Hotel takes bookings before the builders leave

Dublin's newest five-star hotel, the Four Seasons at the RDS in Ballsbridge, is already logging bookings even though it is not due to open until the middle of July. With so much dosh around, it is hardly surprising that people are keen to reserve some of the hotel's 259 rooms, which include 67 suites. The most expensive suite, the Presidential Suite, will be twice as big as the average three-bed semi with a floor area of 2,700. For a fiver short of £1,500 per night, you will get a livingroom-diningroom to seat eight, a "powder room" - hopefully stocked with toiletries only - and no less than three massive bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. The hotel is bound to be the fashionable venue for Christmas parties 2000 - if you can afford it. A sleep-over after a hard night will cost you a mere £265 per night, with breakfast a few quid extra.