important day Citywest Hotel team prepare to reopen doors for first time in nearly two years

'We also pay tribute to the professionalism and dedication of the HSE, the medical staff who operated here and to the large number of volunteers'

Pictured are Ciaran Cunningham, Executive Head Chef, Glenn Valentine, Managing Director, and members of the Citywest Hotel team. Photo: Orla Murray/Coalesce

Neil Fetherstonhaugh

February 03 2022 11:32 AM

Dublin’s Citywest Hotel has declared today to be a “really important day” for them as they prepare to reopen their doors to guests for the first time in nearly two years.

The largest hotel in the country shut its doors in March 2020 in line with pandemic restrictions on the entire hospitality sector.

It was then licensed for use by the HSE until the end of January this year to support the national effort to bring Covid-19 under control.

However, to the delight of management and staff, the easing of restrictions means the 764-bedroom hotel is back open for business and preparing for what it hopes will be a busy 2022.

“Today is a really important day for all the team here at Citywest, and we’re delighted to finally be able to reopen the hotel to guests old and new,” Glenn Valentine, General Manager of Citywest Hotel said.

“We have a very ambitious strategy in place to rebuild the hotel’s business and operations to the levels experienced pre-pandemic.

“The ownership and leadership team here at Citywest are extremely proud of and grateful to our team for the enormous work done in support of the HSE’s operations over the past two years, and also pay tribute to the professionalism and dedication of the HSE, the medical staff who operated here and to the large number of volunteers and others who provided support for what was a national effort.”

Mr Valentine added: “It’s a huge relief that the hospitality sector can now reopen and hopefully the restrictions on travel and tourism that the pandemic necessitated are a thing of the past. We look forward to welcoming guests for what promises to be a busy opening weekend of the Six Nations.”

The Citywest Hotel said it was confident that it will return towards the strong position it held pre-Covid, with strong domestic demand, particularly from corporates and event organisers, and a return in international travel for both leisure and business customers.

It has received a healthy pipeline of overseas and conference bookings, including the Love Your Home exhibition, Self-build Exhibition, The Hardware Show, and The Wedding Journal.

The Hotel is now scaling up its team and aims to return to the staffing complement of over 350 people it had before closure.