The owners of the five star The Westin Hotel in Dublin have announced that they have decided against renaming it The Westmoreland Hotel due to links to slavery.
Last month, the owners of The Westin Hotel said that they had plans to rename the iconic hotel The Westmoreland Hotel as part of a major rebrand with the name picked in honour of the 10th Earl of Westmoreland, who was a lord lieutenant of Ireland and also a defender of slavery. Now the owners of The Westin have decided that this renaming is unsuitable due to "links to slavery" and the hotel will instead be renamed The College Green Hotel, reports The Irish Times.
The new name will start being used at the end of the year. The hotel has seen a significant "multi-million" investment over the past two years, which included the remodelling of The Lobby and expansion of the hotel's iconic Atrium Lounge as well as 19 bedrooms added to the hotel overlooking Trinity College and Westmoreland Street.
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The Westin Hotel's General Manager Joanne Dillon said that The College Green Hotel will offer guests and locals "an oasis of calm in the heart of the city". She said: "Having initially considered a renaming to The Westmoreland Hotel, we took on board the feedback from patrons and others, which alongside reflection on our environment and patron experience, informed our decision to opt for a new name.
"We are very excited to adopt The College Green Hotel as our new brand and are grateful to those who shared their views. It feels right for us and for our patrons, both now and for the future.
"We will continue as The Westin Dublin for the coming months and look forward to becoming The College Green Hotel at the end of the year.” The move comes after Trinity College announced in April that it would be removing the name of a slave owner from its famous The Berkley Library.
The Berkeley Library is named after philosopher George Berkeley, and the college's largest library was first opened in 1967. Trinity College said in a statement at the time: "The denaming does not deny Berkeley's importance as a writer, philosopher, and towering intellectual figure.
"His philosophical work will still be taught at Trinity and remains of significant contemporary relevance. A separate process will determine what the new name for the library should be."
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