RIU Hotels & Resorts recently completed the refurbishment of the historic Riu Plaza The Gresham Dublin. This majestic 4-star hotel offers the best of the Irish capital’s tradition and history and now boasts a total of 404 fully refurbished rooms with modern, contemporary amenities.
In addition to its totally refurbished rooms and suites, the historic six-storey establishment has eleven meeting and conference rooms, a fitness centre and the Writer’s Lounge bar, as well as two restaurants: the Gallery, where breakfast is served; and Toddy’s Restaurant, which is one of the hotel’s best known spaces due to the local cuisine on offer and its excellent location in one of the most central areas of the city.
The hotel is located on the famous O’Connell Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. Thanks to its unbeatable location in the heart of Dublin, many of the Irish capital’s landmarks are within walking distance, such as the River Liffey, which runs through the centre of the capital, as well as Croke Park, Dublin Castle, the iconic Temple Bar and the Henry Street shopping area. It is also 20 minutes from the airport and very close to the Convention Centre Dublin.
Since the chain bought the establishment in September 2016, it has gradually increased the hotel’s accommodation capacity and introduced a series of improvements and updates to provide more services, sophistication and elegance. This most recent refurbishment had the objective of renovating practically all of the hotel’s rooms and adding 16 more, to make a grand total of 404 rooms.
The Riu Plaza Gresham Dublin is the Majorcan chain’s oldest property, an original 19th-century build dating back to 1817. Not only is it an extremely important establishment for RIU due to its unbeatable location, but the building also holds great significance for the citizens of Ireland, so much so that RIU decided to keep the name of the hotel when it bought the building out of respect for its long history and importance to both the city and its people. From an architectural point of view, The Gresham is a highly complex building with four wings that were built during different periods over its more than 200-year history, making it a real architectural gem.
RIU has invested 11 million euros in the current refurbishment. In overall, the hotel chain has invested in renovations and improvements a grand total of 23 million euros, apart from the purchase of the emblematic building in 2016. The refurbishment of the second largest hotel in Ireland has gone from the façade back to Marlborough Street. This is having a direct impact in the revitalization of O’Connell Street and its ecosystem. In the Hammersmith site opposite to the hotel, there are five acres the largest city centre site in any European capital for development which will be shortly settled. This, alongside the new establishments that have opened recently and will be inaugurated soon, allows the area to continue its expansion and growth.
In addition, the iconic establishment now uses only green energy, meaning that all electricity consumed in the hotel is certified as coming from renewable sources. This action stems from the Sustainable Energy Transition Plan as part of the Environment Pillar of RIU’s Proudly Committed Sustainability Strategy, which aims to move towards a clean energy transition.
The first hotel in the RIU Plaza city line opened in 2010 in Panama, and since then the hotel chain has continued to expand to the world’s main capitals. The Majorcan chain currently has a total of ten hotels in this line: the Riu Plaza Panama, the Riu Plaza Guadalajara in Mexico; the Riu Plaza España, which is located in the famous Edificio España building; the Riu Plaza Miami Beach, Riu Plaza Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, Riu Plaza New York Times Square and Riu Plaza Manhattan Times Square in the United States; the Riu Plaza Berlin, the Riu Plaza London Victoria and the recently refurbished Riu Plaza The Gresham Dublin. Chicago and Toronto will be the next new destinations to welcome RIU’s city hotels, and New York will see its third RIU Plaza establishment.
For more information please visit www.riu.com
