Tralee Thread (No chit-chat)

bobdcow

how did the treck tralee go yesterday?

Samson.Kerry

Same here ! Looking for professional sharpening service for chef knifes here in Kerry ! Any leads anyone ? Who is Benners ?

Ciarrai76

Samson.Kerry wrote: »

Same here ! Looking for professional sharpening service for chef knifes here in Kerry ! Any leads anyone ? Who is Benners ?

I think Utensils in Castle Street do it. Benners is a small hardware shop next to Akrakebabra in Bridge Street. They may do it also, not sure though.

kn

Heard on Radio Kerry new this morning that the Carlton Hotel Tralee management company left behind a couple of million in debts on being liquidated. Among the creditors are the Town Council for circa €160k in rates plus it mentioned a range of small suppliers that made up most of the creditors like butchers, taxi companies etc that have been left high and dry - none of whom I'm sure can afford the hit and may result in further job losses. But the Council must have been owed that money for like a couple of years without being paid!

I always thought that the Carlton just could never do the business year round to survive and here is the proof. Even with paying a very low rent for the property I bet they still lost money hand over fist. I always thought a Carlton was never viable in Tralee and got criticsed for saying so when it belly up last month even though the figures clearly indicate that they place is a white elephant.

Ciarrai76

kn wrote: »

Heard on Radio Kerry new this morning that the Carlton Hotel Tralee management company left behind a couple of million in debts on being liquidated. Among the creditors are the Town Council for circa €160k in rates plus it mentioned a range of small suppliers that made up most of the creditors like butchers, taxi companies etc that have been left high and dry - none of whom I'm sure can afford the hit and may result in further job losses. But the Council must have been owed that money for like a couple of years without being paid!

I always thought that the Carlton just could never do the business year round to survive and here is the proof. Even with paying a very low rent for the property I bet they still lost money hand over fist. I always thought a Carlton was never viable in Tralee and got criticsed for saying so when it belly up last month even though the figures clearly indicate that they place is a white elephant.

has it closed or was it taken over?

bobdcow

a new crowd have taken over the place now and it's back to being the fels point again.

michael999999

bobdcow wrote: »

a new crowd have taken over the place now and it's back to being the fels point again.

Would you feel confident about booking a wedding reception there though, I know I wouldn't.

I'd imagine weddings would be what would keep a hotel ticking over throughout the year!

carchaeologist

bobdcow wrote: »

a new crowd have taken over the place now and it's back to being the fels point again.

The quote ' you can't polish a turd' comes to mind.

kn

carchaeologist wrote: »

The quote ' you can't polish a turd' comes to mind.

I'd imagine that they will slash costs under the Maldron brand which is a more 3* tourist class brand rather than the 4* Carlton brand. I have not checked the website but I'd imagine the complimentary Aquadome pass and other such extras will be eliminated.

seosamh1980

michael999999 wrote: »

Would you feel confident about booking a wedding reception there though, I know I wouldn't.

I'd imagine weddings would be what would keep a hotel ticking over throughout the year!

Two years ago I think it was they had 12-15 weddings in the whole year. When you think that most decent hotel wedding venues would have at least one a week, hopefully at least 2 in summer months, and places like Ballygarry have a 2-3 a week all year. Poor hotel never stood a chance really, stuck on a wasteland.

kn

seosamh1980 wrote: »

Two years ago I think it was they had 12-15 weddings in the whole year. When you think that most decent hotel wedding venues would have at least one a week, hopefully at least 2 in summer months, and places like Ballygarry have a 2-3 a week all year. Poor hotel never stood a chance really, stuck on a wasteland.

The Carlton's problem, and I will again be crucified for saying this, is that the brand and the expectations and costs that come with with that brand are just too upmarket for Tralee. The Carlton brand is a mid tier business hotel brand generally to found in cities and commercial centres - Tralee never met that criteria. The Carlton could only ever justify its existence as a 4* of that scale of a hotel on one week of the year for the festival. A small niche 4* might have a year round clientele but not one on the scale of the Carlton. With the Maldron brand it can eliminate the 4*costs and go after the tour coaches market which will ultimately be more beneficial for the Town even if that move has already taken the Abbeygate out.

delthedriver

kn wrote: »

The Carlton's problem, and I will again be crucified for saying this, is that the brand and the expectations and costs that come with with that brand are just too upmarket for Tralee. The Carlton brand is a mid tier business hotel brand generally to found in cities and commercial centres - Tralee never met that criteria. The Carlton could only ever justify its existence as a 4* of that scale of a hotel on one week of the year for the festival. A small niche 4* might have a year round clientele but not one on the scale of the Carlton. With the Maldron brand it can eliminate the 4*costs and go after the tour coaches market which will ultimately be more beneficial for the Town even if that move has already taken the Abbeygate out.

Hopefully , under new ownership it will become a success again.

michael999999

Does anyone know the names of the Councillors that voted to introduce clamping at last nights council meeting?

How do they think this is going to encourage people to come and shop in the town centre?

I can't wait until they call canvassing at my door!

delthedriver

michael999999 wrote: »

Does anyone know the names of the Councillors that voted to introduce clamping at last nights council meeting?

How do they think this is going to encourage people to come and shop in the town centre?

I can't wait until they call canvassing at my door!

You are joking!!!!!

michael999999

delthedriver wrote: »

You are joking!!!!!

They seem to be doing everything they can to drive people up to Manor!

Molester Stallone

Anyone know what date it is today?

ongarboy

kn wrote: »

The Carlton's problem, and I will again be crucified for saying this, is that the brand and the expectations and costs that come with with that brand are just too upmarket for Tralee. The Carlton brand is a mid tier business hotel brand generally to found in cities and commercial centres - Tralee never met that criteria. The Carlton could only ever justify its existence as a 4* of that scale of a hotel on one week of the year for the festival. A small niche 4* might have a year round clientele but not one on the scale of the Carlton. With the Maldron brand it can eliminate the 4*costs and go after the tour coaches market which will ultimately be more beneficial for the Town even if that move has already taken the Abbeygate out.

Well put observation! Even though Meadowlands and Ballygarry are 4 star, they are more boutique, niche hotels so can fill up pretty easily and have 40+ years each of built up local custom and loyalty for food & beverages and functions/weddings etc. I just googled Manor West Hotel and it is also 4 star. While it is a very nice hotel and has a much improved bar and dining offering, I still would not categorise it as true 4 star. In fact the whole hotel ratings system is a bit suspect. I've experienced stunning and mediocre hotels (and the service they offer) and often they've been assigned the same ratings.

I did enjoy the classiness of the Carlton (attended a faultless wedding and 70th birthday function there recently) but I'd rather a profitable budget hotel and sustainable jobs then a loss making fancy hotel always under the shadow of closure. Best of luck to the Maldron!

shergar22

michael999999 wrote: »

Does anyone know the names of the Councillors that voted to introduce clamping at last nights council meeting?

How do they think this is going to encourage people to come and shop in the town centre?

I can't wait until they call canvassing at my door!

April Fools!!

kimbaines

Dalata have the Management contract for Fels Point from NAMA. They have just raised €285m from an IPO so have pots of money to buy hotels. I am sure they will run Fels Point with a view to buying in a couple of years.
Fels Point is an excellent hotel and well run, i cannot see why anyone would think that it could not work in Tralee. Manor West works fine so why not Fels Point?

delthedriver

shergar22 wrote: »

April Fools!!

Nice one!

Still suffering from jetlag .......brain cannot figure day or date!!!!

delthedriver

ongarboy wrote: »

Well put observation! Even though Meadowlands and Ballygarry are 4 star, they are more boutique, niche hotels so can fill up pretty easily and have 40+ years each of built up local custom and loyalty for food & beverages and functions/weddings etc. I just googled Manor West Hotel and it is also 4 star. While it is a very nice hotel and has a much improved bar and dining offering, I still would not categorise it as true 4 star. In fact the whole hotel ratings system is a bit suspect. I've experienced stunning and mediocre hotels (and the service they offer) and often they've been assigned the same ratings.

I did enjoy the classiness of the Carlton (attended a faultless wedding and 70th birthday function there recently) but I'd rather a profitable budget hotel and sustainable jobs then a loss making fancy hotel always under the shadow of closure. Best of luck to the Maldron!

Delighted to see hotel remain open, irrespective of ratings . Good luck to Maldron and their staff!

amadain

michael999999 wrote: »

Does anyone know the names of the Councillors that voted to introduce clamping at last nights council meeting?

PA DALY maybe ???

bobdcow

I attended 2 weddings at the Carlton and stayed over once, often went for dinner/lunch there and never had a complaint, great to see it stay open and hopefully it'll take off.

What impact will this have for the dome? I presume the Maldron will take over sponsorship?

Henwin

I got engaged at xmas and when we were looking at reception venues the Carlto n was on my list as I had attended 2 socials and liked the food and the room. But wat put me off was their managers were not really professional. left waiting for an hour on both occasions we were there even though we had an appointment. another thing was they have very few weddings booked this year and next. This surprised me cause it has a lovely reception area and function room as well as good food.
Im thankfull now that we went with ballyroe who are really excellent.

phormium

I think the surroundings of the Carlton let it down for weddings, there is no garden or view to take photos, something Ballyseede, Ballyroe & Ballygarry all have. Maybe you need to have 'Bally' in your name to do well at weddings!

There is a Carlton in Ballinasloe, a smaller town than Tralee, not near the beach and with not a lot to offer yet it's still going, mind you they do a good wedding business, they sent the manager from Ballinasloe down to Tralee for a while to try and improve the wedding situation but I don't think it worked.

bobdcow

Carlton did great offers last year, we went to Balinasloe and it was a lovely hotel, very friendly but we spent most of the time in Galway city and drove back there to stay.

We did another weekend last Easter in Westport when they had a hotel there but when we paid and ready to leave they couldn't take our Carlton rewards card because they were Carlton in all but name, found it a little strange at the time.

delthedriver

Ballinasloe is definitely not Tralee.


Not surprised OP spent most of the weekend in Galway


I think the Carlton in Ballinasloe is the only Hotel there.


As a result they would get a lot of wedding business.

seosamh1980

delthedriver wrote: »

Ballinasloe is definitely not Tralee.


Not surprised OP spent most of the weekend in Galway


I think the Carlton in Ballinasloe is the only Hotel there.


As a result they would get a lot of wedding business.

Well I can tell you this now, I rather living in Ballinasloe than Tralee, a million times over. It is a much friendlier town, people are a lot less concerned with b!tching and gossiping here than they are in Tralee. It's near Galway, Athlone, Portumna, the Shannon, the motorway, it's peaceful and safe and people mind their own business. All things I never found living in Tralee. If I could drag it near a beach I'd be laughing.

There are two other hotels in the town, currently the Carlton does the most wedding business but in summer months one other does quite a few weddings, they are family owned hotels so overall they do better day to day business with people popping in for meals and holding family occasions in them and other events as they have been in them for years, the Carlton doesn't have that crutch here. There are many other wedding venues 10-15 minutes either side of Ballinasloe and the Carlton still gets a fair share of weddings, as it is often preferred to the two hotels in nearby Loughrea, and is better in a lot of ways than many of the hotel venues in Athlone (good food, large hotel, no traffic issues, easy for guests to get to, reasonable and nice rooms, friendly staff, etc.).

It's right between Galway and Dublin and just off the motorway so people often choose it if guests are coming from either side, it's also often chosen for large conferences/events for this reason too. It has a lot more going for it for these reasons than a hotel sitting on an eyesore down the west of the country competing with local decent hotels like Ballygarry and Ballyroe.

/rant over. Del, while Kerry is one of the best places ever and Tralee has its good points (I think? Baily's Corner is good) it is not a great enough place to support any old badly run unattractive hotel with staff and owners changing constantly.

delthedriver

seosamh1980 wrote: »

Well I can tell you this now, I rather living in Ballinasloe than Tralee, a million times over. It is a much friendlier town, people are a lot less concerned with b!tching and gossiping here than they are in Tralee. It's near Galway, Athlone, Portumna, the Shannon, the motorway, it's peaceful and safe and people mind their own business. All things I never found living in Tralee. If I could drag it near a beach I'd be laughing.

There are two other hotels in the town, currently the Carlton does the most wedding business but in summer months one other does quite a few weddings, they are family owned hotels so overall they do better day to day business with people popping in for meals and holding family occasions in them and other events as they have been in them for years, the Carlton doesn't have that crutch here. There are many other wedding venues 10-15 minutes either side of Ballinasloe and the Carlton still gets a fair share of weddings, as it is often preferred to the two hotels in nearby Loughrea, and is better in a lot of ways than many of the hotel venues in Athlone (good food, large hotel, no traffic issues, easy for guests to get to, reasonable and nice rooms, friendly staff, etc.).

It's right between Galway and Dublin and just off the motorway so people often choose it if guests are coming from either side, it's also often chosen for large conferences/events for this reason too. It has a lot more going for it for these reasons than a hotel sitting on an eyesore down the west of the country competing with local decent hotels like Ballygarry and Ballyroe.

As I am from neither Ballinasloe nor Tralee , I don't have to defend either one.


However I would certainly prefer the prestige of the Rose Festival to Ballinasloe's Horse Fair

seosamh1980

delthedriver wrote: »

As I am from neither Ballinasloe nor Tralee , I don't have to defend either one.


However I would certainly prefer the prestige of the Rose Festival to Ballinasloe's Horse Fair

I'm from Tralee btw. Prestige? Rose of Tralee?...