The German owners of the five-star Dunloe Hotel & Gardens near Killarney, Co Kerry, have begun a €100 million renovation of the property to transform it into a luxury resort. The scale of the project makes it one of the biggest hotel renovation investments in the State, putting it on a par with the sums spent to overhaul Adare Manor in Limerick by JP McManus and his family, and Ashford Castle in Cong, Co Mayo, which is owned by Red Carnation Hotels.The Dunloe opened in 1965 and is owned by the Liebherr family from Germany, who have extensive investments in the area. It is a sister property of the nearby five-star Europe Hotel and the Ard na Sidhe Country House. The Dunloe project involves demolishing the existing bedroom blocks, an event space and the swimming pool. Only the restaurant and reception area will remain. When completed, the hotel will have 97 rooms, down from 102 previously. However, 18 suites will be part of that mix, as opposed to one large suite previously. There will also be nine large family rooms. “We are reducing the number of rooms slightly but we’re increasing the number of suites. It’s a whole new footprint, with the two existing bedroom blocks being demolished,” said Michael Brennan, managing director of Killarney Hotels Ltd.The hotel will also include a spa and wellness area and enhanced conferencing and event facilities. Staff accommodation is also being built on site and a rewilding project is planned for the grounds, along with new pathways and an enhanced entrance to the property. Brennan said the company hopes to add padel courts and stables in a separate phase of redevelopment. The hotel closed last October, as it would each year, and is scheduled to reopen in June 2028. “We want to capture some of the summer of ′28, that’s the plan,” Brennan said. [ Seán Dunne challenge to bankruptcy officials ‘a complete waste of court time and legal resources’Opens in new window ]Why such a big refurbishment as opposed to remodelling the existing property? “We looked at remodelling it but the family felt that, realistically, it didn’t make sense. There’s no lift to the second bedroom block; the floor levels are different, with a lot of steps. This gives us an opportunity to correct those things and make it more accessible and more sustainable,” Brennan said. “We will have a conference and events centre that we didn’t have before so we would hope to attract business from both Irish and overseas companies as well.” He expects the renovated hotel to complement the offering at the Europe. “The Europe is a different offering. It is on the lakeshore, it has a much bigger spa and a bigger conference space. We feel we can create a separate market for the Dunloe.” Brennan said trading so far this year has been “excellent” in spite of the cost-of-living pressures in the economy. He expects like-for-like revenues to rise by 4 to 5 per cent. The group generated income of about €34.5 million last year from its three properties. He expects this to reduce to between €26 million and €27 million this year with the Dunloe closed.[ Workers at Meta contractor Covalen not allowed to work for other platform service providerOpens in new window ]“Costs are very difficult. Everything is increasing, as we all know, but trading is very strong. There’s value in Irish hotels and particularly in our market segment, and people are prepared to pay for that value and quality.” Brennan said the size of the investment demonstrated the long-term commitment of the Liebherr family to Killarney. They first invested in the area in 1958, opening a factory that still makes port equipment and container cranes.“It’s a commitment to Ireland as opposed to looking at a return on investment. Of course, they do intend to make money out of it but they are taking a long-term view. One of the exciting things is that this is the third generation of the family and all of the children and cousins are committed to Killarney.” In terms of the pricing of rooms, Brennan said precise figures will be worked out closer to the Dunloe’s reopening date but “at the moment, if I was to put a price on them now, it would be €1,200 to €1,400 a night for the suites and €450-€500 for the rooms”.