New Micro-Sleeper Hotel To Open In Cork City

A new €9.5 million hotel called REZz Cork is planned to open this year on the former Windsor Inn site on the corner of Cork city’s MacCurtain Street and York Street.

As reported by The Irish Examiner, REZz Cork is planned to be the first of a series of REZz hotels.

The REZz brand was created by hoteliers and business partners Ray Byrne and Eoin Doyle.

Byrne owns Co. Westmeath’s Wineport Lodge hotel along with his wife, Jane, and Doyle owns Co. Cork’s Eccles Hotel and Co. Wicklow’s BrookLodge hotel.

REZz Cork, which will be a so-called micro-sleeper hotel, will have 72 bedrooms, a top floor penthouse, and a ground floor café and bar with an external courtyard, and, according to Luke Hickson of Meitheal Architects, its interior will have an “industrial aesthetic” with exposed concrete and pipework.

REZz Cork’s regular bedrooms will be between 10 and 20 square metres in size, and its penthouse will have two bedrooms and a lounge.

“Very Much A New Departure From The Traditional Hotel”

According to Patrick O’Toole of Meitheal Architects, who is the director in charge of the REZz Cork project, the new micro-sleeper hotel will be an innovative form of accommodation.

The Irish Examiner quotes O’Toole as saying, “It’s not quite Japanese pod-rooms, but it’s very much a new departure from the traditional hotel.

“This hotel follows the micro-model, with substantially smaller, well-planned, really cute, ergonomically-efficient rooms.”

Filling “A Gap Between Hostels And Budget Hotels”

Meanwhile, Byrne, who is the director of MacCurtain St Hoteliers Ltd, trading as REZz, said that REZz Cork will “fill a gap between hostels and budget hotels”.

Byrne added, “It’s for people who want to be in the town centre without paying town centre prices and who don’t really want to be sleeping in a hostel room with six others, especially during a pandemic.”

Mural

Byrne also said that Deirdre Breen, who was involved in Cork contemporary street art project Ardú, has been commissioned to paint a mural at REZz Cork. The planned mural will begin on one of the hotel’s exterior walls and carry through to the venue’s interior.

Planned Opening Date And Additional REZz Hotels

Byrne is currently hopeful that if COVID-19-related business restrictions are lifted in March, allowing Townmore Construction to get back on site next month, REZz Cork will open on May 22.

Byrne is planning to open an additional four REZz hotels. Planning permission has been granted for one in Kilkenny, and two are planned for Dublin city, pending planning grants.

Planned South Mall Hotel

Additionally, Byrne has planning permission to construct a 58-bed hotel at the site of the former National Irish Bank on Cork’s South Mall. He is planning to proceed with the development of this proposed venue when the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

Original article on hospitalityireland.com by Dave Simpson.