Cork spa hotel reopens for frontline staff during Covid-19 crisis

The Kingsley Hotel in Cork City has reopened during the Covid-19 pandemic in order to make rooms available to frontline workers.

The four-star hotel and spa is located on the River Lee and is close to to the city’s hospitals. It is one of two properties that make up The Fota Collection.

The Kingsley closed to the public on 18 March but now its 131 bedrooms and suites have been opened for frontline staff in partnership with the HSE.

Group director of sales and marketing at The Fota Collection Finola Twomey said that hotel staff are honoured to be a home away from home for frontline workers while they continue to keep everyone safe.

General manager of The Kingsley Fergal Harte is also the chair of the Cork Irish Hotels Federation and he recently told the Irish Examiner that the hotel is hoping to get through this crisis.

“We are conscious of the bigger picture,” he said. “We are hoping we can get through this, and we will keep following Government advice. Everything has changed in relation to physical and social distancing. Our main focus will be to get some part of the hotel reopened.”

Government support in the form of capital grants, a reduction in the Vat rate to zero, at least initially, followed by a restoration of the lower 9pc rate would be ideal, he added.