking the ‘Order Online’ button when browsing the TripAdvisor restaurant listing [...]

Irish-Based Chefs in Running for Global Award

The road to the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 Grand Finale is still long, but 10 semi-finalists from each of the 21 regions worldwide are now one step closer. They have been selected from thousands of applications submitted by young chefs from over 90 countries, all of them looking for their chance to be part of S.Pellegrino’s global talent search for the world’s best young chef. Ireland/UK’s [...]

Hastings Celebrates 50 Years of Culloden

Northern Ireland’s Hastings Hotels is celebrating 50 years of ownership of the Culloden Estate & Spa. Hastings Hotels purchased the luxurious property in June 1967, and over the course of the last 50 years, under the direction of Sir William Hastings, has transformed the Culloden in size and luxury. “I purchased the Culloden in 1967 for £100,000, when it was a 13-bedroom boutique hotel with a [...]

Chevalier Award for Margot Slattery

Margot Slattery, Country President of Sodexo Ireland, was named Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite by Jean-Pierre Thébault, the French Ambassador to Ireland, at a ceremony at the French Residence on Ailesbury Road on June 8th. It is bestowed to reward distinguished civil and other achievements by French citizens and other nationalities. Margot’s role in promoting diversity and inclusion, as well as promoting the role of [...]

Growing Tourism from the US and Germany

Tourism industry leaders from around the island of Ireland joined Tourism Ireland in Dublin on May 24th to take part in two workshops looking at ways to maximise growth from the US and German markets for Irish tourism over the coming years. Tourism revenue from the US grew by +72% and visitors by +48% over the period 2010 to 2015. Over one in 10 American travellers [...]

Integrated Payment Service for Irish Hospitality

BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA) has partnered with hospitality software and system provider Captiva POS to provide integrated payment solutions to its clients. Captiva POS is used for order and payments processing by over 1,000 hospitality outlets in Ireland, including Munchies, Hillbilly’s, Kanoodle, Ramen Thai, Thunders Bakery, Romayos and Sbarro Pizza. Now, with full support for BOIPA’s payment technology included in Captiva Software, Captiva clients will be [...]

Musgrave Supports Future Chefs

Musgrave MarketPlace recently announced a 2250,000 culinary arts support programme with DIT Grangegorman that will see the development of a new training restaurant and annual scholarship fund for the college’s School of Culinary Arts & Food Technology. The Musgrave MarketPlace training restaurant will serve as a state-of–the-art teaching space in the heart of the new DIT campus at Grangegorman. The restaurant will provide training facilities for [...]

Glenview Wins Business Excellence Award

The Glenview Hotel and Leisure Club, Wicklow has been awarded the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Award and becomes only the third company in Ireland to reach the internationally recognised business excellence model’s Recognised for Excellence Four Star Standard. EFQM provides a framework for companies seeking to deliver added value to their customers while improving their overall operational and business performance. “At the Glenview we pride [...]

AA Rosettes for Lyrath Estate

La Perla restaurant at the Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny was recently awarded two AA rosettes. The chief architect behind La Perla’s recognition as an AA Rosette winning restaurant is Executive Head Chef Gary Rogers, who has almost 20 years’ experience in the industry from a variety of destinations all over the world. During his four years in Australia, Gary worked his way up from his [...]

Dublin Champions Enlighten Visitors

Over 40 front line tourism representatives from across the city and county were honoured as ‘Dublin Champions’ at a recent ceremony organised by Fáilte Ireland in The National Maritime Museum of Ireland in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. The group are now fully armed to help visitors uncover some of Dublin’s hidden stories and experiences.