Five-star crisis: Hotel staff had to sleep in plush suites
Management at Powerscourt ‘exasperated’ by workers’ lack of housing
HOTEL staff have had to sleep in guest bedrooms of the five-star Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa in Co. Wicklow, as its operators have been left ‘exasperated’ at the lack of availability of nearby affordable housing.
The hotel has now secured planning permission to construct staff accommodation at the site, despite an objection from the owners of the Powerscourt Estate.
An Bord Pleanála rejected a number of appeals against the decision of Wicklow County Council to approve the construction of a new 56-bed staff accommodation complex at the Enniskerry resort. The Wicklow Hotel Partnership, which operates the 198bed Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa, claimed the building is necessary to help it attract staff amid the current housing crisis.
It claimed it was ‘exasperated’ at the lack of availability of affordable housing near Enniskerry, which had created difficulties in attracting prospective employees. The hotel said it was experiencing a chronic staff shortage which it predicted would continue for the medium to long term.
The hotel’s owners also complained that they had to use some hotel rooms to accommodate staff, which was reducing its revenue and was unsustainable. The resort, which employs around 350 staff, has also been using buses to collect staff from Bray.
Plans for the accommodation provide for 56 beds in 29 rooms as well as a common room and communal kitchen, dining room and laundry room. It will be used as temporary accommodation for new and seasonal staff, and work placement students.
Subject to compliance with a number of planning conditions, An Bord Pleanála said the proposed development would not be visually obtrusive or out of character with the surrounding area. The board also ruled that it would not seriously injure the amenities of adjoining properties and would provide satisfactory standards of amenity for future occupants as well as being acceptable in terms of pedestrian and traffic safety.
However, it imposed a planning condition that hotel staff cannot live in the extension for longer than six months, while no room can be used as overnight paying guest accommodation.
Plans for the facility had been opposed by Scalaheen, a company linked to the Slazenger family – owners of the Powerscourt Estate.
A separate appeal was also lodged by Scalaheen’s planning consultant, Tom Phillips, who has a leasehold interest in a suite in the hotel. The appellants said the development was for co-living which had been prohibited by ministerial guidelines. They also claimed there had been an unauthorised change of use without planning permission by the use of hotel rooms for staff accommodation.
A planning inspector with An Bord Pleanála, Susan McHugh,
Bought in 2019 for over €50m
said the provision of staff accommodation on the grounds of the existing hotel was acceptable in principle. Ms McHugh also stated that the Wicklow Hotel Partnership had sufficient legal interest to make the application.
The Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa was bought in 2019 for over €50million by a company linked to MHL Hotel Collection – a joint venture between US cable television tycoon John Malone, property developer John Lally and businessman Paul Higgins.