Business

Further £2m investment at Fitzwilliam Hotel will add rooms and jobs

Cian Landers (left) from the Fitzwilliam Hotel and David Harte from Edgewater Contracts announce that work has begun on a second £2million investment to upgrade rooms and increase capacity at hotel. Photo: Darren Kidd / PressEye
Cian Landers (left) from the Fitzwilliam Hotel and David Harte from Edgewater Contracts announce that work has begun on a second £2million investment to upgrade rooms and increase capacity at hotel. Photo: Darren Kidd / PressEye Cian Landers (left) from the Fitzwilliam Hotel and David Harte from Edgewater Contracts announce that work has begun on a second £2million investment to upgrade rooms and increase capacity at hotel. Photo: Darren Kidd / PressEye

THE five-star Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast is investing another £2 million to upgrade rooms and increase capacity at its Great Victoria Street premises, doubling the among spent in little over a year.

This phase of refurbishment follows an initial £2million refit which was completed in November 2016 and saw the lobby, 113 bedrooms and facilities updated with new sumptuous art deco inspired colour palettes and furnishings.

The latest phase will see the existing bedrooms and meeting spaces on the eighth and ninth floors transformed into city view rooms and an additional luxury penthouse, with panoramic views over Belfast.

And this will increase the total number of bedrooms by 15 per cent to 150, which it believes will meet the continuing rise in visitors seeking luxury accommodation in the city.

The new luxury penthouse on the ninth floor, named ‘The Residence’, will be a stand-out space for visiting VIPs and for the first time the hotel will be offering family-friendly rooms giving guests more variety.

The additional capacity created by the new rooms will also cater for the hotel’s corporate and out-of-state guests who want that element of luxury when on business and they can now take advantage of high-end incentives and group business.

The increased capacity will also create 17 new hospitality jobs in front-of-house, the bar and restaurant and accommodation, meaning that the hotel now employs over 100 staff.

The Fitzwilliam Hotel’s general manager Cian Landers said: “Northern Ireland’s hotel industry is experiencing strong growth and with the increased demand we are delighted to be able to contribute to the stock of premium hotel rooms in the city.

"On the completion of this phase, the Fitzwilliam will have invested a total of £4million in the last two years and we plan to make more investment and extension announcements in the near future.”

David Harte, project manager with main contractor Edgewater Contracts, added: “This is planned to be a 26-week project which will take us up to the end of July so our challenge is to work seamlessly behind the scenes without creating any impact on the guests so that the Fitzwilliam maintains its five-star service throughout.”