The Address Collective plans to offer guests more than just a copy and paste experience
A Glasgow hotel with a luxury 25 seat cinema.
he reopening of a hotel near Dublin’s Connolly Station with two new floors.
Reimagining a stay in Sligo city centre.
All are on The Address Collective’s to-do list for the coming year or so.
The What Now?
It sounds like a global outfit with boutique concepts, but this niche hotel collection is owned and managed by Brian and Ciara McGettigan and intends to make a splash on the hotel scene in Ireland… and beyond.
The McGettigan Group has several hotels but launched The Address Collective in 2020 with a €16m reboot of The Ambassador in Cork (now The Address Cork) and The Kingswood (The Address Citywest) and North Star (The Address Connolly) in Dublin.
The pandemic has, of course, forced some turning points (the Connolly Hotel is on a one-year contract with the state), but 2023 brings a fresh start.
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McGettigan’s Cookhouse in The Address Cork
“We feel like we’re going back to full activity,” commercial director Seán Reid tells me of new €14 million spending that saw The Address Connolly reopen on April 1 with 40 new rooms and a new wellness center is opened for guests. the former Pocotel becomes The Address Glasgow in September; and Sligo City Hotel will become one address in 2024.
So what can we expect from a stay?
“We don’t think our guests want a copy-and-paste experience,” says Reid. “Things have changed and other hotels in the market have pushed things.”
They have a “deceptively simple” formula of four-star luxury, Irish design and produce where possible, and properties that share the same standards but with individual differences and local variances, he explains.
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Club Experience upgrades include lounge access
That’s hospitality, so you have to muddle through marketing (“the ultimate four-star experience”), but I also see strong ideas.
For example, rather than separating hotel bars and restaurants, McGettigan’s Cookhouse combines the two in casual but upscale spaces that cater to guests and walk-in customers, be they families, couples, or corporate.
“Club Experience” upgrades buy access to upgraded rooms, club lounges, and 6:30 p.m. “wine and nibbles,” which Reid says can work like informal networking sessions. A Taste The Address special including B&B, dinner and a cocktail starts at around €250 for two people in Dublin hotels (plus €30 for club rates).
To me, The Address Connolly looks most complete at this point.
It has new 8th and 9th floors with floor-to-ceiling windows; Club room key cards also have access to a rooftop area; and refreshments to the rooms, Parlor Café and McGettigan’s Cookhouse, as well as a new spa/fitness concept with LED sauna and hydrotherapy pool.
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‘Jacob’s Ladder’, a slow-cooked beef rib at McGettigan’s Cookhouse. Photo: Pol Ó Conghaile
I stayed at The Address Cork last month and while I liked the Cookhouse with its bookshelves, nooks, cocktails and friendly young staff who knew their menus, I found room for improvement at breakfast and found the gym to be very dated .
But the hotel (on Military Hill in St. Luke’s) is also getting a new wellness concept by summer, Reid tells me.
Competition for snappy hotel brands is growing – think The Dean in Dublin, Cork or Galway; by Locke Living Aparthotels; Hoxton’s “open house” hotels (coming to Dublin in 2024); or bigger brands like Curio by Hilton.
You can judge for yourself this year whether The Address Collective can pull this off. But I’m excited to find out.
https://www.independent.ie/life/travel/the-address-collective-plans-to-give-guests-more-than-a-copy-and-paste-experience-42323542.html The Address Collective plans to offer guests more than just a copy and paste experience