People tend to ascribe the shine of Adriaan Bartel's style as being thanks to a spell at Clongowes Wood college, but we think it probably has more to do with his birthplace, which was Kitale, in Kenya. Bartels simply has a broader purview than most people, as well as a calmer nature, pretty much the ideal qualities needed if you want to be amongst the front rank of hotel managers, and amongst the front rank of Irish hotel managers is where Bartels has always been.
He made Kenmare's Sheen Falls Lodge famous, and he has made Ardmore's Cliff House Hotel famous, and done so in faster than double-quick time. He is one of those people whose grace and perspicacity improves the place he is working, and he is that rare breed of hotel manager whose presence and status is vital to the success of where he chooses to work. He has a moral presence, and the hotelier's understanding of standards, and of personal communication. He is most likely the best-known hotel manager in the country, and he is still a young man, so there is more to come as Bartels ages.