.Valerie Kerins, Rose of Tralee Elysha Brennan and Oonagh O’Gara at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean
YESTERDAY we brought you coverage of the official opening of the new Rose Hotel with 200 invited guests enjoying a great party (click here).
The hotel has gone under extensive refurbishment and now looks fantastic.
During the party on Friday evening, owner of the hotel, Dick Henggeler, spoke about their plans for the property and its involvement in the Rose of Tralee festival.
Continued below…
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“Our vision is we would like to make this into a 4-Star Plus hotel,” said Dick. “I think with the good tradesmen of Kerry we’ve gone a long way towards that. I think most of you were probably familiar with the hotel before. It was a nice hotel, but we just wanted to put in the ‘Wow Factor’. We think the Rose of Tralee Festival deserves that, we think the town of Tralee deserves that and we’re delighted to do that,” he said.
Eibhlin and Dick Henggeler at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean
He also spoke about why he and his wife Eibhlin got involved with the hotel after the death of their daughter Dott, the Washington DC Rose of 2011.
“In 2011, when Dott was the Washington DC Rose, during which we had a fabulous week in Tralee which transformed her life, it was also so powerful to Eibhlin and I. We wanted to be part of that. So we started out by purchasing this hotel to be a business partner to the Rose of Tralee. The one thing that surprised Eibhlin and I was the warm welcome we got from all of you in Tralee. We were blown away by your kind wishes and your thoughts,” said Dick.
He also said he wanted to make the hotel a special place for the people of the town…and beyond.
“Since 2009 this hotel has been hosting the Rose of Tralee, but it hasn’t quite been their home and we want to make it that way. We also want to make it a special place for all the people of Tralee…and for the people of Killarney – I just want to throw that out there!” said Dick, rather diplomatically.
Scroll down for many more photos from the opening…
Suzanne Ennis and Helen Geary at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean.Teresa and John Walker at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean.Liz Maher, Mairead Griffin and Mary McCaffrey at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot CreanDaithi O Se was MC at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean
Angela Ryan, Declan Dowling and Mary Dowling at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean
Amber and Franz Henggeler and Colleen Connolly at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean.Judy McNamara, Lauren McNamara, Melissa Sweeney and Karl McMahon at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot CreanNiall and Sharon Hobbert at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean.Breda Walsh, Eoin Liston and DJ Walsh at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot CreanMary Horan, Mike Brick and Eileen Brick at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot CreanBrian and Geraldine O’Shea at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean.John Brassil, Ogie Moran and Brendan Kennelly at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot CreanCatherine Casey, Jackie Gavaghan, Dolores O’Callaghan and Nuala Finnegan at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot CreanManaging Director of The Rose Hotel, Anthony O’Gara with Ger McCarthy and Jay Galvin at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot CreanVeronica Trofim, Ibo Kqiku, Mike Sugrue, Ben and Shkurka Beseli at the official reopening of The Rose Hotel on Friday evening. Photo by Dermot Crean
