A gang tied up two guests and a night porter and locked them in a fridge during a robbery at the Arklow Bay Hotel in the early hours of this morning.
The hotel was packed with guests for the bank holiday weekend but the five man gang, who were armed with axes and iron bars, only got away with a small amount of cash from the bar tills.
Five men wearing hooded tops prised opened the front doors of the hotel with the iron bars and overpowered the hotel porter, a man in his 30s, at about 4.30am.
The men challenged the night porter and tried to gain access to the safes. When told they were governed by time-locks they tried unsuccessfully to hack the safes open using the axes and bars.
A couple staying in the hotel were tied up along with the night porter and all three were locked in a fridge in the kitchen.
The night-porter was able to open the fridge from the inside and he succeeded in freeing himself and untying the husband and wife before raising the alarm.
The incident lasted about a half hour.
Hotel owner Brian Brennan said that the two guests and night porter were traumatised by the events and his thoughts were with them.
Mr Brennan said the hotel group had a very strong security system and that the gang were only able to get away with 'float' money from tills.
He told RTÉ's News at Onethe experience had been "frightening and harrowing" for those involved.
"Obviously, everybody is rattled. It's a terrible thing to happen, but it's a sign of the times, unfortunately."
The robbers used a car belonging to the couple as part of their get away. It is believed to have turned left out of the hotel entrance, while the car that the gang arrived in turned right on the coast road towards Brittas Bay.
The Garda crime team and technical unit were at the scene this morning.