Luxury Hotels

The big interview: ‘To work on a project like this is a real privilege’ – Adriaan Bartels of Cashel Palace Hotel

The Kenyan-born hotelier and former manager of the Cliff House hotel in Ardmore says he has found a dream project in the revamped Cashel Palace hotel

Adriaan Bartels, general manager of the Cashel Palace hotel in Tipperary: ‘There are US travellers who take the view that if something isn’t at least $1,000 a night, it can’t be any good.’ Picture: Barry Cronin

If you were one of the thousands of people who picked up a coffee from a converted horsebox during lockdown, you may have Adriaan Bartels to thank for it. As we walk through the grounds of Cashel Palace, the Palladian manor in Tipperary that will shortly reopen as a luxury hotel, I spot one in a courtyard area, and ask him if it was a pandemic project.

“No, it’s from 2017,” Bartels, who will run ...