Hilton International has opened the £30m Hilton Newcastle Gateshead.

The four-star deluxe property has 254 bedrooms, including 98 executive rooms and three suites and is situated on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne.

Facilities include ten meeting rooms, a business centre and boardroom as well as the Gateshead Suite that has the capacity to host 500 guests.

There is a Tyne Restaurant & Bar, a Caffé Cino bar and a LivingWell Express offering an indoor swimming pool, sauna, steamroom and beauty suite.

Wolfgang M. Neumann, area president, Hilton UK & Ireland, said: “Our guests have been lobbying us for some time for the increasingly vibrant north east to benefit from the guaranteed levels of service and facilities Hilton offers as standard.

“Hilton is pleased to open the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead in response to that demand and to finally fill this gap in our coverage of the UK and Ireland,” he said.

Hilton International has also announced it will operate the four-star Hilton Dublin Airport, part of a 20-acre, 350m euro residential, retail and office development for the city.

The 45m euro, 166-bedroom hotel will provide seven meeting rooms, a 350sq m conference and function room for up to 250 people, a 160-cover restaurant, a bar and a LivingWell Express fitness facility.

The hotel is expected to open for guests in the spring 2005.