Donegal's first five-star hotel is due to open in December as construction on the Solis Lough Eske Hotel is in the final stages.
Set on a wooded 43-acre site on the shores of Lough Eske, the hotel is 5kms from Donegal town. It is being developed by Donegal man Pat Doherty of Harcourt Developments who already owns the Carlton Redcastle Hotel on the Inishowen Peninsula. The 96-bedroom hotel has been constructed around the Elizabethan-style Lough Eske Castle, built in 1861. It will also have a 372sq m (4,000sq ft) ballroom, 557sq m (6,000sq ft) spa and a gourmet restaurant.
The hotel will be operated by the West Paces Group, management company of the recently opened Capella Castlemartyr hotel in Co Cork. The Solis will be the first hotel operated under this brand name. West Paces was founded by famed CEO of Ritz Carlton Hotels, Horst Shultze.
General manager, Andrew Turner, a former Ritz Carlton manager, is confident that the hotel will be a significant addition to Donegal and the north-west region in general. "We will be welcoming local food and beverage business with good value pricing and hope people will come for more than just special occasions," he says. A recruitment drive is on, and the hotel expects to employ staff from the whole border region.
Just a mile down the road, Harvey's Point Hotel on the shores of Lough Eske was announced recently as the "Hotel of the Year" at the AA Hospitality Awards at an event in Dublin.
Owned by the Gysling family and managed by husband and wife team Marc Gysling and Deirdre McGlone and brother Rudy Gysling, the hotel has operated on the site since 1989.
Originally a small guesthouse that expanded gradually over the years, it is now a 76-bedroom, four-star luxury property. Not only is the hotel famous for its quality rooms but also as a popular place for weddings, entertainment, venue of the Donegal Tenors and the famed Sunday lunch, which attracts more than 500 people every week.
Harvey's Point is run as a family hotel, with Swiss influences, particularly in the upkeep and cuisine. Rooms in the main hotel are some of the largest hotel rooms in Ireland. The beauty treatments area will be augmented next year when the full spa facility opens.
Lough Eske is a particularly picturesque area of Donegal surrounded by the Blue Stack Mountains.
The increase in rooms to this area will attract more visitors and expand tourism in the region. It will also ensure that quality will remain high for guests as competition will encourage both properties to maintain standards.
Also on the banks of Lough Eske is the former guesthouse Ardnamona which was a popular place for visitors for many years.
The guesthouse closed last year and, as yet, there is no indication of plans by the new owners to reopen as a guesthouse.
Ardnamona is the former dower house of the castle on 88 acres. It is famous for its gardens which were awarded National Heritage Status in 1991. The rhododendron collection dates from the 1880s.
If it does reopen as a guesthouse it will consolidate the Lough Eske area as a prime tourism destination in the south Donegal region, attracting a range of visitors, especially with the gardens being of national interest.
