Hotel and Restaurant Times Oct/Nov

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER’19

€3.65

T H E B U S I N E S S P U B L I C AT I O N F O R T H E H OT E L A N D R E S TAU R A N T I N D U S T R Y

David Collins Ten Great Years

Meyrick Hotel Galway's Grand Old Lady

VDA Continued Commitment

IFSA Sustainability Innovation Awards

www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie

ARE YOU CHRISTMAS PARTY READY? With our new 2019 Christmas Partyware Catalogue, getting ready for the festive period really couldn’t be any easier. Follow our easy guide found inside, and not only will your food amaze your guests, but your table setting will too!

Make sure to keep a special eye out for our Charme range of Christmas themed products, carefully selected by Bunzl McLaughlin’s Category Specialists to ensure quality and value. The range includes Christmas themed crackers, tableware, napkins, decorations and much more!

ur new o t u o checkselfie kits

OUT NOW For more information Call:

(NI) 028 3751 1999 (RoI) 015 337 300

Download your copy at:

www.bunzlmclaughlin.com

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COVER: David Collins - Great National Group

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Contents

Editorial 4 News

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Bookassist 12 ITIC 15 Dalcassian Drinks

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Christmas Drinks

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Great National Group - A Decade On...

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Fáilte Ireland News

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The IFSA's are launched

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Meyrick Hotel

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Food & Bev Sustainability Scheme

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Tourism Ireland

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Chef Network

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Fáilte Ireland Interview

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IFSA

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VDA's Committment in Ireland

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Fáilte Ireland 2020 Plans

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Guestline's Guide to Futureproofing You Hotel

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Hugh Jordan - Sustainable Solutions for Guest Experience

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Chef of the Year

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A Lot Done - More to Do

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Right Revenue - Supporting all you Revenue Decisions

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AVEA - Slowdown in Visitor Attractions

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Hotel & Restaurant Times, Ireland’s longest established trade publication, is circulated on subscription to Chief Executives, Directors and Proprietors of Hotels and Restaurants in Ireland along with Architects, Interior Designers and Suppliers to the Hotel and Restaurant Industry.

Managing Editor: Cyril McAree (01-6285447, cyril@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie) Contributors: Pavel Barter, Chef Network, Tourism Ireland, Conor Power, Fáilte Ireland, Frank Corr, Sarah Gallagher, David Collins, Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, Bookassist - Samantha Salazar, IFSA. Graphic Design: Tara Mccormack Printing: Turners of Longford Online: Managing Digital

ALL CONTENTS OF THE MAGAZINE ARE COPYRIGHT OF HOTEL & RESTAURANT TIMES. H&R HOUSE, CARTON COURT, MAYNOOTH, CO.KILDARE TEL/FAX: 01 6285447 EMAIL: editorial@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie WEB: www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie

All paper used in the production of this magazine comes from certifiably sustainable forestry.

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editorial

Let them eat cake As another season draws to a close, and the sector reflects on this year's business, a few issues will be foremost in the mind. Brexit, that long running soap opera, continues to divide and conflict the masses. Maybe it will be like a pantomime ending, with everyone saying 'Ah… that’s cute. Britain isn’t leaving after all."

editorial

The recent WTM event in London was well attended by numerous Irish operators, and saw the launch of the “Embrace a Giant Spirit” initiative, which brings the island into a sense of regionality and cohesiveness. Those attending WTM were confident of a good season ahead, despite the challenges. That’s the beauty of the sector. It will always embrace challenges and work through them - often without a great deal of support from government.

One issue that continues to grow momentum is sustainability and environment, which will impact customers in the future. Recent innovations - from disposable pouches for coffee, to toiletries - are becoming more commonplace. To address this evolving issue, IFSA are arranging an inaugural awards scheme. The awards, which will acknowledge product and service innovation within the foodservice industry, will be launched at Food & Bev Live. The 2020 theme will be Innovation for a sustainable future and the awards have been created to shine a light on suppliers at the forefront of industry’s response to the environmental crisis.

The winners will be announced on the first day of Food & Bev Live - 4 February 2020 – at Citywest, Dublin, following a two-stage judging process. Categories in the inaugural IFSA’s include best sustainable packaging product, best sustainable food product, energy efficiency innovation and supplier of the year.

Fáilte Ireland's plans for 2020 were welcomed recently. According to Fáilte Ireland CEO, Paul Kelly, the 2020 plans are about “helping the industry across the regions to be Brexit ready while developing and supporting a tourism sector that offers strength and sustainability to our economy next year.” €6m has been allocated to assist with this campaign.

Unfortunately, some issues are mudding the waters. Recently it came to light that restaurants, more so in Dublin, have begun charging “cakeage”. Yes, you read that right. When I was contacted and asked my opinion about this, I thought it was a joke.

This is the thin edge of the wedge (no pun intended). Some restaurants, who charge customers for bringing birthday cakes with them to meals, cited the loss of dessert sales as part of their rationale, but eating dessert is not mandatory. At this rate, will we see restaurants charge for the hiring of chairs, tables, and toilets?

Equally sad to relate is the deafening silence from the IHF regarding the continual lack of engagement re the Minister of Tourism, Shane Ross. Most participants in the sector agree that his lack of performance and engagement is high on the agenda, yet the IHF don’t seem to want to challenge his role. If this minister was in the Department of Agriculture, the IFA would not be so silent.

Roll on the next election. It's time for change.

Cyril McAree editor

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news

NEWS Summer blues Hotels and guesthouses around the country are reporting mixed results for the key summer season amid increasing concerns about the challenges facing the tourism sector. According to the latest industry survey from the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), 57% of hotels have seen a fall in overall business levels compared to this time last year while 33% report an increase. Pictured is IHF President Michael Lennon.

A fair way to Dundalk Pictured at the official opening of the Fairways Hotel Dundalk were (lr): Pat O Callaghan, the hotel's owner; Paula Bouchier; Stephen Kenny, ROI manager, U21; Denis Williams, Company Director; and Brian Byrne, Company Director.

Making room for the future Glass TV’s that know your favourite films, showers that adapt to your body temperature, glass privacy walls which change from transparent to opaque. These are some of the predictions for hotel rooms in 2034, according to guestline.com.

The technology company has drawn together a team of experts to gaze into the crystal ball and predict hospitality's future - for better as well as for worst.

According to Guestline, by 2020, 85% of relationships with businesses will not require human interaction. However, over half of the UK population are concerned about how a lack of human interaction being replaced with artificial intelligence will alter their hotel experience.

Vouching for Irish restaurants The Restaurants Association of Ireland has teamed up with Fáilte Ireland for 2019 to bring customers the RAI Gift Voucher ahead of Christmas. The voucher can be used in participating RAI member restaurants, cafes, gastropubs, and hotel restaurants. This initiative is supported

by Fáilte Ireland, as part of the Taste the Island campaign.

A lot of Moxy Moxy Hotels, Marriott International’s hotel brand, has burst onto the scene in Ireland with the opening of its first property here: Moxy Dublin City, owned

by Sackville Hotel Properties Ltd and operated

by Interstate Hotels & Resorts, with support from Ulster Bank. The hotel has been designed in Moxy’s trademark boutique style and the bedrooms are complete with rain showers, fast Wi-Fi and 49” smart TVs with Chromecast, so guests can connect to their personal devices.

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news

A steak in great dining Renowned Munster restaurant, MJ Finnegan’s in Annacotty, Co. Limerick has been announced as the latest addition to the Certified Irish Angus Chefs Club, created by Musgrave Market Place, Irish Angus Producer Group and Kepak.

Membership is awarded to fine dining establishments around the country who have demonstrated a commitment to the Certified Irish Angus Beef brand and exclusively offer Certified Irish Angus Beef on their restaurant menus.

Taking flight with the Shaolin masters Two Masters of Shaolin, from the Henan Province in China, who trained all of their lives at the Shaolin Temple, are hosting a residency until 7 December at Monart Destination Spa in county Wexford, Ireland.

Master Zhang and Master Jiang are teaching Shaolin life and Chinese culture, including group classes in meditation and movement skills, to reduce stress, enhance health, improve breathing, release tension and harmonise the link between body and mind.

Guests can enjoy unrestricted access to all Shaolin classes including Meditation, Qi-gong and Tai Chi. The Shaolin Warrior Massage is also available for guests to book, at €120.

For further details see www.monart.ie

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Canadian travel professionals explore Ireland Pictured are Canadian travel agents with Sandra Moffatt, Tourism Ireland (front, right) during a guided stroll on Strandhill Beach, Co. Sligo.

Kilkea makes three Kilkea Castle has been named Number 3 in the Top Ten Hotels in Ireland in Condé Nast Traveller’s 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards.

news

Be my guest Guestline and leading revenue analytics company Right Revenue is set to revolutionise operations and drive revenues at hotels across Ireland and the UK. “We are delighted to announce our integration with Guestline which gives a holistic view of all the live data a revenue manager needs from the PMS and saves at least 2 hours a day in manual report pulling," said Clio O’Gara, County Manager for Guestline Ireland. "This integration allows for data sharing, creating knowledge, and leads to immediate decisions about pricing and revenue."

River of Babylon Following on from their success at the World Beer Awards 2019, Irish craft beer brewery, Rye River Brewing Company, has created Garnet, a new limitededition Rye River Seasonal brew. The new beer is a Cognac Barrel Aged Imperial Brown Ale with a ten-year shelf life

Go with the Flo Flogas Natural Gas Limited and Just Energy Ireland Limited have signed a commercial agreement that will see all Just Energy Ireland residential and commercial gas and electricity contracts in Ireland transfer to Flogas by the end of December 2019, subject to approval from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.

Making business simple at Clayton Belfast Clayton Hotels, part of Dalata Group Hotel Group, has unveiled the next stage of its £3m investment at its 4-star Belfast city centre site: a new meeting and events centre.

Facilities include 13 fully air-conditioned meeting and break out rooms for training days, boardroom meetings, conferences; all with integrated audio-visual equipment. The facility also features a ‘wireless waiter’ which enables organisers to press a button for assistance without leaving the room. Delegates will also have access to the hotel’s Club Vitae health club which features the only swimming pool in Belfast City Centre.

Getting to grips with Dublin hotels Pictured at a joint Crowe and Cushman & Wakefield briefing about the state of the Dublin hotel market are: Guy Pasley-Tyler, guest speaker; Archer Capital (left), Director, Portfolio & Fund Management; Isobel Horan, Associate Director, Cushman & Wakefield; and Aiden Murphy (right), Partner, Crowe.

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news

Lemon Tree branches out The Lemon Tree Seafood Restaurant, Dunmore East, Co. Waterford has been awarded Just Ask Restaurant of the Month for October. Selected by renowned food writer Georgina Campbell and Bord Bia, the Just Ask Restaurant of the Month rewards eateries across Ireland that exhibit best practices in showing transparency in the sourcing of the food on their menus.

Legends in their lunchtime Two new Two Michelin Star and three new One Michelin Star restaurants are amongst 18 Irish establishments to have been awarded coveted Michelin Stars in the 2020 Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland just published.

The two new Two Michelin Star recipients are Aimsir in Celbridge and The Greenhouse in Dublin City. The three new One Michelin Star restaurants are The Oak Room at Adare Manor in County Limerick; Bastion in Kinsale and Variety Jones in Dublin City. The Muddlers Club in Belfast was an additional award winner.

A novel collection

Making bacon

Galgorm Collection has unveiled transformational plans for their Templepatrick development, which it acquired earlier this year for £7m. Work on the redevelopment, which will create a workforce of around 100 employees when complete, has started with a grand opening launch planned for next year.

The refurbishment will see all 24 guestrooms upgraded, a new bar and restaurant, Hunters Bar & Grill, and extensive conference and banqueting facilities.

Pictured are Stephen and Eva Hegarty, Burren Free Range Pork Farm (right); with producer John Kaare Hoversholm (left) and director Finn-Erik Rognan (second left), during filming for a travel and food TV show called KulTour.

Three Cheese for the Winners A huge selection of Ireland’s farmhouse cheesemakers and producers recently gathered at Cork’s Metropole Hotel, eager to learn who had struck gold – and silver and bronze – during the 2019 CÁIS Irish Cheese Awards.

The list of worthy winners incorporated the finest cheesemakers currently operating in Ireland.

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news

Ringing endorsement

To the Manor born

Gary Ring, from Douglas in Cork city, and a second year student on Ireland’s first honours degree course, in brewing and distilling at Institute of Technology Carlow, has been awarded the Walsh Whiskey €1,000 bursary prize for achieving the highest grades in first year.

Adare Manor has been recognised as the #1 Resort in Europe and #5 Resort in the world at the Condé Nast Traveler awards. Over 600,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers across the globe submitted responses, rating their travel experiences.

New museum for Galway Fáilte Ireland has announced its single biggest investment to date in a visitor attraction. The National Tourism Development Authority is injecting €6.64m to develop a museum in Galway City. The Galway City Museum, located at the historic Spanish Arch, will be redeveloped and rebranded as the Atlantic Museum Galway.

According to Mary Stack, Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Attractions, the investment will “transform the Spanish Arch district of Galway City and is expected to generate €29.3m in revenue for the region in its first five years of opening”.

A taste of Christmas The five-star InterContinental Dublin in Ballsbridge is the official hotel partner of Taste of Dublin: Festive Edition, taking place in the neighbouring RDS from 28 November to 1 December 2019.

Taste of Dublin: Festive Edition has a seasonal twist. The 18,000 expected attendees can enjoy festive baking and Chef’s Theatre, chocolate workshops, butchery masterclasses, wine and spirits classes, festive tablescaping, live musical entertainment and much more.

Giving back Beef & Lobster restaurants by Oliver Dunne conducted a Giving Back – #ItMakeCents campaign with Aware for World Mental Health Day in October.

Pictured are the team at Beef & Lobster Dame Street: Alex Wang; Nicole Charalambousova; Oliver Dunne; Drew Flood, Aware Business Development Executive; Josip Popovic; Vinny Hermann; Megan Kelly.

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news

Lighting up Camden Street Beating around the Bushmills Five Lamps, the handcrafted Irish beer brewed in Dublin, has opened the Five Lamps Dublin Brewery and Visitor Centre, housed upstairs in Camden street’s ‘The Camden’ (formerly ‘The Palace’). This former cinema played host to the Theatre De Luxe in the early 20th century and featured in scenes from the famous Dublin musical The Commitments.

From tide to table A new edition of Ireland’s original seafood bible, Georgina Campbell’s "From Tide to Table, - Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Seafood" is in bookshops now.

Waste not, want not The Food service industry must play its part in reducing food waste, Noel Mahony, chief executive of UK caterer BaxterStorey has said. He was speaking at the RDS Dublin to Irish industry leaders, in a gathering hosted

by The Firm, the specialist hospitality sector recruitment consultants.

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The Bushmills Inn has been awarded the IAGTO Hotel Experience of the Year Award for Northern Ireland. The award ceremony took place in Marrakech at the International Golf Travel Market. The annual IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators) Golf Tourism Awards focus on recognising the achievements of hotels and golf courses that delivered the best possible experience to visiting golf travellers.

Taking action on climate change Clare County Council has announced a two-year programme, which will see the development of a Clare Green Festival network.

This programme is fully funded by Clare Local Development Company through the LEADER programme. Martina Minogue, Development Officer, Clare Local Development Company said, “We are delighted to be assisting the development of this programme which will see Clare’s existing Green Festivals coming together to develop as a network and to invite new festivals to complete training and participate in the network”.

appointments

Direct action

Sale of the century

Dalata Hotel Group has announced the appointment of Elizabeth McMeikan to the Board as an Independent, Non-Executive Director.

McMeikan is currently the Senior Independent Director at jd Wetherspoon, and the Senior Independent Director at Unite Group plc, where she chairs the Board’s Remuneration Committee. Elizabeth is also a Non-Executive Director at private company Fresca Group Ltd.

Siobhán O’Sullivan is new director of sales and marketing at Mount Juliet Estate. O’Sullivan has over 20 years’ experience within various facets of the hospitality industry.

Starting out in the Mespil Hotel, she worked in management roles at the Stillorgan Park Hotel, Johnstown House Hotel, and the Park Plaza in Tyrrelstown. In 2010, Siobhán moved to Belfast to take up a marketing with the Fitzwilliam Hotel Belfast.

Legendary host Ronnie Counihan to retire from Renvyle Anne Marie Kelly is to become the new general manager of Renvyle House Hotel, following the decision by current CEO Ronnie Counihan to retire next year after 20 years at the helm of the historic property and a stellar 45 years in hospitality.

Kelly has held significant management positions with the Copthorne Tara Kensington, The Shelbourne, Jurys Hotels, The Keadeen Hotel and, more recently, The Station House Hotel in Clifden where she was general manager.

She is a familiar face in Connemara, having run her own bar, restaurant and accommodation offering in The Forge, Moycullen for 14 years.

Fit for a king Ballynahinch Castle Hotel has announced the appointment of Eoin Walsh to the role of General Manager at the hotel.

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Time to Talk

Winning With Local SEO

By Samantha Salazar Today’s Search Challenge

Your hotel’s online traffic and online bookings come from a variety of sources but none is more important than search. Google continues to outrank all other search engines in market share, handling over 90% of all searches today1. It’s virtually impossible for your business to succeed online without prioritising Google in your digital strategy.

Presence on the first page of Google’s SERP (search engine results page) is the holy grail for brand owners and marketeers, particularly as branded searches have higher click-through rates on the first half of the first page of Google2. This is truly hallowed real estate.

With Google reserving as many as the top four search results for their paid ads, the challenge for brands is how to maintain consistent visibility given that anyone, including competitors, can bid on their brand name.

For bricks-and-mortar businesses, there is fortunately a simple and direct way of maximising a property’s visibility outside of paid search. It’s something that only your business can do and that something is to optimise for local search results. ONLY the actual physical property can play this game. It is the perfect opportunity for hotels to steal the advantage over third party OTAs (online travel agents) and industry competitors who can often win at the paid game.

Local Search is not Organic Search

Local Search Engine Optimisation (Local SEO) is a specific digital strategy focused on increasing search visibility for businesses that serve their communities face-to-face3. It’s most beneficial to businesses that have a physical location because it’s meant to show the most relevant content to searches with local intent.

We can gauge whether queries have local intent by seeing if they include a geographical component. For hoteliers, search queries may include your location, nearby landmarks or attractions, or include proximity e.g. “hotels nearby” or “hotels near me”, but local intent qualifies the search further - it’s the difference between searching for “spa hotel deals” and “spa hotel deals in Cork”. We can recognise that the second search has a higher potential to become a booking because the user has gone from the planning stage and knowing what they want (“spa hotel deals”) and added a location that they can potentially travel to (“Cork”).

Local Search carries strong user intent

Because local search carries strong user intent (46% of all searches on Google are seeking local information4) It should come as no surprise that Google has put such a strong focus on Google My Business and the development of the Google knowledge graph.

The inclusion of a geographical element in queries shows that users are at a stage of the customer journey where they are ready to act. Statistics show that 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours of the search5. Local searches are therefore valuable revenue-generating searches.

Optimising for local search results (Local SEO) is a specialized form of the more familiar organic SEO. Both aim to improve unpaid ranking or placement on search engine results pages to drive targeted traffic to a website. Most businesses would already have some form of organic SEO in place, whether it’s through highlighting key unique selling points or ensuring that the brand name is mentioned on all pages. But there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to hotels grasping the specific opportunity that Local SEO offers over general organic SEO.

In reviewing Bookassist’s own extensive data on organic traffic, we have found that 40-60% of such users come to websites through the knowledge graph6. This means that over half of your organic visitors’ buying decisions will be influenced by local search results before they can even view your organic search results.

1 New Jumpshot 2018 Data: Where Searches Happen on the Web (Google, Amazon, Facebook, & Beyond) https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-jumpshot-2018-data-where-searches-happenon-the-web-google-amazon-facebook-beyond/

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Google Organic Click Through Study: Comparison of Google’s CTR by Position, Industry, and Query Type https://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/additional-resources/google-ctrwhite-paper.htm

Local SEO is strongly focused on serving mobile users

Local SEO statistics from 2018 show that nearly 70% use their smartphones to help them shop. Of those users, 82% conduct “near me” searches7. This is also why it’s valuable to practice local SEO, because the platforms on which we Mobile Trends & Statistics That'll Change Your Whole Marketing Strategy | Our Mid-Week Marketing Mash-Up https://www.nectafy.com/blog/mobile-marketing-trends-mash-up What is Google’s Knowledge Graph? https://yoast.com/google-knowledge-graph/

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Local SEO MOZ https://moz.com/learn/seo/local

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4 12 Local SEO Stats Every Business Owner and Marketer Should Know in 2019 [Infographic] https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/12-local-seo-stats-every-business-owner-andmarketer-should-know-in-2019-i/549079/

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New Uberall Survey Finds That 82% of Mobile Shoppers Do ‘Near Me’ Searches https://uberall. com/en-gb/resources/blog/new-uberall-survey-finds-that-82-of-mobile-shoppers-do-nearme-searches

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Time to Talk are publishing our information are moving to prioritise mobile users.

Google’s Mobile-first indexing8 is a prime example of this. Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. This is also why Google updated to the so-called local 3-pack9 in search results (see Figure 1), to provide users with condensed relevant local information that better matches their searches.

5 Steps to optimise your Local SEO

Businesses that don’t make use of local SEO are losing organic traffic simply by not being present on the Google knowledge graph. Search engines take into account multiple snippets of information in order to rank a business on both the local-pack results and in local organic search. While some of these can be difficult to directly influence such as mobile clicks-to-call, there are a number of steps that hoteliers and restaurateurs can take today. Whether you have a new or existing business, you can optimise for local search by doing the following: 1. Have a complete and accurate profile for your business on all relevant search and maps services Such services include Google My Business (GMB), Apple Maps, Bing Places for Business. Local search results primarily take their information from map listings. Ensuring that your local map listings are up-to-date with the most relevant information and consistent with your business details as it appears on your website allows search engines to properly recognise, categorise and give directions to your business.

2. Generate high quality links that refer users to your website.

Just as with organic SEO, creating high quality links that refer back to your website can impact your visibility. To maximise your efforts, focus on generating links from recognised sources such as local news and PR websites that help build your website’s authority in the eyes of both website visitors and search engines.

3. Maintain consistent and accurate business listings and citations.

Particularly important on relevant platforms such as Yelp and Facebook. Similarly to your local map listings, ensuring that your listings are up-to-date on relevant third-party platforms such as OTAs or business listing sites like Yelp are part of local SEO. Search engines also aggregate data from these websites and show it as part of local organic search results. Check to see that your Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP) are consistent across third-parties along with information on your key selling points.

Figure 1: A search for hotels in Midtown Manhattan showing paid results in the first four placements followed by the local map results. Organic search results appear toward the bottom of the page.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The way that we are using the internet is changing rapidly and dynamically. According to April 2019 data, the global mobile population amounted to 4 billion unique users.

As of February 2019, mobile devices accounted for 48 percent of web page views worldwide10.

Local SEO is meant to benefit mobile users and provide us with more timely information on mobile because it’s what we have grown accustomed to. 60% of Google searches in the USA alone are done via mobile devices. Only 5 years ago, the figure was nearly half that, just 34%11. Integrating local SEO into your digital strategy can therefore help your business better connect with your mobile audience.

8 Google’s mobile-first indexing now powers over half of Google’s search results https:// searchengineland.com/googles-mobile-first-indexing-now-powers-over-half-of-googlessearch-results-309650 9

Unpacking SEO for the Google Local Pack https://seranking.com/blog/google-local-pack/

4. Manage reviews on public platforms.

Stay on top of platforms such as Tripadvisor and Google Reviews and provide customer feedback.

Search engines factor in reviews and ratings as part of local search criteria, giving weight to the quantity, frequency, and diversity of the reviews from other users. Encourage the review process by responding regularly to reviews and voting on the most relevant reviews for your business.

5. Build engagement and followers on social media channels.

While social signals only count for a small percentage of local search criteria, algorithms still include social media engagement as part of local search rankings.

Ensure that your information is also consistent on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and encourage users to engage with your content by publishing regularly and responding to reviews.

10 Statista Mobile internet usage worldwide - Statistics & Facts https://www.statista.com/ topics/779/mobile-internet/ 11 Mobile share of organic search engine visits in the United States from 4th quarter 2013 to 2nd quarter 2019, by platform https://www.statista.com/statistics/275814/mobile-share-oforganic-search-engine-visits/

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Time to Talk Figure 2: Ace Hotel New York as it appears in the Google Knowledge Graph (left) mirrors their property information as it appears on Google Maps (right).

Google is also taking steps to better recognise and highlight local businesses. Earlier this year we saw Google roll out a number of different new features for Google My Business, the most interesting of which is the “Local Favorite” designation. This distinction is meant to bring attention to the top five percent of businesses in a particular category.

Google slated to launch this feature with digital and physical badges of honor14 with more details coming to us later this year.

Local SEO and Voice Search

Local SEO allows you to build on other potential strategies that you can later expand. Local SEO can, for example, tie in with location-based marketing by helping you rank highly for users within your immediate vicinity, allowing you to promote events or exclusive offers specifically to your community.

Harnessing the power of Google My Business

One of the biggest factors that the local pack considers is your Google My Business listing.

Between 2017 and 2018, Google My Business signals had a significant increase in ranking importance — rising from 19% to 25%12.

Google My Business content is published on the knowledge graph, where users can view and interact with your website, property directions, phone number, common questions and answers, customer reviews, photos, and virtual tours. Making use of Google My Business also ensures that your business appears correctly on other Google media such as Google Maps (see Figure 2).

It is important to prioritise Google My Business for local SEO primarily due to the amount of engagement it receives as part of Google search results. According to an insight study conducted by BrightLocal, the average business is found in 157 direct searches each month, and 852 discovery searches. This totals an average of 1,009 searches per month.

The number of searches goes up significantly for hotels, with an average of 2,011 direct searches and 8,480 discovery searches13.

However it’s not just search users that are benefiting from the amount of local data that Google My Business provides. Hotels and restaurants who have access to Google My Business also gain relevant user behaviour insights into their business with Google My Business Insights. When you make use of Google My Business, you gain access to actionable user information that you can use to refine your local SEO strategy. Insights that you can find include: • How customers search for your business, categorized by • Direct Customers who find your listing searching for your business name or address • Discovery Customers who find your listing searching for a category, product, or service • Branded Customers who find your listing searching for a brand related to your business • Where customers find your business • Listing on search • Listing on maps • Customer actions • Visit your website • Request directions • Call you • View your photos and those of similar businesses

It can also help you optimise for voice search. The voice assistants currently out on the market pull their data from local map packs. Google Home, for example, will pull from Google Search results and Google My Business, while Apple Home takes its localised results from Apple Maps.

While voice search is not yet the norm, it’s important to note that its popularity is growing.

The number of voice-based smart speakers in use globally, could reach 100 million in the next 3 years15. With voice search now accounting for 20% of searches in the Google App16 it also shows that the digital landscape is still changing and that the strategies that can best benefit us are the ones that can be future-proofed.

Bottom Line

Local SEO is a relevant and timely addition to your digital strategy because it allows you to distinguish yourself and maintain brand visibility in local search results. Because search engine algorithms also take multiple localised ranking factors, conducting local SEO can also help reduce the costs of paid search because it focuses on building targeted traffic with high intent.

Isn’t it time you optimised your business for Local SEO?

Samantha Salazar is a Digital Marketing Specialist at Bookassist, (bookassist.com), the multi-award-winning technology and digital strategy partner for hotels worldwide.

Do Businesses Really Use Google My Business Posts? A Case Study https://moz.com/blog/googlemy-business-posts-case-study

15 Global Smart Speaker Market Size worth over $30bn by 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/ pressrelease/smart-speaker-market

13 Google My Business Insights Study https://www.brightlocal.com/research/google-my-businessinsights-study/

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5 New Features Coming to Google My Business https://bookassist.org/blog/post/5-new-featurescoming-to-google-my-business/en/ 14

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https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/data/voice-search-statistics/

ITIC

Don’t be fooled by Government spin.

This was a disappointing budget for Irish tourism.

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO, Irish Tourism Industry Confederation

Reading media coverage - and listening to the political classes and commentariat - one would have been under the impression that Budget 2020, as delivered by Minister Paschal Donohoe last month, had been good to Ireland’s tourism industry and the 20,000 businesses within it.

Regrettably this is not the case.

Yes, tourism was acknowledged - alongside agriculture and enterprise - as being a very vulnerable sector that will be hit severely by a hard Brexit. This is welcome and overdue and slowly but surely the tourism sector is being given proper recognition as a key component of the national economic debate. However, the extra money earmarked for tourism is exclusively predicated on a “no deal” Brexit outcome. Any deal, or indeed extension of Brexit, means that not a penny more is to be committed to tourism in 2020 compared to this year. Furthermore Budget 2020 did very little to improve competitiveness measures. For example, Irish tourism still pays a considerably higher Vat rate than 27 other EU countries and there was no action on insurance reform, a cost that is crippling many businesses.

The positive spin after Budget 2020 related to the fact that tourism was allocated €40 million additional funds should a no-deal Brexit come about. This is evidentially welcome although all of us hope that some sort of a deal is cobbled together and passes through Westminster. According to Fáilte Ireland a no deal hard Brexit would mean a €500 hammerblow for the Irish tourism industry which puts the €40 million from the exchequer in perspective.

If a deal is secured (fingers crossed), or indeed if another extension is granted, then tourism current budgets for 2020 remain unchanged. That’s another way of saying zero increase. Zilch! Nada! Rien! This should be a cause of great concern as tourism businesses up and down the country can testify that Brexit is already having a real and material impact on tourism with latest CSO data on tourism expenditure confirming that all main markets are in retreat with the exception of North America. It is evident that Brexit – deal or no deal – is already damaging Irish tourism and increased funding is needed next year to halt the decline in the

sector. A phased release of the €40 million fund should be implemented with half being allocated come what may and the balance payable on a hard Brexit outcome.

Minister Donohoe allocated large “no deal” funds for agriculture and enterprise yet both these sectors will receive additional current budget next year in any case. Agriculture will receive €110 million in the event of a no-deal outcome yet still gets €51 million extra current funding in 2020, while Enterprise is set to receive circa €70 million in the event of a no-deal Brexit yet still gets €20 million extra in current funding in 2020 come what may. Ireland’s tourism industry should not begrudge agriculture and enterprise their additional current funding in 2020 but surely the tourism sector should have been treated equally?

Subsequent to the Budget it was announced that supplemental funds of €7 million were being allocated to tourism agencies for expenditure by the end of this year.

This is a welcome and a positive development and ITIC had lobbied hard for it. However, should there be no current budget increase for 2020 these supplemental funds at the end of 2019 in fact mean that next year there will be a decline in current tourism investment by the exchequer.

Surely with a weakened market, and heading into turbulent times, the Government isn’t going to cut spending on the sector next year?

At all times the tourism industry should not be shy about how much it is a net contributor to the national finances. The industry employs 270,000 people up and down the country and is spending €2.5 billion of its own money over the next 3 years alone in new tourism product and infrastructure. At a minimum Budget 2020 should have helped the industry - through increased funding or improved competitiveness - during these more challenging times. The “confidence and supply” make up of the Dáil means that the two main political parties failed to look out for tourism. With a General Election around the corner now is the time for industry to marshal itself and ensure that political party manifestos treat tourism as the key economic engine that it is.

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Dalcassian

Dalcassian Christmas Cheer Best Gin Oscar for Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin Hot on the heels of winning the Best Gin Oscar at the 2019 Flaviar awards in New York, Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin is preparing for a busy Christmas. Ireland’s number one super-premium gin will be available in a spectacular gift box featuring a bespoke glass to match the stunning blue bottle.

DRUMSHANBO GUNPOWDER IRISH GIN

From the Curious Mind of PJ Rigney, every precious drop of Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin is slowdistilled by hand with oriental botanicals & Gunpowder Tea, proudly hand-bottled, sealed and labelled by the team at The Shed Distillery of PJ Rigney.

This is the first time in the history of the Flaviar awards that an Irish Gin brand has won a ‘Best Spirit Award’ & claimed the Best Gin title.

Since the win ten new employees have joined The Shed team and 25 further jobs will bring the total number of employees to 60. Distributed by Dalcassian Wines & Spirits,

Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka is the second big brand from The Shed Distillery of PJ Rigney following on from the success of the now iconic Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin. The striking red bottle draws in the consumer & the incredible vodka within is as super-premium as the bottle itself.

Known for its curative & purifying powers, just like the wild Irish nettle in the Drumshanbo woodlands, PJ brought the two together back in The Shed Distillery in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim.

Every bottle of Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka is slow distilled by hand, carefully hand-bottled, sealed and labelled. Widely available.

Dalcassian Wines & Spirits launches Avallen Calvados From the Old Cornish name for ‘Apple Tree’, Avallen Calvados is fresh, fruity and proudly apple-forward using over 40 varieties of apples and pears.

An accessible yet high-quality liquid with a fresh and innovative take on design for the category, Avallen Spirits aims to shake up the global spirits market and take Calvados off the shelf & into the speedwells and cocktail menus of bars around the world.

The bottle has been selected for its bartender friendliness but also as it is one of the lightest on the market ensuring a reduced carbon footprint from shipping.

Cultivated in a well-orchestrated eco-system whereby the orchards, cows, birds and bees work in perfect harmony, founders Stephanie Jordan and Tim Etherington-Judge aimed to create the most sustainable spirit brand possible whilst re-igniting Calvados, one of the world’s great brandies.

Their #BeePositive message sees €0,50 from every bottle sold donated to protecting and restoring the bee population and a commitment to plant 10,000 wild flowers by 2022 to help our forever declining bee population.

Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum The exquisite Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum is renowned as one of the finest rum brands in the world. Aged for up to 12 years, the brand is recognized for its elegance and complexity, born of the marriage of a unique body with excellent balance. Diplomático is an independent, family-owned brand.

Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva is part of the Tradition Range along with Mantuano and Planas, all carefully crafted rums from premium sugar cane using a rich variety of distillation methods. Available in O’ Briens, Supervalu and Independent Off Licences nationwide.

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Dalcassian

Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur Made with premium triple-distilled Irish Whiskey, Five Farms is a single batch Irish Cream Liqueur, entirely sourced and produced in Cork.

Awarded the prestigious Chairman’s Trophy at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge in 2018, Five Farms received a score of 97, the highest-ever score for an Irish Cream Liqueur brand in the global spirits competition.

Five Farms contains a greater amount of Irish Whiskey, 10% of the alcohol is Irish whiskey, than other brand on the market.

The resulting intensity of whiskey flavor sets Five Farms apart from every other Irish Cream Liqueur in the world.

Available in Supervalu O’Briens and independent off-licenses nationwide.

The Irishman Founder’s Reserve – the offer Scorsese surely couldn’t refuse Distributed by Dalcassian Wines & Spirits, The Irishman Founder’s Reserve comes in a special glass gift pack this Christmas.

The original and signature blend created by founder Bernard Walsh, uses 70% Single Malt and 30% Single Pot Still.

When Bernard Walsh saw the brand name & logo used in a trailer for Martin Scorsese’s new movie “The Irishman”, he made the Film Director an offer he couldn’t refuse – complimentary Irishman for all the movie’s premieres, in a letter inside a special sealed casket, which also contained a personalised bottle of the critically acclaimed The Irishman Cask Strength.

Widely Available

Writers’ Tears This Christmas Writer’s Tears has plenty of cause for celebration following two prestigious gold medal wins at the Irish Whiskey Awards.

Distributed by Dalcassian Wines & Spirits, Writer’s Tears is a very rare blend of Single Pot Still and Single Malt tripledistilled Irish whiskeys, non-peated and matured and aged in American Oak bourbon casks.Writers’ Tears - Double Oak, is aged in two types of wood - American and French Oak. Writers’ Tears Copper Pot beautifully-finished presentation pack includes two teardrop branded whiskey tumblers with the 700ml bottle.

Dalcassian Wines & Spirits presents Cocchi Vermouth Italy’s premium Vermouth, Cocchi brings fabulous flavour & flare to low ABV & Spritz Christmas cocktail menus.

The exquisite Cocchi range boasts five diverse flavours, including the highly popular Americano and Rosa options, ideal for simple spritz additions to festive menus . Simply add 50ml cocchi vermouth, 75ml of Prosecco, 25ml of soda, and a fresh fruit garnish.

To make the Mediterranean favourite - VERMOUTH DI TORINO , use 50ml of Di Torino with 125ml of Tonic Water and a twist of lemon. Exceptional flavour & all only 16.5% ABV. Cocchi produces, since 1891, wine-based aperitifs and hundred percent Piedmontese sparkling wines following the best traditions of the Asti area.

Simplicity and authenticity are core to the brand’s success across the world.

Today the winery still maintains its artisan character and follows the original recipes, formulated by Giulio Cocchi in 1891, to craft the distinctive wines that have made the Cocchi a cult name.

Goslings Dark ‘N Stormy Bermuda’s national drink - Gosling’s Dark ‘N Stormy – is a perfect marriage of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum which has a rich, intricate flavour, and Gosling’s own specially-crafted Gosling’s Ginger Beer.

Goslings Black Seal Rum is a dark rum, made from a 150 year old Gosling’s family recipe, which blends three different rums, aged independently for between 3 and 6 years in charred American oak casks. Distributed by Dalcassian Wines & Spirits.

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17

Christmas Drinks

’ s d r i B y l r ‘Ea

make Christmas Profits

Frank Corr looks at the Christmas Drinks market.

Santa comes early to the hotel and restaurant trade. In fact the jolly, ruddy-cheeked gentleman is already dispensing largesse on hostelries all over Ireland.

Once the first Christmas shop windows are dressed, and lighting cables are looped across streets in cities and towns, trade begins to pick up in the world of hospitality and the race to optimise sales and profits gets under way.

Christmas brings four months turnover in eight weeks for many restaurants and pubs and is therefore of high significance in terms of annual sales and profits.

The 2019 Christmas season, now well under way, will be no exception and could in fact, be something of a record breaker when it comes to drinks sales.

The sceptics may well point to Brexit uncertainty (and probably will do so again next year), a slower rate of tourism growth and rising rents as factors which could dampen trade this Christmas, but these negatives are more than balanced by an economy that continues to grow, near-full employment, rising profits in many businesses and progress in the management of the private debt overhang of 2008.

The hospitality sector can therefore be reasonably confident of strong trading between now and the end of the year. Hotels and restaurants can expect a loosening of budgets in the corporate party segment, as companies share some of the proceeds of a profitable year with their teams. Group and individual celebrations may also move a little up the market, particularly if the offer is attractive while more families are likely to ‘dine out’ this year than in the angstridden years of the recent past.

Inevitably some restaurants and hotels will pick up a larger share of the market and achieve higher sales and profits than their competitors.

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Those who completed their planning for ‘Christmas 2019’ early in the year are in prime position to optimise trade. Most will already be heavily booked and can now concentrate on delivering the experience rather than spend time looking for customers. Late planners need not despair however. Thousands of Christmas revellers have yet to decide on a venue or a party experience and many will now be shopping for venues which still have pre-Christmas capacity.

In all cases however, customers will want to know what specialities are on offer and what new drinks experiences they can expect in the run-up to Christmas 2019. In most European countries, various forms of Punch top the list. Here in Ireland we favour mulled wine, but other forms worth considering are the English ‘Wassail’, German ‘Gluwein’ or Portuguese Hot Port. In Scandinavia, where winters are long, dark and cold, the inhabitants thaw out with bowls of Glögg, a hot mix of wine, fruit and vodka.

‘Hot Irish Whiskey’ with cloves and a spoon of sugar, is another attractive addition to a Christmas Drinks List. Traditionally this was based on Powers whiskey, but to-day’s bartenders can choose from a wide and expanding list of Irish whiskeys from small distilleries like Teelings, Roe, Dublin Liberties, Slane, Clonakilty, Pearse Lyons, Ballykeeffe, Royal Oak and Dingle. Many of these whiskies are however at the upper end of the quality and price range and can be best promoted as celebratory digestifs.

Among the young Irish distillers, Walsh Whisky, founded by Bernard and Rosemary Walsh, has carved out a niche with to brands that project the heritage of Irish whiskey. The Irishman Founders Reserve marked the company’s debut in the premium sector and this has now been followed by the ‘Writers’ Tears’ range.

In the 19th and early 20th century Ireland was the leading whiskey producing nation in the world and the birthplace of literary giants such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Bram Stoker.

At this time a blend of pot still and malt whiskeys, both distilled in copper pots was in high demand. It was enjoyed by many of the great Irish writers of the day an it is claimed that they shed tears of joy when they savoured its taste, texture and aroma.

Walsh Whiskey’s Writers’ Tears Copper Pot recalls the experience. It has been critically acclaimed and has won several awards. The range also includes a single malt and a cask-strength whiskey.

Expect Prosecco to be in very strong demand over the Christmas season as an aperitif and reception beverage. The selection available from wine importers is vast, but there is also a ‘sameness’ about the products.

Christmas demand is likely to be for the ‘House Prosecco’ as wine sniffing and tasting is likely to be a rare occurrence among seasonal revellers. A novelty however might be Graham Norton’s Prosecco, which should at least attract some attention. Moving up the premium

Christmas Drinks

ladder, Cava is a ‘half-way house’ between Prosecco and Champagne. This Spanish sparkling wine is made exactly like its more aristocratic cousin and comes at around a third of the price. Codorniu is a long-established premium Cava which can hold its own in any company.

Champagne of course remains the most desired of sparkling wines, with the premium brands costing more than €100 a bottle. Most importers include more modest cuvees on their lists- and is where the market lies.

Wine sales peak in December and there are many opportunities to maximise sales by offering a wide selection and keen pricing. The vast majority of parties in restaurants and hotels will opt for House Wines, so it is wise to choose the standard red and white carefully in order to achieve customer satisfaction and a decent margin. The season also creates opportunities to add some distinctive wines to the list. Padraig Murphy of Quintessential Wines suggests the Favorita grape from Piedmont, Italy and in particular Langhe Favorita DOC made by the Taboldi sisters or Petite Averne from Aosta made by Elio Ottin.

Christmas provides an ideal opportunity to ‘up sell’ customers by introducing them to premium products. As we have seen, the burgeoning Irish distilling sector has created a whole new market in artisan spirits. Gin is most prevalent among the new products and brands include Shortcross, Glendalough, Gunpowder (Drumshanbo), Bertha’s Revenge (Sneem), Mór, Old Carwrick Mill and Dingle. Like the whiskeys, these gins are mostly upscale in price and should be promoted as premium products.

The cream liqueur market also has some new entrants including Coole Swan, a family owned Irish cream liqueur. It is the only product in the category to use white chocolate which, when combined with Irish whiskey and fresh Irish cream, delivers a distinctive taste.

Cocktails are synonymous with partying and a well-designed Cocktail List will provide handsome dividends at Christmas.

Expect most demand for the ‘classics’ like Cosmopolitan, Mojita, Mai Tai, Margarita and Pina Colada, but also get bar staff working on producing your own ‘Christmas Cocktail.

Trays of shots will also be in demand at Christmas parties and while most beer drinkers will stick to the standard brands, there is also a growing cohort of Craft Beer enthusiasts who are likely to ask for their particular favourite.

A wide selection will be appreciated by these enthusiasts, even if their own local brew is not available.

Christmas beverages also extend to coffee with many hotels and restaurants boosting sales and profit with premium or novelty coffees. The big coffee chains always heavily market novelty drinks over the Christmas period, but all coffee outlets can do likewise with a bit of imagination.

It is usually just a matter of adding a flavouring and/or topping. Christmas coffees already on offer this year include Billionaire’s Latte, Minced Pie Flat White, Salted Caramel Cappuccino, Gingerbread Latte, Hazelnut and Toffee Cappuccinos.

Christmas is a ‘once a year’ opportunity for hotels, restaurants, cafés and pubs to generate substantial sales and profits over a concentrated period. In one sense, ‘all boats rise with the tide’, but careful planning, targeted promotion and control of costs can enable some ‘hospitality boats’ to fly.

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19

The Great National Group

A Decade On... with David Collins, The Great National Group

On the occasion of its 10th year in operation since being founded in 2009 at the height of the recent recession, we sat down with David Collins, Great National's Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer for a frank and at times colourful chat on the challenges facing the Irish hotel industry and tourism in general.

It’s hard to have a conversation these days with anyone – from the hotel business or otherwise – and not discuss the ‘B’ word as in BREXIT. Whether you’re for or against Britain leaving the EU, as they say, ‘we are where we are’.

Which is in the middle of calamitous, wholly avoidable and unmitigated slow moving ‘car crash’ created and sustained by minority political interests to the detriment of many.

The ramifications of BREXIT have been with us for 3 years and counting but will be felt by generations to come. And as for the tourism industry, it’s a classic case of unintended consequences in my view.

UK tourism for example into Ireland has collapsed having been a major market for this country for decades: 40% of our inbound tourists come from the other side of the Irish Sea. And whereas many on this island would rather we didn’t have a shared history with the UK, we do nevertheless have a shared economy and it is this that we need to be particularly mindful of along with protecting the Good Friday Agreement.

There is however a palpable anti-Irish feeling amongst some in Britain, not helped by the press Red Tops, which have painted Ireland as the problem – as a sort of handmaiden for the EU - and this will take time and effort to overcome and will prove to be a real challenge not just for Tourism Ireland but for all of us connected with the industry.

In the meantime, UK tourism into Ireland will continue to flounder not helped of course by the fact that holidaying

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Mulranny Park Hotel, Ireland in Ireland is 20% more expensive thanks to Sterling and this doesn’t take into account the disastrous and short-sighted re-imposition of VAT at a time of national crisis. Funny how many of the industry’s problems can be traced back to political buffoonery. Case in point, we have homeless folks staying in hotels and tourists staying in homes. Surely this should be the other way round?

In any case, having been in this business for 35-plus years - gasp - I know one thing and that is that the tourism industry is wily and robust and will overcome these challenges which in the past have included SARs, foot and mouth, two Gulf wars, 9/11, our own island troubles, the recent recession, etc., and yet this business consistently dusts itself down and gets on with the job in hand to maintain Ireland’s position as one of the most desired and sought after holiday destinations in the world.

The quality of our hotel stock, the purity of our natural attractions, the safety and security of visitors, the unassailable hospitality of our stakeholders, the dedication and energy of our tourism professionals, all unite to combine in a product, a brand, that is globally envied.

Copied certainly but never bettered. So it’s my humble view that the Irish hotel and tourism industry should take a well-deserved bow for its resilience alone.

That’s not to say the pressure is off. If anything, despite the opportunities for hotel and tourism providers presented in this digital/mobile age, there are equally real challenges for business owners. Challenges we’ve never faced before. Take the development pace of technology - which in itself admittedly has enabled us to get closer to customers than never before – this is fuelled in part by heightened expectations from users for increased personalisation.

In turn users are deciding the terms of their relationships with brands and products and services because the tech allows them to proactively and intuitively make these choices.

The Great National Group

Holt Lodge Hotel, UK

Shannon Springs Hotel, Ireland

But now that we’ve passed the tipping point in terms of digital, the average consumer’s attention span has been whittled right down, our world now almost revolves around the screen of a mobile device. If you can’t say what you have to say in 140 characters or less, you’re already on the back foot so brand and personal relationships have been reduced to little more than side-swipes, likes and dislikes.

So the harsh realities facing hoteliers now is firstly, you have to hold onto your customers because new ones are as rare and as costly as hens’ teeth; secondly, your customers don’t need you as much as you need them; thirdly, your customers dictate the rules of engagement, not you; and finally, even if they are your customer, likelihood is it’s just a phase they’re going through.

In a nutshell, it used to be loyalty was earned. Now at best it is borrowed.

Which means that if you’re a business owner in this industry – it might be a hotel, a B&B, a tourist attraction, etc. – generating demand for your offering is now overwhelmingly likely to be online where the odds are increasingly stacked against you.

Just look at the control OTAs have on hotels. And if you think that’s bad, consider how search engines can literally turn off your business in the blink of an eye if you’re not compliant with one of their ‘algorithms’. which in truth are thinly veiled means of getting you to spend more to maintain 1st page visibility.

And even if you do get a visitor to your site, unless it is mobile enabled, intuitive, content rich with seamless and secure payment functionality, you’re goosed.

Such is the expectation now amongst consumers when buying and booking online.

As to where all this will end up. Technology will continue to evolve which will heighten expectations of our guests even further but it’s a challenge which we again must as an industry rise to. If only because this same technology is actually making the world smaller which means global markets are becoming even more accessible and this in itself is really exciting. That we have such a great product that can so easily compete on the world stage makes it doubly so.

Midlands Park Hotel, Ireland

As for The Great National Group, we look forward to further expanding our portfolio of close on 150 hotels throughout Ireland and the UK, through continued investment in our own services and technology: we are for example currently rolling out our own bespoke revenue management software application which will provide accelerated rate and channel agility for independent hotels.

In addition to acknowledging the tremendous support we have received from Enterprise Ireland, I would also like to pay tribute to my fellow directors, staff and industry colleagues and of course our many clients for sticking with us and making Great National one of the leading independent hotel services companies in Ireland and the UK. Onwards to the next 10 years.

David Collins is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer for The Great National Group which comprises the 'Great National Hotels and Resorts' brand and the 'Classic British Hotels' brand, and now includes specialist rooms revenue agency, Revanista.

To contact David, please email djc@greatnationalhotels.com

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Fáilte Ireland Industry News

Major investments announced for Galway, Sligo and Roscommon Fáilte Ireland recently announced major investment for a number of projects across the country through its Grant Scheme for Large Tourism Projects, funded under the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 strategy. €6.6million in new Atlantic Museum Galway Fáilte Ireland’s single biggest investment to date in a visitor attraction, The Galway City Museum, located at the historic Spanish Arch, will be redeveloped and rebranded as the Atlantic Museum Galway, a new three-storey interactive museum. €3.9million in The National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park The existing famine museum at Strokestown Park, Co. Roscommon, will be transformed into the new state-of-the-art National Famine Museum, which will tell the complete story of the Great Famine for the first time.

Brendan McGrath, Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Attractions, Mary Stack and Seán Kyne T.D., Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for Gaeilge, the Gaeltacht and the Islands at the announcement of €6.6million investment in the new Atlantic Museum Galway

€2.5million in Sligo Cultural Plaza The Cultural Plaza will take the form of a new all-weather outdoor venue for the town, along with the development of the Garavogue River Trail - a walking and cycling trail from the new plaza along the Garavogue River to Lough Gill.

Speaking about the announcements, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Product Development, Orla Carroll, said: “Tourism is a sector that has seen significant growth in recent years, but we are facing uncertainty with Brexit on the horizon. It’s even more important now that we develop new visitor attractions to give overseas tourists compelling reasons to visit Ireland.”

Ciarán Hayes, Chief Executive of Sligo City Council, Orla Carroll, Director of Product Development, Fáilte Ireland, Councillor Tom MacSharry, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council and Minister of State Seán Canney TD at the announcement of the €2.5million in Sligo Cultural Plaza Jim Callery, Strokestown Park, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, TD and Orla Carroll, Director of Product Development, Fáilte Ireland at the announcement of the €3.9million investment in The National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park

Minister Ross Appoints Two New Members to Fáilte Ireland Authority Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross T.D., has announced the appointment of two new members to the Fáilte Ireland Authority – the National Tourism Development Authority.

The two new board members are: • Joe Dolan, Hotelier, The Bush Hotel, Leitrim • Stephen Dowling, Global Vice President of Digital for Adidas Minister Shane Ross commented: “Tourism is a vital contributor to our economy. The two new appointments to the Board of Fáilte Ireland are all well qualified for the positions and have demonstrated their suitability to act as members of the Board. I believe that their skills and experience will be a great asset to the work of Fáilte Ireland in supporting and developing the Irish tourism sector and I wish them well in their role.”

Stephen Dowling, Global Vice President of Digital for Adidas

Joe Dolan, Hotelier, The Bush Hotel, Leitrim appointed to Fáilte Ireland Authority

Welcoming the appointments, Fáilte Ireland Authority Chairman Michael Cawley said: “I am delighted to welcome the two new members to the Board where their skills, expertise and commitment will be a valuable addition to our deliberations as Fáilte Ireland seeks to develop Irish tourism and assist the sector to maximise the potential it has to create employment, generate revenue and contribute to the nation’s economic progress.”

The appointments have been made following a public application and shortlisting process conducted by the Public Appointments Service. They will take effect from November 15th 2019.

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Fáilte Ireland Industry News

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN: Fáilte Ireland and Irish Management Institute Strategic Management Programme

Applications are now open for the Strategic Management Programme for Tourism & Hospitality Leaders. Delivered by the Irish Management Institute in partnership with Fáilte Ireland, the programme has been designed to give business leaders the competencies they need to future proof their businesses in light of the current challenges facing the tourism industry.

For tourism businesses to thrive, senior executives and managers need strong leadership and strategic management skills to understand the changing environment and how to formulate a strategy to meet their future needs, tailor the experiences they offer to match prevailing customer trends and focus their marketing activity to create a competitive advantage for their tourism business.

Speaking about the Strategic Management Programme, Martina Bromley, Head of Hospitality & Enterprise Development, Fáilte Ireland, said: “As the National Tourism Development Authority, Fáilte Ireland’s role is to support the tourism industry and work to sustain Ireland as a high-quality and competitive tourism destination.

With uncertainty around Brexit and challenges for the sector, our key message for businesses is to ‘prepare and diversify’.

This programme addresses strategy and business planning, financial management, sales and marketing as well as leadership and management of change. Each participant will create a strategic plan for the sustainable development of their business over the next 3-5 years during the programme.”

Who is this programme for?

General Managers and Senior Departmental Managers across the hospitality and tourism sector in hotels, visitor attractions, restaurants etc.

Past Programme Graduate Feedback

Stefan Lundstrom, General Manager at the Galmont Hotel Galway, said: “We work differently today than we did at the start of the programme. For example, we now do regular strategy meetings with the senior management team, making sure we’re taking the long-view and see if plans are working or need adjusting. The challenge for us was to formulate the strategy for the next five years, and the programme really helped with that.”

Nicola McDonnell, General Manager at the Irish Whiskey Museum, said: “The business diagnostic tool focused on what we could actually do to meet the challenges facing our organisation. The programme will have a big effect on the business over the next five years.”

Programme dates

The programme will be delivered over seven modules during a 6-month period from December 2019 to June 2020. Each module is typically 1.5 to 2 days in total.

How to apply

Check out www.failteireland.ie/TourismLeaders for more information.

To discuss the programme, please contact:

Michael Brady, Michael.brady@failteireland.ie

Further detailed information on the articles above is available at : www.failteireland.ie H&RT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019

23

Sustainability

The IFSA’s launched: Sustainability a reality at

The inaugural Irish Foodservice Supplier Awards – the IFSA’s - are coming to Food & Bev Live and will acknowledge product and service innovation within the foodservice industry, with a central focus on sustainability.

The theme for 2020 will be Innovation for a sustainable future and the awards have been created to shine a light on suppliers who are at the forefront of the industry’s response to the environmental crisis.

The winners will be announced on the first day of Food & Bev Live - 4th February – at Citywest, Dublin, following a two-stage judging process, overseen by an independent, expert panel of judges. Categories in the inaugural IFSA’s include best sustainable packaging product, best sustainable food product, energy efficiency innovation and supplier of the year.

The panel of judges has a wealth of expertise and includes Maurice Bergin, Managing Director, Green Hospitality Programme; Brian Walsh, Packaging Technologist, Repak; Keith Warren, Director, CESA Catering Equipment Suppliers Association UK; Tony McGuigan, Head of Procurement and F&B Projects, Dalata Hotel Group PLC and Guillaume Oates, GFD Associates - Independent Foodservice Design Consultants.

To hear more about their thoughts on sustainability, Hotel & Restaurant Times spoke to the judges on innovation, sustainable pathways and examples of best practice.

Sustainability – is this just a trend or reality? Or is it the new normal? “No, this one is real, I have never seen something take hold so quickly and there is a clear understanding that we need to rethink how we treat the planet,” comments Tony McGuigan, Head of Procurement and F&B Projects, Dalata Hotel Group PLC. Maurice Bergin, Managing Director of the Green Hospitality Programme agrees saying: “With the Government adding Green procurement as a filter for

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all suppliers, across all departments, and an annual budget of €12bn - this is not a trend - it is a new business reality.

“It's not good enough to claim your product is "Greener" suppliers must be able to prove it as well - and must also green their own business operations - walk the talk. Those businesses who don't bother to find out how easy it is to implement sustainability solutions will be left behind,” adds Maurice.

Highlighting the specific benefits of sustainability to the catering industry, Guillaume Oates, from GFD Associates says: “The catering industry is gaining in several ways, it is reducing its costs and by doing so it is using less energy. Sustainability is the new normal. It is all about reducing running costs and at the same time improving the quality of the finished product.”

Keith Warren, Director CESA comments: “Increasingly foodservice operators are taking a lead in sustainability.

This is partly down to company ethics and corporate social responsibility, partly to the business sense of saving money and partly down to public relations: consumers are interested in sustainability.”

Managing Repak’s Prevent & Save and Plastic Pledge Programmes, Brian Walsh, a Packaging Technologist with Repak, concludes: “Sustainability certainly is the new normal and one that businesses should view as an opportunity rather than a threat. Businesses that are not proactive in this area and that don’t demonstrate real action will over time, will become less and less attractive to consumers.

Sustainability

The Judges

Brian Walsh Repak

Maurice Bergin Green Hospitality Programme

“The public are more aware than ever about the impacts of climate change and are also less accepting of wasteful practices by businesses such as avoidable single use plastics and packaging.”

Asked ‘will customers pay more for sustainable products / services?’, the judges’ insight revealed that there is a demand for sustainable products and an expectation of paying more, “so long as it’s not too much more! Price is always going to be an issue,” adds Keith Warren.

Maurice Bergin says: “There is some research suggesting that some consumers will - but not enough to allow companies to increase prices for more sustainable practices. The real focus should be on adopting sustainable practices - especially towards Energy, Water and Waste Management – that will deliver substantial reductions in costs.”

“From a design and specification point of view it depends on the client and who in the organisation holds the budget. Often the benefit of being ‘green’ is not a capital cost saving however, we inform our clients of the options and cost savings that are available at the early budgeting stage of a sustainability project,” comments Guillaume Oates.

Where does a hotel / restaurant / food service business start in creating a sustainable pathway for its business?

Maurice Bergin is a firm believer that without Senior Management Buy in, sustainable agendas will fail.

“Each business needs to recognise that they must adopt sustainability as a core business principle and then implement a programme to be as sustainable as they can be.”

He adds: “SMEs are not being asked to become ultragreen overnight; they are being asked to implement a simple Environmental Management System. This includes understanding what their emissions are, having a plan to reduce those emissions, engaging

Keith Warren CESA

Guillame Oates GFD Associates

Tony McGuigan Dalata Hotel Group

with their staff to support them, investing when the returns are reasonable and communicating what they are doing with their customers.”

Brian Walsh supports Maurice’s comments adding: “Without management support, any business initiative is doomed to failure before it gets off the ground. In sustainability, there needs to be someone responsible and that person must be provided with support from all areas of the business.”

“Telling your suppliers and customers about your specific sustainability goals is a critical part of the sustainability journey.

It is best not to change something overnight and assume consumers will understand why. Equally it is best to work with your suppliers as valued partners in trying to achieve your goals.”

Tony McGuigan reaffirms the need for buy in and recommends “a dedicated focus and registering for an awards scheme, which will in turn lead to an audit and an action plan, outlining each of the key areas, including Waste Management and Procurement.”

Reflecting the progression within catering equipment, Keith Warren says: “In terms of equipment, manufacturers’ product ranges across the board are significantly more efficient now than they were, say, ten years ago. This means running costs are being cut, dramatically in many cases.

“Analysis by The Carbon Trust shows that 82% of a catering appliance’s lifecycle cost is down to the energy used in its operation. This should be incentive enough – it’s economic short-sightedness not to specify energy saving equipment.”

Commenting on ‘real innovation within the industry that’s making a difference’, the judges said: “I am certainly seeing a sea change from suppliers with regards to innovation. They do realise that if they do not innovate, they will be left behind,” says Tony McGuigan.

Focusing on the hotel sector, Maurice Bergin cites the Hotel Doolin as the first carbon neutral hotel (awarded in September) and Ashford Castle and The Lodge at Ashford as the first hotels to achieve the Plastic Smart GREENMark. He continues: “I believe that suppliers need to understand and promote

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Sustainability

the life cycle benefits of their equipment - which can far outweigh the short-term capital savings. Innovative payment models need to be available such as ‘Pay as you Save’ and products should have built in service contracts to ensure efficiencies are maximised.”

“In terms of future sustainable development, there are two key trends: BIM and connectivity. The migration to BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a key driver in sustainability, helping kitchen planners to deliver more efficient design, build and operations. Connectivity has the potential to make equipment more sustainable, since service providers can monitor it online at any time to ensure it’s working at optimum efficiency,” says Keith Warren.

The Irish Foodservice Supplier Awards are taking place at Food & Bev Live. Judging is in two stages with the deadline for submissions on Friday 13th December 2019. Initial stage one judging will shortlist the finalists, with all finalists presenting in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ format on Monday 3rd February at the Citywest.

Winners will be announced on the 4th February – the first day of Food & Bev Live 2020.

Giving examples of real efficiencies within the sector, Guillaume Oates adds: “Monitoring systems on canopies can reduce the running cost of the Air Handling Unit by decreasing or increasing the extraction as the equipment is turned on or off. Refrigerator equipment manufacturers are now rating their cabinets with A, B and C ratings so that you can see how much it will cost to run the unit and water filtration manufacturers are offering taller taps on the water dispensers so the user can fill reusable bottles instead of plastic cups.”

Which companies on a European /global scale are demonstrating innovation in playing their part in creating a more sustainable future?

“The main Global winners with regards to sustainability all come from Europe with Denmark, Norway and Finland leading the way. In my opinion, one of the most sustainability-focused companies in UK is GlaxoSmithKline,” comments Tony McGuigan.

Speaking of the hotel sector, Maurice says: “The world leaders include the major international players such as Radisson, Accor, Scandic, and Hyatt, but unfortunately there’s no hotel or tourism companies listed within the World's Top 100 sustainable companies (Greenknights. com).”

Commenting on innovation within manufacturing, Guillaume adds: “Gas equipment manufacturers have been fine tuning burners to increase efficiency, electrical manufacturers are promoting the use of induction equipment because it heats as fast as Gas and uses energy more efficiently and manufacturers are advertising equipment that’s made from 90% recyclable materials.

Many of the large manufacturing groups, such as Ali Group, Electrolux and Elro Catering Equipment are taking the lead in innovative NPD.” For more information on the IFSA’s or to secure your space at the event, please call IFSA on +353 (0) 1 846 0020 or visit www.foodandbev.ie

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- Best sustainable packaging product award

- Best sustainable food product award - National foodservice supplier of the year award (Industry nominated) - Local / Direct supplier of the year award (Industry nominated) - Energy efficiency innovation in heavy catering equipment award - Energy efficiency innovation in light catering equipment

To enter, please see www.FoodandBev.ie

Hotel Meyrick

Galway’s Grand Old Lady Continues to Thrive Choice Hotel Group invests ₏8 million in Hotel Meyrick Refurbishment Programme

The Hotel Meyrick Galway is one of the most well recognised buildings in Ireland.

Known affectionately as the Grand Old Lady, previously the Great Southern Hotel, the iconic building is superbly located overlooking Eyre Square in Galway city centre.

The Choice Hotel Group added the Meyrick to its portfolio in 2018, alongside the G Hotel and House Hotel in Galway, with local man Patrick Murphy leading the team at the hotel.

Born and bred in Galway, Murphy sees himself as part hotelier, part farmer. Having graduated in Hotel & Catering Management from GMIT in 1995, he enjoyed successful periods at the Sheen Falls Lodge, Killarney Park hotels and with the Choice Hotel Group, as well as working abroad in Portugal, Malaga and Gerona, before returning to Galway with his young family. He went on to work at his family farm, and rejoined the Choice Hotel Group, taking up the role as General Manager in

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Meyrick Hotel July.

“There isn’t a better hotel to work in or run”, says Murphy. “As a Galway man, I have some history with the hotel, I used to waiter here. Everyone in Galway has a connection with the Meyrick, with the property.”

Murphy recognises the hotel’s iconic location in Galway city is of appeal to visitors.

“Galway is a leisure destination, and we have a good mix of clientele. Our audience is very leisure driven, with a bit of corporate business, as Galway has a strong bio-medical industry. We have a mix of different nationalities, including American, British and Irish – a bit of everything!

“We attract guests of all age profiles, from mid to late 20’s, to their 80’s. “We currently have an 87 year old gentleman staying, who is celebrating his 55th wedding anniversary, so we have a very diverse clientele”, smiles Murphy.

The hotel is a major employer in Galway city. “We have around 150 staff on our books, a mixture of full-time and seasonal”, Murphy outlines. “Because of the nature of Galway, we are very busy from March to October, and we have around 100 to 110 full-time staff during that period.”

Hotel Meyrick is currently undergoing a major refurbishment programme, with work on the hotel having started before Murphy joined the team. “The foyer has been completely renovated, some of the bedrooms had already been done, and work stopped for the summer. There are another fifty rooms approximately to be refurbed, and it’s about to kick off again now. The rest of the rooms will be done before Valentine’s weekend”, confirms Murphy.

The group has invested heavily in the hotel’s refurb. As Murphy says, “It’s a significant investment, somewhere between €7.5 - €8 million will have been spent on the property.

It’s a lot of potatoes for a man who sold them on Wood Quay once upon a time!”

The refurbishment programme has had its challenges along the way, as Murphy outlines.

“It was in 1852 that it originally started to operate as a hotel. We call it the Grand Old Lady here in Galway, and like most old properties, you could be throwing money at them.

Every time you’d open a wall or ceiling, you’d meet a challenge, something unexpected.

But that’s the nature of the place and you wouldn’t change it because that it what it is, par for the course. We respect the history and heritage of the property, and probably take it forward a bit. It is an iconic and historic property, so we didn’t want to go a full 180

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Glenrock House, Glenrock Business Campus Ballybane, Galway.

Tel: 091 779962 / 779963 Broombridge Business Centre, 288 Barrow Road, Dublin7.

Tel: 01 8245770.

Email: info@conneallymr.ie Web: www.conneallymr.ie

Conneally Maintenance recently completed a refurbishment at the Meyrick Hotel Galway. We did a complete refurbishment of 43 number bedrooms over a number of floors. On the ground floor The Oyster Bar, Gas light restaurant afternoon tea and reception areas were all completely refurbished. This work was completed over 7 months and was all done in a live hotel working environment.

We wish the Meyrick hotel every success.

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Meyrick Hotel

on it, that wouldn’t work. There are limitations from a heritage perspective for sure, but it’s modernised it.”

Hotel Meyrick currently has 103 rooms, with plans in place to increase this number in 2020. “At some stage next year, we are planning to open another 19 bedrooms, subject to planning. This will happen in late 2020 or early 2021”, says Murphy.

As a high-end four star hotel, the Meyrick enjoys strong occupancy rates. “The demand is here because of the location of the hotel, and what the property is”, says Murphy. “We have a good net ADR, we’d be pushing for 145 next year.”

Murphy strongly believes that a positive customer experience is a key factor in the performance of the business. “Hand on heart, the first thing is that the customer has a great experience. If the customer experience is not right, nothing else happens. The culture here has to be guest first, guest satisfaction. If that doesn’t happen, then ADR doesn’t happen, and occupancy doesn’t happen.”, he says.

As well as the refurbishment programme for the hotel, investments have also been made in key services. “We’re investing in broadband and wifi, and the new system going in is costing the guts of €40,000. We’ve invested €28,000 on our new TV system, which now uses Chromecast. So many people have Netflix on their phones now, and you can bring your own device and then cast it to the TV”, outlines Murphy.

The Meyrick remains a popular venue for Galwegians and visitors alike, with many enjoying lunch in the popular Oyster Bar. “The Oyster Bar is now leaning towards more casual dining, brasserie style, following the trend towards more casual dining. There’s still a market for the very high-end dining experience, but I think people are looking for a more relaxed, more informal dining experience”, says Murphy.

Ultan Cooke is Head Chef at Hotel Meyrick. Like Murphy, he graduated from GMIT and moved to London for seven years. “The plan was to learn my craft over there, and then come back as a senior chef over here”, says Cooke.

“When I eventually came back, the recession had just started to kick in, and everything had bottomed out, so I went back to London and did another 3-4 years there. I came back four years ago, and I moved to the Meyrick as Head Chef when the fantastic opportunity of the job came up.”

Having been in the position since earlier this year, Cooke has focused on the Oyster Bar’s menu in the short term, saying: “We currently only have the Oyster Bar open. It’s an all-day brasserie, that’s the direction food is going – more relaxed, more informal”, explains Cooke. “The target audience is so wide, with corporates, families, people popping in for lunch, we have to tick a lot of boxes.”

Cooke is passionate about using local, quality produce in the hotel. “We focus on good produce, and we spend a lot of time making sure we get that right. The offer is broad, but quality is important. We’re conscious of our green footprint, and we use local produce as much as possible. Seasonality is important; I’m only here a couple of months, so we’ve only had one menu change so far, but we will be doing more”, he confirms.

The hotel’s Number 15 restaurant is currently closed: “Number 15 is an outlet we’ve developed a concept for; a food and beverage outlet we think will work. We’re in the process of renovating Number 15’s kitchen. It’s going to be refurbished next year, and the main kitchen will hopefully be done as well”, explains Murphy.

Staff retention and recruitment is a challenge that Murphy has experienced.

“We do OK here, we try to look after the team, and because of our location, we benefit. There is a student population we can pull on and attract, with GMIT and NUIG on our doorstep. We’re fortunate in that sense, but it is a tough market getting the calibre and quality; sometimes it’s challenging. It’s

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a cliché – we hire for attitude, and train for skill.”, he explains.

“We have a couple of lads with us who have graduated from GMIT (both duty managers), we’re looking for an office manager and we’ve decided to train our own.

We’ll actually grow our own rather than bringing in that experience, because you can’t get it.”

Being part of the Choice Hotel Group is advantageous. “The fact that we’re with the Choice Hotel Group which runs and owns three properties in Galway is positive. We can move within the properties, for example our receptionist Leo is moving over to the G as Assistant Front Office Manager; having that is a plus as well. If people want to grow their career or develop their opportunities, they can do that.

That said, we also have staff who have been with us long term, such as Mary who’s been with us for 13-14 years, and Margaret Flynn in our lobby is here nearly 40 years on the team!”

Looking to 2020, Galway is expected to experience an uplift in visitor numbers next year, in part due to the city being the 2020 European Capital of Culture. Murphy is keen to praise the work done by the tourist board, mentioning Galway being chosen as the fourth best destination in the world by Lonely Planet.

“For Lonely Planet to recognise Galway as the fourth best destination in the world, credit must be given to the tourist board for that. I’m confident that next year will be a good year, Galway 2020 will give us a serious lift. The Lonely Planet is massive, that will give us a real boost. Galway and the business community are growing business and developing it. If we’re all talking, we’re all working together.”

Murphy is positive for the future of Hotel Meyrick. “It’s been here since 1852, it’s going to be here for another one hundred and sixty odd years”, he says. “We’ve a great product, we’re after spending €7.5 - €8 million. Galway is a destination, you don’t just come here for the hotel, you come for the destination. I’m absolutely very confident for the future. Happy days, very much so.”

Food & Bev Live

Serving up Sustainability at

NEW industry awards scheme launched at the show Organised by the industry for the industry, Food & Bev Live returns to the Citywest Dublin on the 4th and 5th February 2020. Continuing the event’s history of celebrating excellence, next year’s show will see the launch of the IFSA’s - The Irish Foodservice Supplier Awards.

A first of its kind in Ireland, the IFSA’s are a brand-new award scheme specifically aimed at highlighting product and service innovation within the Foodservice Industry. With six categories including best sustainable packaging product, best sustainable food product, energy efficiency innovation and supplier of the year; the awards will be judged by an independent panel, with a wealth of knowledge specific to the Industry.

Speaking about the launch of the awards and the importance of providing a two day show that delivers for both exhibitors and visitors, Patrick Clement, IFSA Chairman comments: “Food & Bev Live is a unique event that caters to those owning, operating and working in foodservice, hospitality and leisure establishments across Ireland and Europe. As THE trade event for the sector in 2020, we are thrilled to be launching the IFSA’s at the show.

Aimed at showcasing the wealth of innovation and technology which our members continually bring to market each year. Categories have been chosen to take into account innovation across all product sectors from catering equipment, disposables, tableware, services, and of course actual food and beverage products.

Celebrating Ireland’s dynamic foodservice industry, and in an increasingly competitive market, Food & Bev Live 2020 will continue the event’s rich history of celebrating excellence within the industry and will play host to world-class competitions including the National Barista Championships, Irish Cocktail Championships and the ‘hotly’ contended Chef Ireland Culinary Competitions. Ireland’s first National Pizza Championships will be launched at the show in association with the Associazione Pizzerie Italiane (API) and will see chefs from across Ireland battle it out to be crowned National Pizza Champion.

Bursting with industry-specific attractions, that serve up inspirational solutions for Ireland’s foodservice and hospitality sectors, Food & Bev Live is a unique opportunity for exhibitors and visitors alike to attract business from leading industry associations across the sector.

Taking place on the 4th and 5th February 2020 at the Citywest Events Centre, Dublin, Food & Bev Live is the hospitality event of 2020 not to be missed!

For more information on the IFSA’s or to secure your space at the event, please call

EventHaus on +353 (0) 1 846 0020 or visit www.foodandbev.ie

“For 2020 the theme of the inaugural IFSA’s will be – Innovation for a sustainable future- a timely focus highlighting the Industry’s response to the very real environmental crisis which we are all facing as suppliers.”

Entries to the awards are now open and winners will be announced on the 4th February – the first day of Food & Bev Live 2020.

Margaret Andreucetti, Food & Bev Live Sales Manager and Patrick Clement, IFSA Chairman

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Tourism Ireland

Lonely Planet declares Galway the fourth best city in the world to visit in 2020 Galway has been named the fourth best city in the world to visit – in the prestigious Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2020. Tourism Bridgette Brew, Galway 2020; Nóirín Hegarty, VP Digital Content, Lonely Planet; Niall Gibbons, CEO of Ireland plans to take every opportunity to maximise this accolade Tourism Ireland; and Patricia Philbin, CEO of Galway 2020, at the announcement Galway has been named for Galway. Its promotional campaign is rolling out in Britain, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the fourth best city in the world to visit in 2020 by Lonely Planet.

Belgium. Activity includes a new video highlighting Galway city and county and Galway 2020; a specially created page on Tourism Ireland’s international website; extensive social media activity; a major PR and publicity push to Tourism Ireland’s 20,000 international media contacts; and highlighting the accolade at major travel fairs like World Travel Market in London.

Welcoming the news, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “The inclusion of Galway as the Number Four City in the world in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2020 is wonderful news and will surely help to inspire travellers everywhere to put Galway and the Wild Atlantic Way on their holiday wish-list for next year. It is another well-deserved accolade, which provides Tourism Ireland with a great hook to continue to promote Galway and Ireland around the world as a ‘must visit’ destination.”

Targeting luxury travellers for Ireland at PLF in Montenegro

Tourism Ireland board meets in Co Cork Creagh House in Doneraile, Co Cork, was the venue for the October board meeting of Tourism Ireland. The board members took the opportunity to meet with representatives of the local tourism industry, to discuss overseas tourism this year and the extensive promotional programme which Tourism Ireland is undertaking to highlight Cork city and county, the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East and the island of Ireland around the world in 2019. Pictured after the meeting are Joan O’Shaughnessy, Chairman of Tourism Ireland (front, second right); Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland (front, centre); Shane Clarke, Tourism Ireland’s Director of Corporate Services (front, right); and Tourism Ireland board members.

Four Irish tourism businesses joined Tourism Ireland in Montenegro, at the Private Luxury Forum (PLF) – which connects influential luxury travel buyers from around Europe with high end hotels and suppliers.

The three-day event involved a series of one-to-one appointments and networking sessions and was a valuable opportunity to meet, and do business with, the influential travel professionals who design unique, luxury travel itineraries for their high net-worth international clients.

Pictured at PLF are (l-r) Sheila King, Sheens Fall Lodge; Steve Fenton, MHL Hotel Collection; Carol Hinch, Ballynahinch Castle Hotel; Geraldine Egan, Tourism Ireland; and Alison Deegan, Original Irish Hotels.

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Tourism Ireland

New campaign with the Guardian targets 4M ‘culturally curious’ in Britain Tourism Ireland has launched a new partnership with the Guardian newspaper, to encourage ‘culturally curious’ travellers in Britain to consider a holiday or short break in Ireland. The campaign will reach around 4 million people over the coming weeks. It includes three print articles, 13 online articles on a dedicated Ireland section of the Guardian website, as well as a 90-second video created by the Guardian and running on the newspaper’s site. The campaign is highlighting the many great reasons for British travellers to visit – including our rich culture, superb culinary experience, great road-trips, festivals and events. It aims to offer genuinely interesting, entertaining and informative content for Guardian readers and to inspire those readers to consider Ireland for their next holiday or short break.

Print article about ‘10 must-do Ireland experiences’ in the Guardian’s Weekend magazine.

Tourism Ireland teams up with Viajes El Corte Inglés in Spain to boost travel in final quarter of 2019 Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards are seeing a giant video ad for Dublin right now, outside the big El Corte Inglés department store in the Plaza del Callao, in the centre of Madrid. Similar ads are running in other busy locations around Madrid and Barcelona.

Tourism Ireland has teamed up once again with one of the biggest brands in Spain – the tour operating arm of Spanish retailing giant El Corte Inglés – promoting winter breaks to millions of late-season Spanish travellers. As well as the outdoor ads in Madrid and Barcelona, the campaign also includes digital video ads in train stations in Madrid; full-page ads in popular newspapers; social media activity (with posts about Ireland targeting the 282,000+ followers of Viajes El Corte Inglés); email marketing to around 20,000 Viajes El Corte Inglés clients; and in-store advertising in 492 travel agencies around Spain.

Given that Spain has several bank holiday weekends (or “puente”) between now and Christmas, this is the ideal time to highlight weekend breaks in Dublin and Ireland.

Giant video ad for Dublin, in the Plaza del Callao, in central Madrid.

German tourism leaders visit Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands Members of the German Marketing Partnership Group (MPG) visited Ireland’s Hidden Heartland’s recently. The MPG is made up of leading German tour operators, as well as air and sea carriers, and is the official vehicle for consulting with tourism partners in Germany. The visit was an excellent opportunity for Tourism Ireland to showcase Ireland’s Hidden Heartland’s to these senior travel representatives from Germany who make up the MPG. Pictured after the meeting at Glasson Country House Hotel are (l-r) Finola O'Mahony, Tourism Ireland; Katherina Barry, DER Touristik; Ralf M Hubert and Dirk Ebert, both Irish Ferries; Katrina Gauges, Tourism Ireland; Christian Ludwig, Gaeltacht Irland Reisen; Seán Buckley, Marina Tours; Christian Rübel, Tourism Ireland; Judith Eichhorn, Service Reisen Giessen; Wulf Scheunert, BITS; Denise Quinn and Peter Nash, both Tourism Ireland.

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Chef Network

KITCHEN CULTURE Meet the chefs & teams of Ireland’s professional kitchens, with Chef Network The Chef Network community brings together chefs at all levels from all sectors across Ireland. In a Hotel & Restaurant Times regular column we meet some members and hear from them what inspires and motivates them, their career challenges and opportunities, and how they believe we can improve the industry.

In this edition, we meet

Barry Ralph, Chef-Proprietor at House of Plates

Why did you become a Chef?

I’ve always been interested in food from a young age. I’ve always dabbled in the kitchen and in the garden.

When I was 14, I went down to the market and bought a packet of seeds. I began to grow my own little garden of vegetables and each week I would bring the fruit and veg I’d collected and sell them in the local market. I’d make jams and chutneys with some of the wild berries I’d found and sell these alongside my own garden produce as well. Setting up my very first business.

I remember recording Darina Allen’s cooking show each week on my VHS and watching them back to recreate the recipes. Another big inspiration for me growing up was Gerry Daly and his gardening show.

I wasn’t very academic, and I didn’t have much interest in school, but cooking and growing food was something I was passionate about. I have always felt as though cheffing was for me.

What was your path to where you are today?

After school I made the decision to try and get my CERT to become a chef. At this point I’d had zero experience in a commercial kitchen.

The first day of college we were all asked to say a bit about ourselves, including which kitchens we had worked in. There was only two of us in the whole class that had no practical experience in a professional kitchen, that was quite intimidating for me at the time. Still, I knew that this is what I wanted to do and during my time on the course I was placed in some of the local hotels to gain my work experience.

I graduated from GMIT in 2000 and later went on to work in various restaurant and hotels in Mayo.

I moved up pretty quickly and got my first head chef job at the age of 24 in a local restaurant in Castlebar. I realised that I had quite limited skills at this point and that I wanted to gain more experience. That’s when I made the decision to move back to one of the local restaurants that I had previously worked in and I eventually grew tired of working for other people, I knew that I wanted to venture out on my own.

I was driving home after attending my very first Food on the Edge conference and started thinking to myself. I knew I had settled for

the job I was in; I wasn’t enjoying it and something in me knew that I need more. I decided to follow my dream, take the leap and open the restaurant I always wanted. When I got home that night I sat down with my wife and together we set our minds to creating ‘House of Plates’. A small plates restaurant which would take sustainability seriously and work with local suppliers to support the community.

“

I decided to follow my dream, take the leap and open the restaurant I always wanted

Tell us about the team you work with.

We have a small kitchen team in House of Plates. Stephanie my sous chef has been working with me for 15 years and I consider her my right arm. We’ve worked together so long that we don’t even need to speak in the kitchen, we both know what the other is thinking. She is one of the hardest working people I know and always goes above and beyond for the restaurant.

Owen and Marty run our front of house and have been with us since day one. Having interviewed them both in a shell of a restaurant and then seeing them take the leap with me makes them very special. They had the same belief in the concept, the theme and the food as I did and that is what makes the whole thing work.

Jemma has recently joined the kitchen team as a chef de partie and brings a vast amount of knowledge with her. She has good experience in some of the top kitchens.

Supported by Ready Chef 34

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"

What is the most important ingredient in your success to date?

Hard work, honesty, dedication and a passion for what you do.

I genuinely believe that anyone can be successful if they work hard.

Chef Network

“

Anyone can be successful if they work hard

it’s important to schedule time for them to be off, everyone needs to have a life.

"

We have our schedule written up on the wall in the kitchen, staff write in the days they want off for holidays on the board and we find a way to work around it.

Sean is our commis chef and joined us after we reached out for an apprentice. He came to the role with great enthusiasm and a hunger to learn. That is what makes him a great addition to our team.

Samuel is our prep chef and has dipped in and out from the beginning. He gets a lot of the hard work done in the mornings and makes life a lot easier for us, he’s not afraid of hard work.

We also have some fantastic part-time kitchen porters and waiting staff on our team.

We like to think of ourselves as a family and this is how we’ve always been.

We look out for each other and make sure everyone is happy in their work.

We are all very open, which means we can all speak our mind and iron out any issues that may arise. Mutual respect is what make it a positive place to work. Everyone respects each other’s roles and responsibilities.

We all try to come up with new ideas to push the restaurant forward: days out foraging, team building days and things like this mean we are always learning and trying new experiences. We’re not afraid to take chances together, not just leaving it up to one person but changing together as a team.

“

It’s important that everyone feels like they are respected

"

Have you seen a negative side to the industry?

Yes of course I have. I’ve been a chef for nearly 20 years now! Kitchens were a lot different when I started, a lot of the bigger teams that I was a part of had a lot of issues. Starting out you would take a lot of stress and grief from your senior chefs. Thank God those days are gone, and things have moved on since then. I think we’ve come a long way.

The Chef Network Kitchen Charter aims to create a positive and nurturing work environment in kitchens. Which point(s) on the charter do you feel are most important and how do you implement these in your own kitchen/business?

I think that prioritising work-life balance is very important to any team.

Being a chef is hard work and being in the hospitality industry is tough! It’s important that my staff get time off, quality time off. That is why we close on Monday’s and Tuesdays. Your team work hard when they’re with you, so

What is the most important lesson you have learned about being a leader in the kitchen?

Respect.

It’s important that everyone feels like they are respected and that they have something valuable to bring to the team. I think if you show that to your team, you will all work well together and people will want to work for you, they’ll want to do the best they can.

A good leader cares about the team, you know that they have your back. I’d like to think that I’m able to spot if someone in the team is having an off day. It’s important during these times to be able to take them aside and talk to them, find out what’s going on. Is it something you can help with? Every member of your team needs to feel like you’ve heard them.

BEING A CHEF….

What I love most is….the ability to create.

What makes me most proud is… House of Plates is now 3 years old. Proud that we have achieved what we have achieved to date and that we are constantly evolving and doing new things.

The most difficult thing I have had to face is…. the concept of the restaurant and trying to show diners a new way to eat The most rewarding thing I’ve done is…. followed my dream of opening a small plates restaurant in my hometown of Castlebar I have learned that…it is important to respect nature when working with the seasons.

We can create a better workplace by…. Respecting our staff and the environment.

We can make our businesses better by…. Reducing waste and trying to be as sustainable as possible My advice to chefs starting out is…. ask questions and work hard My advice to any chef opening their own place/setting up a business is…work in a place similar to the type of place you would like to open, don’t be afraid to do something different, start small, know your business inside out, write a mission statement and stick to it, never go off track and finally know your numbers!!

My greatest mentor has been... everyone I’ve worked for I’ve learned something off My favourite job ever... the one I have now!

Something I would like to learn... I would like to learn more about fermentation, we always work with the seasons and sometimes it can be hard in the winter months to find fresh produce. I’d love to do more to preserve the stuff from our urban farm How to keep or attract staff... Keep things new, include them, do something different and never stand still!!

Our Kitchen Workplace Charter

Have you put your plan in place to improve your Kitchen Culture?

You can now find a template and advice in our online community to help you put your own Kitchen Workplace Charter plan in place. www.chefnetwork.ie today to download your copy Chefs and Employers,Visithave you seen our Kitchen Workplace Charter?

Share your support & progress with us online #KitchenCulture Working together towards a better industry

Join CHEF NETWORK free today at www.chefnetwork.ie to connect, communicate and collaborate with your chef community Supported by Ready Chef H&RT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019

35

Fáilte Ireland Interview

Interview with Jenny De Saulles Having worked with Fáilte Ireland for ten years, most recently as Head of Ireland’s Ancient East, Jenny De Saulles was recently appointed to the position of Director of Sector Development.

It’s a new role within the organisation, leading out a new directorate which will focus on building industry resilience in the face of the challenges that the sector is facing, particularly with uncertainty around Brexit.

“Brexit is a big concern for tourism businesses and increased cost pressures and the overall softening of outbound tourism from our major markets are also having an effect. As the National Tourism Development Authority, our role is to support the development of a ‘world class industry’ in the face of these challenges and this new function will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector. In my new role as Director of Sector Development, I will be looking at the key areas of capability, capacity and quality within the tourism industry to sustainably generate economic activity across the country.” explains Jenny.

While it may be the case that there are challenges afoot, the long-term view remains positive: “The World Tourism Association is forecasting longterm growth in the tourism sector - 3% growth out to 2030,” says Jenny. “The tourism industry is resilient.

There are dips on a regular basis and there’s no doubt that Brexit is causing a dip, but I think what we have learned from previous experience is that we should be building towards the future and understanding what we need in terms of labour supply and product so that we can provide great experiences to visitors that come here.”

This is where the new Sector Development function comes in. Jenny will lead out on the development and implementation of programmes of activity

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around labour supply and skills, market retention and diversification, accommodation and quality assurance, to ensure the tourism industry can meet the changing needs of visitors and continue to grow in a sustainable way.

“In terms of Brexit, we have a full response programme and are focusing on a number of elements to help businesses ‘prepare and diversify’. Through our supports, we are helping businesses to be as efficient as they can be, to improve their sales and marketing skills and to help retain the British and the Northern Irish markets but also break into new markets which have potential for growth.”

“Understanding different markets is very important and as part of the Market Diversification Programme, we look at the different needs of each of those visitor groupings. For example, our China Ready programmes help businesses understand the cultural nuances of the Chinese visitor. It makes a big difference to be spoken to in your native language for example. We’ve seen plenty of examples of that working well – where an attraction or visitor centre introduces a guided tour in French or German, you see growth from those markets because they feel much more welcomed when the experience is delivered in their language.

“Also part of the picture is looking at cost competitiveness because the currency value is having a huge impact;” says Jenny, “For visitors from Britain, for example, we have become a much more expensive destination, almost overnight, so it’s really important that we continue to drive value for money.

“We are also looking at labour supply and re-positioning tourism as a desirable and long-term career choice. At the moment, a poor perception of careers within the hospitality and tourism industry exists. But the fact is, there are some amazing career options in the tourism industry. The list is endless - from managing a hotel, working in an attraction or activity centre, being a tour guide or a chef to marketing and sales roles. Often, people don’t even associate a lot of these exciting roles as being tourism careers, so it’s about getting that message across. We’re working on promotional campaigns in this area to make people aware of the diverse range of roles and great

FĂĄilte Ireland Interview

career opportunities that are out there in the industry. We're also working with students and career guidance counsellors to ensure they understand what the industry can offer as well as third-level institutions to try and align courses with the needs of the industry.�

In the catering sector, the industry is producing quality at the highest level (as evidenced from the increase in Michelin stars recently) but the quantity of chefs coming through our national training system is still a very real problem and one that will certainly be difficult to remedy in the short term: “We are working in partnership with industry and education bodies on the roll out of the National Chef Apprenticeship programme, which is aimed at helping to fill vacancies in the tourism and hospitality sector.

We’re also working with the industry to make this an appealing career choice and retain current staff.�

Ăż

Ăż Ăż

“Dublin isn’t the only area that has potential challenges. We are expecting to see an accommodation pinch in urban areas over the next few years. Last year, we conducted a report on capacity for Cork, Galway and Kilkenny and when you look at the growth forecasts for those cities, they all need an extended supply chain of accommodation. Cork and Galway have a good pipeline of accommodation but what is important is that we monitor the situation and ensure that that pipeline is delivered. Kilkenny, on the other hand, doesn’t have a very strong pipeline so we have been able to highlight Kilkenny as an area for opportunity for the local authority, which will hopefully facilitate the development of accommodation there. We are now looking at Ireland as a whole and forecasting accommodation supply over the next five to six years to identify potential pinch-points so we can flag those early and support the industry to develop new and existing accommodation to facilitate visitors in those areas. The objective is not only to ensure that there is a supply of quality accommodation but that the industry is responding to accommodation trends in the sector to meet the needs of visitor.�

“

I will be looking at the key areas of capability, capacity and quality within the tourism industry to sustainably generate economic activity across the country

“

In terms of accommodation development, Jenny’s new function will be mapping future needs and supporting the industry to meet the changing demands of the visitor.

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37

IFSA news

Announcing The IFSA’s a NEW industry awards programme

We are delighted to launch a brand-new award scheme specifically aimed at highlighting product and service innovation within our Foodservice Industry. A first of its kind in Ireland, The IFSA’S are aimed at showcasing the wealth of innovation and technology which our members continually bring to market each year. Categories have been chosen to take into account innovation across all product sectors from catering equipment, disposables, tableware, services, and of course actual food and beverage products. For 2020 the theme of the inaugural IFSA’s will be – “Innovation for a sustainable future”- a timely focus highlighting the Industry’s response to the very real environmental crisis which we are all facing as suppliers. An independent judging panel with a wealth of knowledge specific to our Industry with review all entries:

CFSP Ireland Programme - Certified Foodservice Professional Programme

- The Professional Qualification that is Specific to the Food Service Industry

​ CFSP is the industry specific professional qualification for the foodservice industry. This is a CPD certified training programme, delivered in partnership with CESA, the UK Catering Equipment Suppliers Association, relevant to all personnel within your foodservice business.

- Dates: 26th March (full day) and 27th March (1/2 day) - Venue: Clayton Hotel, Dublin Airport - Costs: IFSA members €625 / non IFSA members €905 The programme content and benefits are relevant to manufacturers, consultants, distributors and operators. CFSP is an internationally recognised and promoted course that is delivered locally with content relevant to the national market. To successfully achieve the CFSP designation and the benefits that accrue, candidates must also complete an evaluation of experience which covers industry experience and activity within the market. This accrues points to become silver gold or platinum status and accreditees can develop their profile with CFSP throughout their career.

KEY PURPOSE:

» Help train and develop staff » Raise industry recognition and respect » Help you to carry out your job more effectively » Increase confidence with customers » Provide personal satisfaction and achievement To Book: Download Booking Form from www.ifsa.eu.com or contact louise. mcloughlin@ifsa.eu.com

• • •

•

•

MAURICE BERGIN (CHAIR) - Managing Director Green Hospitality BRIAN WALSH - Packaging Technologist, Repak KEITH WARREN - Director CESA - Catering Equipment Suppliers Association UK TONY McGUIGAN - Head of Procurement and F&B Projects, Dalata Hotel Group PLC GUILLAUME OATES - GFD Associates -Independent Foodservice Design Consultants

Winners will be announced at Food and Bev live 2020 in City West on February 4th 2020.

See full criteria at www.ifsa.eu.com

IFSA Family Christmas Movie Screening 2019!

Invite your staff, clients and their families along to this exclusive IFSA Private Screening of this year’s Christmas Blockbuster, FROZEN 2 at the Odeon, Point Village, Dublin.

• SATURDAY, 30th NOVEMEBER 2019 • SUNDAY, 1st DECEMBER 2019

09.30am: Warm Welcome Reception Visit Santa at his grotto, presents for all the children and other entertainment on the day. Meanwhile adults can casually enjoy some tea, coffee and mince pies.

11.00am: Private Screening of FROZEN 2 Tickets from €10 Adult and €8 Children for IFSA Members and €15 Adult & €10 for Children for non-members.

Book your tickets today at www.ifsa.eu.com/events. Places are limited at this extremely popular annual event so be sure to book early!

Reach for the Stars and take your business to the next level with Tork

Reach for the Stars is the Tork platform to share insight, inspiration and tools to help you take your business -- and reviews -- to the next level. With our knowledge, and a full offer across kitchen, dining and washroom areas, we can help you improve the overall experience for guests and staff.

Our Reach for the Stars report will have new content published throughout the year on topics relevant to trends and challenges in the restaurant industry. We start off with a subject that is quickly becoming a driving principle across all markets: sustainability. Today, sustainability is a top priority for businesses all around the globe. This is crucial since they depend on attracting two groups of people: employees and consumers. This means that adopting sustainable practices is a success factor no company will want to avoid.

While there are many ways that you can be more sustainable, in this report we focus on the use of packaging and single-use items, as this is a hot topic in the current climate debate as well as an important factor for consumers in their food choices. As a consequence, cafés, restaurants and bars are starting to embrace the principles of the three R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle – to reduce their carbon footprint.

Learn more, and download the report here: www.tork.ie/torksolutions/reach-for-the-stars

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IFSA news

Sustainability Spotlight

Reduce Your Glass Bottle Disposal Costs A PEL Waste Reduction Equipment glass bottle crusher creates space, reduces labour and saves on overall waste glass disposal costs. There are five products available each of which reduces the volume of waste glass bottles by 80%. The BB01 ‘Baby Jaws’ is an underthe-counter machine and allows staff to crush waste glass bottles as they are poured or returned from the floor. The BB09 ‘Mighty Jaws’ also sits in the bar area and offers a larger waste glass storage capacity than the BB01. Both these glass crushers allow staff to prioritise customer service over managing waste glass bottles in the bar area.

The BB03 ‘Jaws’ and BB04 and BB06 ‘Mega Jaws’ are ideal for any bar, restaurant, hotel or business producing waste glass bottles in the course of their business and require a solution to reduce the disposal costs of this waste glass. These high-capacity bottle crushers are typically located ‘back-of-house’, will create space by reducing the number of bins required for storing waste glass & cut the overall costs of managing waste glass bottles.

All crushed glass (glass cullet) produced by the PEL bottle crushers is 100% recyclable; the machines are single person operated; require single phase 220V/50Hz electricity and are ready for use once installed. All machines are available under rental and purchase terms and PEL Waste Reduction Equipment offer a no-conditions waste management assessment as part of our service.

Call PEL Waste Reduction Equipment on 094 936 6923 for more details.

Chicks of the trade! Free-range ‘Farmers to Market’ secures listing with Dalata group On the 15th October Irish free-range chicken producers ‘Farmers to Market’ announced details of a new foodservice business listing with Dalata, Ireland’s largest hotel operator which features hotels such as The Maldron and Clayton Hotel groups in its portfolio.

The trade deal, that originated at Bord Bia’s Trade Breakfast at Bloom in June 2019, sees Farmers to Pictured are (L-R) – Peter Duggan (Bord Bia) – Mathew O’Gorman (Manor Farm Poultry) – Charles Smith (Farmers to Market) – Tony McGuigan (Head of Procurement Dalata Hotel Group) Market Free-Range Chicken Burgers listed – Darina Brennan (Group Executive Chef Dalata Hotel Group) on bar menus in 35 Maldron and Clayton hotels on the island of Ireland. Farmers to Market, founded by brothers Charles and John Smith in 1991, is a family-run business that is passionate about providing premium free-range chickens to market. They were the first farmers in Ireland to receive a licence from the Department of Agriculture to produce free range chicken in 1991 and at the same time formed a processing partnership with Irelands leading poultry producer, Manor Farm.

Tony McGuigan, Head of Procurement, Dalata Group said, “At Dalata, we have the largest hotel portfolio within the Republic of Ireland and customer needs are at the heart of our business model. Providing consistently excellent food choices at all of our hotels is a top priority for us, and as such we were delighted to sign a deal with Farmers to Market. Their free-range chicken burgers and boneless chicken thighs will be available in more than 30 of our hotels throughout Ireland and we are confident that the strong provenance and quality of the product will really resonate with our guests from Ireland and overseas.”

Speaking about the business deal, co-founder Charles Smith said,: “We are delighted to announce our listing with the Dalata Group’s Clayton & Maldron Hotels as it signals continued support of quality Irish produce, and is a positive marker for the future of our farm. It is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our free-range offering to guests travelling from many locations and acknowledges a continued consumer interest in higher-welfare food options”.

Dawn Meats Foodservice

is the supplier of choice for a large number of Ireland’s leading foodservice brands, hotels, restaurants and catering outlets. We lead by example, offering exceptional customer service, product quality and choice, with a professional team of meat specialists who are passionate about what they do.

A division of one of Ireland’s largest family owned Agri-Food companies which currently employs more than 7,200 people across 10 countries and supplying more than 50 markets worldwide, Dawn Meats source from more than 20,000 Irish farm families annually. As a result, we enjoy the benefits of scale and offer substantial choice and product quality to our customers.

Our purpose is “Providing consistent quality meat products from sustainable sources, to support our rural communities, human health and natures eco-system” and we partner with customers who demand a more sustainable supply chain. We have a stated ambition “to be Europe’s most sustainable meat company” and with this comes an obligation to build a low carbon business model.

Competition and choice are ever growing in terms of food trends and customer lifestyles and we continue to grow our business through active participation in Bord Bia’s Origin Green program. Over many years of working with our skilled craft butchers and listening to suppliers and customers, we have recognised that collaboration and teamwork are key to achieving business success.

We are eager to work closely with you to understand your requirements and tailor our range of products to your individual needs and expectations.

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39

Technology

VDA's

commitment in Ireland

It may have been a fortuitous twist of fate that first brought Warren Edwards to Ireland, resulting in him being offered a temporary contract to run Italian hotel services company VDA. There was, however, nothing haphazard in the way the cutting-edge telecommunications provider made its mark on the hotel industry in Ireland and all over the world.

The company began in Pordenone, Italy, back in 1979. Early in 1980, they started manufacturing Guest Room Controls for hotels. With the company now looking forward to celebrating 40 years of operation in 2020, the individual operating companies have combined to become the “Next Generation VDA Group”, with offices in Italy, UK, Ireland, Middle East and Asia.

It takes a very switched-on attitude to keep up with the lightning pace of development in today’s technological world, but VDA have not only managed to keep up, but to remain to the forefront and even setting the standards for others to try and keep pace in the world of guest-room automation technology.

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Technology

“In our latest wireless room controls installed in the MGM Grand Hotel in Macau,” says Warren, “we have thousands of switches all talking to each other in the rooms and giving the guest control of the room, using the Vitrum Glass Switches and our mobile app.

“VDA have always had the approach to the hotel industry where we pride ourselves on listening to the needs of the designers, general managers, with being in a position to fulfil the requirements of individual properties. We can achieve this as we have our own R&D department in Italy, where we can adapt to ever-changing guest experiences: For example, Bluetooth access control where the guest can go directly to the room and gain access without even going to reception to check in, and new technologies are emerging where some hotels are adopting voice-activated TV and room controls. We have already achieved this functionality in one of our new installations in the JA Lake Hotel in UAE.” Warren first came to Ireland at a time when he was one of the senior directors of the British media group Granada. After a two-and-a-half-year stint of running a hotel and theme park following a management buy-out, he moved to Ireland with a view to a semi-retirement.

“I was only in the country three months when VDA asked me come on board as a consultant for a limited period and, lo and behold, I’m still here!”

VDA are now approaching the 17-year mark in Ireland and have become a very well established brand in the hotel industry with their installed base, encompassing services that range from the supply of televisions and interactive services to access control and in-room automation. They are in over 100 hotels up and down the country, all of whose up-to-the-minute facilities are supported by their own Irish-based engineers.

“We have a great team over here,” says Warren, “with some very technical professional engineers, whose skills range from covering simple co-axial TV systems right up to the latest interactive software development.”

The coming year is going to see a number of new developments too – some of which are being kept under wraps for the moment and some of which can be fully revealed, as Warren explains:

“We have an exciting start to 2020 with several new hotels opening with our products. These include the New Hard Rock Hotel in Dublin, as well as a new hotel to be operated by Moran Hotels called The Wren. I will have more information on what’s being installed to follow, once the hotels open early next year as we don’t want to spoil the surprise awaiting the guests’ arrival.”

The most telling part of the success story, however, is the fact that so many of VDA’s original clients have kept faith with the company and have evolved along with them: “What is most satisfying to our team is when we have hotels where we installed our first systems with bulky CRT TV’s before the introduction of flat screen TV’s way back in 2003, and have retained the clients, with some hotels on their 4th upgrade. This shows VDA’s commitment to our hotels that we are proud to serve showing our longevity in the hospitality sector.

“We are looking forward to the next year where we already have four new hotel openings,” says Warren. “Together with upgrades, we will have over 1,200 rooms to install starting in 2020. It will ensure a great start to the year ahead.”

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Fáilte Ireland

Fáilte Ireland unveils its 2020 Plans that will sustain tourism Region by Region All year-round €6m Domestic and Northern Ireland Marketing Campaign €12million Capital Investment to open 25 improved visitor attractions and activities 20+ Local Visitor Experience Development Plans New Sector Development Division to drive more Brexit and Business Supports €500,000 Tourism Careers Promotion Campaign Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, recently unveiled its 2020 work plans at a major industry event at Croke Park in front of an audience of more than 600 representatives from across the tourism sector.

In his address at the launch, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross T.D. welcomed Fáilte Ireland’s plans for 2020.

“Tourism is an industry that generates €7.5billion in revenue and supports the employment of 260,000 people. Fáilte Ireland’s action plans for 2020 show a robustness and determination to help the industry maintain this significant level of economic activity in challenging times. I am confident the plans and initiatives will provide an assurance to the sector that where growth opportunities exist, they will be exploited,” added Minister Ross.

Activating a new €6million domestic and Northern Ireland marketing campaign; capital investment that will see 25 new and enhanced visitor attractions and activities open; ramping up tourism development plans involving local communities and stakeholders; the establishment of a new sector development division in Fáilte Ireland to drive more Brexit and business supports and the promotion of careers in the tourism sector are just some of the key initiatives Fáilte Ireland will undertake next year to support the tourism industry.

According to Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly, the 2020 plans are about “helping the industry across the regions to be Brexit ready while developing and supporting a tourism sector that offers strength and sustainability to our economy next year.”

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Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin T.D. stated:

“The comprehensive plans launched today by Fáilte Ireland quite rightly focus on supporting tourism region by region.

With Government support through Project Ireland 2040, Fáilte Ireland can continue to invest next year in visitor attractions and activities that will spread tourist activity across the regions and across all seasons.”

Announcing Fáilte Ireland’s 2020 Action Plans, Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland, said: “2019 has been a much more mixed year for the tourism industry and as we face into 2020, we’re looking at a challenging year. Our latest research* shows that business sentiment is down, fuelled by rising costs and low-priced competition in the sector. More than half of tourism businesses around the country have seen a decline in business from Britain and Northern Ireland but, while the threats are real, so too are the opportunities.”

“Fáilte Ireland’s focus next year is on helping to sustain and support the tourism industry region by region. In 2020, through the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 programme, we will be investing over €12 million to develop new and improved visitor attractions and activities for our visitors. There is a quiet transformation underway in the experiences we offer our visitors and in 2020, we will see a further 25 enhanced attractions open. Through a €6million targeted domestic and Northern Ireland marketing campaign using world class creatives, we will be telling all the people on our island about these great experiences through our new 2020 home holidays campaign called ‘Keep Discovering’.”

Fáilte Ireland

“With a new directorate of Sector Development established within Fáilte Ireland to drive the long-term development of the tourism sector and, as part of the Government’s Getting Ireland Brexit Ready programme, we will be stepping up our business supports and training programmes for the industry. We will also fund a campaign promoting tourism careers to help increase the awareness of students and their parents about the varied and viable career opportunities in tourism. This campaign will help to attract the volume and quality of talent required to sustain growth. Our plans are about building an Ireland where every part of the country is included and the natural inclination of our people to welcome others is translated into jobs and opportunities.”

Fáilte Ireland has set out five key actions planned for 2020 which will leverage all growth opportunities and help the industry to overcome the challenges ahead. These are:

• €6million for a new Domestic and Northern Ireland Marketing Campaign to encourage short break domestic trips

• €12million capital investment for 25 new and enhanced visitor attractions and activities.

• Increased Visitor Experience Development Plans in the regions – working with local stakeholders, tourism businesses and communities, shared long-term tourism plans will be developed to drive visitor numbers to lesser known areas and attractions.

• New Sector Development division in Fáilte Ireland focusing on Brexit and Business supports and training.

• Campaign promoting Tourism Careers - to shift perceptions and attract the volume and quality of talent required to sustain growth, Fáilte Ireland will invest €500,000 on a new careers promotion campaign starting in January 2020. A digital hub will be created that will act as a one stop shop for information on courses and careers in Tourism and Hospitality.

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43

Guest Experience

Guestline’s Guide to Futureproofing your hotel - Demand More!

By introducing Guestline to their properties, many hoteliers now have the freedom to tailor the experiences that work for their guests, allowing them to stand out in an increasingly crowded accommodation marketplace.

Here Clio O’Gara discusses the changing face of hospitality and why mature and ‘demanding’ hoteliers are set to futureproof their business.

Q – Guestline has come a long way since its market entry to Ireland – what’s your secret?

“

“

By introducing Guestline to their properties, many hoteliers now have the freedom to tailor the experiences that work for their guests, allowing them to stand out in an increasingly crowded accommodation marketplace.

It’s been three years since Guestline entered the Irish market and they are now delivering the brand’s market leading Rezlynx PMS (property management system) to over 80 properties across the country. With a head office in Dublin City Centre and led by Country Manager and Irish hospitality expert, Clio O’Gara, Guestline’s success is attributed to how the brand is growing with and responding to market changes, the demands of hoteliers, its relationships with like-minded partners and new product developments.

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CLIO – When Guestline entered the market in 2017, server based Legacy PMS had the market share in Ireland. The idea of a cloud-based PMS was daunting to hoteliers. There was a lot of negative mindsets around the perceived upheaval associated with switching PMS providers – the cost, downtimes, employee training etc.

However, we took the step to spend our time talking to and educating hoteliers on the benefits of such switch, the efficiencies of a cloud-based server and by delivering an open API platform, the many advantages Guestline partners bring to the hotel and guest journey.

Our clients have never looked back and now it’s the demanded choice of future thinking hoteliers.

Q – What do you think is one of the biggest issues facing the hospitality industry in 2019?

CLIO – Whilst there is a lot of uncertainty in the market with Brexit, without a doubt the biggest issue facing hoteliers is the recruitment and retention of staff. As cloud-based technology introduces automated process, the removal of mundane admin now frees up staff to spend more time with the guest and offers them the opportunity to strengthen and expand their roles with training. At Guestline, we believe adequate and ongoing training gives employees the confidence they need to perform their jobs well. As ‘Blended training’ becomes the new buzz word, many hotels have implemented digital training solutions across their teams, which for our clients, includes our new Guestline University e-learning platform. This platform has been developed to provide hoteliers with remote and onthe-go accessible product training to equip them with an up-to-the-minute understanding of the various functionalities and benefits of the portfolio – ideal during the onboarding process, when new features are released and when there are new starters at the hotel. It is all about identifying your team’s capacity to consume information and offering them the tools to access this training when they are ready to consume it.

Guest Experience

Q – How can hoteliers adopt to the ever-changing behaviours of the guest?

CLIO – Meeting the digital demands of guests is key. By watching and learning from other industries i.e. Retail and Airline, hoteliers have become better educated to guest trends and are now beginning to demand the seamless integration of all digital tools from reputation management to digital marketing and other guest communications.

With our open API platform, we integrate with software solutions such as GuestRevu to ensure communications before, during and after the guest stay are smart and targeted to the persona of the guest. We also partner with UpsellGuru to offer hotel’s solutions to drive pre-stay revenues. In addition, 2019 was the year many hotels introduced the idea of self-check-in and check-out kiosks, re-defining the standards of the guest experience, as well as increasing front office staff efficiencies, extended check-in hours and a decrease in recruitment costs.

Q – Security was a hot topic this year, how do you address the concerns of hoteliers?

CLIO – With the arrival of GDPR in 2018, there was an element of fear within the industry as hoteliers rallied to educate themselves and identify ways to protect their data. This gave a real boost to the ‘cloud’ with its popularity rising thanks to its safer and more cost-effective housing of guest data. This, coupled with PCI compliance regulations, tokenised credit cards were new to market, hoteliers were notably concerned, and questions were being asked i.e. how do we access the credit card details? what about charge backs? how do we protect our guest data? etc. Fears we were able to address thanks to Guestline’s secure payment gateways through our Rezlynx PMS and Channel Manager, both with level 1 PCI compliance, giving owners peace of mind that all card payments are stored safely and securely.

All in all, hoteliers are better educated, are slowly becoming more demanding of their providers and the services and products on offer. A priority at Guestline is to save hoteliers time, time that is better spent in front of and engaging with the guest. Thanks to our proven return on investment calculator, we can provide hoteliers with a return across such KPI’s as lower cost of ownership, labour efficiencies, a better understanding of the guest journey and above all first-class customer service.

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Environmental

Hugh Jordan

leads the Way in Sustainable Irish Solutions for the Hotel Guest Experience There are many challenges facing the hotel industry at the moment, from vat rates and Brexit to staffing shortages. The area of sustainability has recently emerged as a major talking point, with hotels coming under pressure to look for solutions to improve their green footprint.

The name Hugh Jordan is synonymous with the Irish hospitality industry, and is best known as a one stop shop for catering supplies. John Broderick is Product Specialist for Guest Supplies at Hugh Jordan, and has worked with the company for almost two years, having come on board to develop the category.

“In our business everything is focused on the guest experience”, says John. “We provide all of the products to make that experience a quality one from individual toiletries and accessories (such as dental kits, shower caps and shoe shines) to minibars, safes, ironing boards and most importantly a good duvet and comfy pillow for a great night’s sleep!”

As an industry, the hotel sector is coming under increasing pressure to become as sustainable as possible. John explains what Hugh Jordan is doing to help its hotel customers manage that challenge: “Our customers need a solution that fits their needs while achieving the sustainability goal. That is why in conjunction with key suppliers and customers we have developed a number of different approaches that our customers can work with to meet the sustainability challenge. These include moving from individual use bottles to dispenser systems, joining a recycling and re-use programme, and rethinking liquid shampoos and washes”.

Hugh Jordan has partnered with GreenHospitality.ie, the Hospitality, Travel and Tourism resource for Sustainable and Responsible Tourism in Ireland.

GreenHospitality.ie is the brand ambassador in Ireland for Clean the World, an international social programme whose mission is to collect and recycle soap and toiletries discarded

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Environmental every day by the hospitality industry and reuse them to create new soaps and hygiene kit for vulnerable populations around the world thus tacking the problem of hygiene related illnesses. Collected plastic bottles and caps are shredded and recycled into new plastic products thus completing the full re-use loop.

One of the key objectives set by Hugh Jordan for John Broderick was to develop partnerships with indigenous Irish brands and work with them on sustainability. One of the first brands that he has linked with is Rí Na Mara, a family owned seaweed based cosmetics range from Connemara and together they have jointly developed a hospitality range of toiletries, which include shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion and soap.

Breaffy House Resort in Castlebar, Co. Mayo is one of the first hotels in the country to feature Rí Na Mara. As John explains, “When we introduced the hotel to the Rí Na Mara range, they wanted to offer it in bedrooms. We’re delighted to say that the hotel has embraced the new range fully, and they are now also looking at using Rí Na Mara retail products in their spa, as well as selling the products at reception in the hotel.”

a seaweed shampoo bar, avocado body wash bar, oat silk conditioner bar, rose clay soap and a body lotion bar.

“We’re very excited to work with Janni Bars”, says Broderick. “It’s another great Irish company, and we now have the first order of Janni Bars being dispatched to The Kingsley Hotel in Cork for 32 of their suites. In addition, their retail products are also going to be sold at The Kingsley Hotel. It’s a quality Irish product, ideal for hotels to promote their support of Irish suppliers while achieving their sustainability goals!”

The message from Hugh Jordan is clear – the sustainability challenge is one they have a range of solutions for, and can help hotels turn that challenge into an opportunity to make the move to a more sustainable business.

If you would like to know more about the range of sustainability solutions available through Hugh Jordan contact john.broderick@hughjordan.com

He continues: “On the sustainability front, Breaffy House Resort were initially looking at putting bulk fill dispensers onto the walls in guest bathrooms, but weren’t too keen to do this due to cross contamination issues and the challenges for house-keeping staff. As a result, Hugh Jordan introduced the hotel to the Clean the World programme, and Breaffy House Resort has now signed up with the initiative to provide guests with a sustainable, Irish experience.”

As well as developing dispenser based solutions Hugh Jordan are also developing a CO2 neutral product in a replaceable cartridge made from 100% post-consumer recycled PET as a move away from individual bottles.

An even more exciting development is the move away from liquid shampoos and body wash to a ‘bar’ based format. Few people realise that prior to the invention of liquid shampoo in 1927 by Hans Schwarzkopf (whose name became a wellknown brand) shampoo was manufactured in a paste or solid bar format. It is fitting therefore that most recently, Hugh Jordan has announced a new exclusive partnership with Janni Bars to produce an all-natural alternative to individual liquid toiletries.

Produced in Kildare, Janni Bars are a handmade, chemical free, 100% natural product in in individual sizes with fully compostable packaging. The Janni Bars hotel range includes

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Chef of the Year

Euro-Toques

Young Chef of the Year This year’s winner is

s n i l l u M e n n i á Gr

The Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year competition presented by La Rousse Foods held the contest finals recently, in the professional kitchens of Dublin Cookery School in Blackrock and this year’s winner is Gráinne Mullins, a young chef mentored by Daniel Africano.

Announced at a gala dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin, Gráinne Mullins won the Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year 2019 competition after a final skills test with a very specific brief for the last eight remaining contestants.

The eight Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year 2019 finalists were requested to devise two original dishes — one a starter or dessert using Irish buttermilk and/ or Jersey milk and Irish honey, the second a main course using a whole chicken from Regan Organic Farm. Finalists James Dobson (Potager), Attila Galambos (Aniar), Daniel Hannigan (Mr S.), Karan Mittal (Ananda),

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Gráinne Mullins (Lignum), Gareth O’Brien (Bastible), Matthew Stafford (The Greenhouse) and Alison Tierney (Dax) each created an imaginative and sophisticated series of dishes for the judges to taste, discuss and score.

At the finals, judges watched the competitors at work, tasted and tested, and made a decision as to which of the eight of these young talents became overall winner of this competitive adventure. Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year finalists were expected to use their creativity and demonstrate their cooking skills, reflecting a modern approach to the preservation of Irish culinary heritage.

To produce their two innovative, interesting and accomplished dishes the young chefs had 2.5 hours of focused cooking and each of them was marked under three separate headings – execution and work practice, taste and flavour, and presentation. With buttermilk and Jersey milk supplied

by The Village Dairy, the young chefs were tasked with choosing their own honey, reflecting the Euro-Toques philosophy of local, artisanal and seasonal. The main course chicken came from Regan Organic Farm and the finalists were requested to use as much of the whole bird as possible, focusing on different cuts and techniques.

The Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year candidates cooked their two dishes each for four guest judges – chefs Michel Roux Jnr, Margot Janse, Paul Flynn and Gareth Mullins, with Kwanghi Chan running the kitchen. Each of

Chef of the Year

the young chefs worked hard to fulfill these two challenges, testing all the skills essential in a kitchen from knife skills and palate to creativity, ability to plate, cooking, timing, seasoning, technique and understanding of raw ingredients.

Gráinne Mullins of Lignum restaurant mentored by chef Daniel Africano won the overall Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year 2019 competition with a main course of chicken soup, ceaile and offal tartlet and a dessert of carrageen pudding, impressing the judges with their flair, imagination and skill in execution.

The Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year competition 2019 started in July and guided the young chefs through a culinary journey that culminated with the final and gala dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel.

The gala dinner featured canapés using Euro-toques Food Award-winning Irish ingredients and courses created by the mentor kitchens of some of the finalists, including starters from Bastible, a fish course created by Aniar, a meat course from Potager in Skerries and desserts from The Greenhouse.

Hosted by MCs Domini Kemp and Paul Flynn, guest chef Michel Roux Jnr announced this year’s Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year, calling Gráinne to the stage to receive their trophy.

The Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year competition presented by La Rousse Foods is Ireland’s premier culinary competition celebrating Ireland’s best emerging culinary

talent. Increasingly focused on education, together with presenting partner La Rousse Foods, Euro-Toques Ireland developed a programme for this year’s competition that included workshops, demos, visits to suppliers and culinary activities aimed at mentoring and developing the exciting new Irish culinary talent. Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year finalists participated in Food on the Edge 2019 and enjoyed a series of masterclasses and workshops with guest chef judges Anna Haugh and Shauna Froydenlund, chef Kevin Burke, former Head Chef of the Ninth in London and Kevin Thornton. They also enjoyed an immersive day at Aimsir with Jordan and Majken Bailey and an educational trip abroad to Italy.

Speaking at the gala dinner and final announcement in the intercontinental Manuela Spinelli, Secretary General of Eurotoques Ireland said, “On behalf of all the Euro-toques Ireland team I would like to congratulate Gráinne on winning Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year 2019. We have had a fantastic contest full of great flavours and a serious demonstration of skill, and the calibre of our finalists and our winner means the future of Irish food is in excellent hands.”

Open to professional chefs under the age of 26, the competition has a proven track record in discovering exceptional young talent, giving all the young chefs who have taken part this contest a unique experience providing recognition throughout Ireland and beyond, and acting as a prestigious stepping-stone in their culinary career.

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Education

‘A Lot Done

- More to Do’

Frank Corr evaluates Dublin Forty years have passed since Liam Reilly of ‘Bagatelle’ first sang: I remember that summer in Dublin, and the Liffey as it stank like hell, And the young people walking on Grafton street, and everyone looking so well.

Over those four years Baile Atha Cliath has, in many respects changed utterly and in others- not at all.

Dublin is not just the capital of Ireland- it is also the nation’s biggest, most popular and most profitable visitor destination. Seven out of every ten visitors to this country arrive in Dublin and less than a third of these, venture outside of the city.

Last year (2018) the city welcomed a record 6.4m overseas visitors- an increase of 8% on 2017. This achievement was driven by double digit growth from North America and consistent growth from European markets.

These overseas tourists are in addition to the ‘people from the country’, who travel up on business, for concerts, festivals and sports events. In 2018, visitors contributed €2.2bn to the city’s economy and supported 68,000 jobs.

Yet Dublin is far from being a ‘finished product’ in terms of the visitor experience which it offers. The top third of its main boulevard is semi-derelict, with a proliferation of beggars, drug users and vacant building sites. Traffic jams are a frequent occurrence, accommodation rates are among the highest in Europeand you can’t get a train to the Airport.

These are however blights on an otherwise pleasant tourism landscape and visitor reaction to the city remains positive, with complaints centering around high prices and petty crime- problems which exist in the vast majority of capital cities.

Dublin enjoys a unique location- a thriving modern city, nestling between the Irish Sea and the Wicklow and Dublin hills. The expanse of the Phoenix Park, the coastline dotted with beaches, the golf links, zoo and racecourse and the many public open spaces enable visitors to slip from urban to pastoral and, in the process, enjoy totally different and often unexpected experiences.

So, in these days of exam results, how does our ‘Dear Darling Dublin’ score ?

Access

Despite recent cancellations of some flights from China and North America, Dublin has never been more accessible by air, with scores of airlines providing direct links from North America, Europe and Asia.

Getting into the city remains a problem and there is a sore need for a rail link.

In the city itself the cross-city LUAS is a major improvement as are the Port Tunnel, cycle lanes, bike and car-by-the-hour hire and refurbished train stations.

Buses must however pick their way through a congested city centre.

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Tourism

City Centre

O’Connell Street, north of the GPO reflects poorly on the city. The GPO Plaza has matured but is blighted by the Clerys building site, the still vacant Carlton site, low-end retailing and fast food stores and the proximity of drug treatment clinics.

The postponement of the proposed Parnell Square Plaza is also disappointing.

The Quays now look a lot better with the boardwalk, the refurbishment of buildings and the river taxi, but the Liffey still stinks at low tide and the quays are badly congested with traffic.

Temple Bar, home of the €8 pint, has settled down with some new restaurants and bars, while the South William Street / Camden Street area has blossomed into a socialising district.

A decision on the planned College Green plaza is awaited, but balancing the demands of transport, retailing and pedestrians will not be easy.

Attractions

With 1.7m visitors annually, the Guinness Storehouse is a major international attraction with tours of distilleries now offering a second layer of drink-related experiences. Trinity College remains a huge draw for visitors and , apart from the ‘Long Library’, it is free, as is the newly refurbished National Gallery.

EPIC in the IFSC is also a world-class attraction. A number of new smaller attractions (mostly commercial) have added variety including the ‘Little Museum of Dublin’, the ‘Leprechaun Museum’, ‘The Vaults’, ‘Henrietta Street’ and others. An important addition this year is the Museum of Literature Ireland. Named after James Joyce’s most famous female character, Molly Bloom, MoLI, combines modern interactive exhibitions and rare literary collections, set in one of Dublin’s most spectacular historic houses on St. Stephen’s Green.

Accommodation

Dublin currently has 57,200 guestrooms spread across hotels, guesthouses, b and bs and hostels. The city can therefore accommodate around 120,000 visitors at any one time (more if Air BnB rooms are included). The number is however insufficient and despite the addition of 3,000 new rooms between 2018 and

2021, a shortage is likely at peak times. Rooms shortage results in higher rates, which is good for accommodation providers, but is a long-term threat to the city’s appeal to visitors. Hotel rooms are required not just for holidaymakers, but for convention delegates and business visitors who are highly attractive in terms of their average spend. Rooms availability which would drive rates downwards is unlikely in the foreseeable future.

Pubs Dining and Culture

Dublin has 1,000 restaurants and 750 pubs. Dining at all levels is on offer across a wide range of cuisines. Prices are as high as in most capital cities, but are curtailed by intense competition.

The city has 27 theatres, but only the Bord Gais Energy Theatre and the 3 Arena are of international standard. As the National Theatre, The Abbey is tired and tatty and is crying out for re-development. The long-promised refurbishment of the National Concert Hall has yet to happen while the Olympia needs urgent investment. Several small suburban theatres are modern and attractive, largely serving local communities. A welcome addition has been outdoor concerts in public parks like Marley and Iveagh Gardens.

Dublin also has some new Festivals which have attracted visitors, including Bram Stoker and New Year, although the Dublin Theatre Festival seems to have faded somewhat in recent years.

Inclusion

The most welcome development in terms of visitors is that Dublin is now a City of Inclusion. The same-sex marriage referendum and the Pride movement are symbolic of a welcoming of people of all nationalities and sexual orientation. As I write, Dublin has been named ‘6th Most Friendly in the World’ – and that more than anything else is the real secret of its success.

Grade

Much planning, creativity and investment has gone into developing Dublin as a world-class visitor destination. The work however is by no means complete.

In the words of Bertie Ahern, the consummate ‘Dub’, when seeking reelection: ‘A Lot Done- More to Do’

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Revenue

Right Revenue –

supporting all of your revenue decisions

Revenue Management doesn’t need to be scary or overwhelming, nor does it need to be overcomplicated or daunting. Supporting your revenue decisions and mentoring you through change is the ethos of Right Revenue.

Who we are – Right Revenue was developed by

Adrienne Hanna after 15 years experience as a Revenue Manager. Still actively working with hotels and consulting on ‘all things revenue’, Adrienne was keen to build a system which solved a problem in an industry that she was passionate about. The challenge was to design a software solution that took the myth out of revenue management and simply presented data and forecasted demand along with rate recommendations, all within a visual and easy to use revenue solution.

Our vision – We understand that one of the biggest problems we all face is our industries difficulty to present all relevant data in one place. Our vision is to solve that problem by ensuring you have all the relevant internal data (how your own hotel is performing) as well as all the external influences that influence business decisions, all in one business dashboard. We aim to make your job as straightforward as possible, and to save you a heap of time as well.

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What we do – We interface with your Property Management

System and multiple external providers to ensure all of the data that you need to make a decision on revenue is presented in one simple dashboard. Your data is updated in real time, ensuring that you always have the correct information at hand. Every day we run multiple layers of machine learning to analyse your trends and booking patterns; this in turn allows us to make recommendations on rate strategy, which in turn will drive profit straight to your bottom line.

How it works – Decisions on what rate to sell should never be based solely on Business on the Books, nor should they ever be based solely on what your competitors are selling at. At Right Revenue we look at several factors including: how many rooms you currently have sold, how that business is made up, and if it is behaving and following normal patterns for that day by room type/segment/source/channel/ market etc. We take hundreds of data points into consideration which we then analyse to present the very best sales strategy for that day. Our goal of course is to add revenue straight to your bottom line.

What does that mean exactly? – Clever revenue management does not focus solely on the rate being offered to sell on a particular day, instead clever revenue management actually understands Total Revenue. We don’t just look at a selling rate of the day, but also which segments or room types (as examples) are working for you, which have the potential to be more profitable and what strategies you need to put in place to hit specific targets.

Revenue

It is not just about the bottom line – We all know that

rates are becoming more and more fluid and the days of contracted or negotiated rates are potentially coming to an end. We understand that your selling price is only one part of the jigsaw. Right Revenue considers multiple factors: cost of sale, OTA and GDS commission, incremental spend, even risk of cancellation. All these factors impact your profitability and whilst they are time consuming and complicated to track and analyse manually, Right Revenue does all of that for you – with a simple click of a button…

That is starting to sound complicated – We promise

it isn’t… Let us work on the ‘smarts’ so you can do the ‘strategy’. We all know that understanding unconstrained demand (when you have more demand than you cope with) is important and we know that over forecasting can lead to setting rates too high, whilst under forecasting can mean you fill with low rates and become busy fools. With Right Revenue, we have all of that under control. We run all the algorithms for you and simply present the very best rate strategy for your property.

Where do you start with data? – At Right Revenue the

words ‘big data’ make us very uncomfortable and instead we concentrate on the term ‘useful data’. We understand what KPI’s you need to track (as we are still working Revenue Managers) and therefore know exactly what information is important to you. We extract two years of historical data (or more if you would like) and infinity forward – this way we have good clean data to start analysing from day one.

What if I don’t have two years of historical data? – Don’t worry, we understand what ‘persona’ you have as a hotel. For example: are you a city centre hotel with lots of corporate business and an aggressive pick-up close to date of arrival? Or are you a stunning resort hotel with a spa and lots of wonderful leisure guests? If you don’t have two years of data, don’t worry, we understand exactly who you are and we can work with you to refine that persona based on your exact needs.

What external data can I rely on? – At Right Revenue, we like to give you as much external data as possible so that you can make an informed decision on rate. For example, we can

tell what your competitors selling strategy is, how much demand your location is actually experiencing, what events are happening in your area, how your property is bench-marking against competitors – even down to the weather! Everything you need to consider is presented on your own bespoke dashboard.

Will this replace me? - Absolutely not! We have designed Right Revenue around the persona of an ‘Also Revenue Manager’. We understand that, for a lot of our customers, having a full time Revenue Manager is a wonderful luxury. Our system is built around users that have other jobs, for example you might be a Reservations Manager, Front Office Manager or even General Manager. However, if you are a Revenue Manager, we also provide all the chunky reporting and analysis that you will need – right at your fingertips. We want to support all of your revenue decisions and automate as much as possible. We want to take the hard work out of analysing dozens of pieces of information, but we will not replace the element that is, after all, the most crucial influence in making profit – and that is you!

All of that is great, but what will this cost? At Right

Revenue we are very open about our pricing so please get in touch for a quote. If you are a single property or part of a group, we promise we will do our very best for you. But the bottom line is that we are adding revenue straight to your bottom line from day one. Most of our hotels are experiencing double digit growth and when you add that to how much time you and your team will save, we believe that our solution is simply that – a solution to your revenue strategy – simple!

Our promise to you – We do not see ourselves as a “supplier”,

instead we see ourselves as a “partner”. We are a team of Revenue Managers (with some clever software people developing the system) but first and foremost, we are Revenue nerds (nice ones) who want to support you through growth. We hope that we have the chance to go on this journey with you.

If you would like more information, please contact ask@rightrevenue.co.uk or call +44 28 9099 8866 Right Revenue helps independent hotels makes dynamic price decisions and grow revenue through smart technology, useful data and consultative mentoring.

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AVEA

Ireland’s Visitor Attractions

Experiencing 10% Slowdown in 2019

• 2018 AVEA member survey records 22.6 million

visitors to key attractions in Ireland contributing €489 million in revenues to the Irish economy, while employing 4,000 people in local communities across the country

• AVEA calls for government support for this sector to combat Brexit, insurance premium concerns and international market competitiveness • Responsible Tourism Initiative launched to encourage sector sustainability

AVEA – Association of Visitor Experience and Attractions - is an all-island body representing the Visitor Attractions Sector of the Tourism Industry. AVEA represents and provides advocacy for members to Government, tourism agencies, media and the tourism industry. Networking amongst the members is central to the association’s objectives to enable the organisation to provide supports in training, benchmarking and advocacy initiatives to assist our members continually improve the visitor experience.

More on AVEA can be found on www.avea.ie.

The AVEA (Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions) National Conference 2019 took place recently and was opened by Paul Carty, AVEA Chairman and Managing Director, Diageo Irish Brand Homes. The theme of the conference, which took place in Thomond Park, Limerick was ‘Ireland’s VEA Sector – Vibrant, Evolving and Agile’. Over the two days, delegates heard from keynote speaker James Bailey, Marketing Director, Longleat House & Safari Park, entrepreneur and broadcaster Bobby Kerr, as well as a host of other panellists as the challenges and opportunities facing the sector were discussed and debated.

In his opening address, Paul Carty outlined the importance of the VEA industry and its contribution to the Irish economy: “Our recently published Annual Members Survey showed that 2018 was a record year for Irish tourism. Our members, who employ nearly 4,000 people nationwide, welcomed 22.6 million visitors and generated €489 million in revenue, much of which flows into local economies. However, the survey also highlights significant challenges facing our sector in 2019.”

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Incoming AVEA Chairman Niall O’Callaghan, Managing Director of Shannon Groups tourist attraction company, Shannon Heritage, commented; “Unfortunately 2019 has not lived up to visitor expectations so far, and while the VEA sector remains positive, performance will be down by up to 10% on 2018. Clouds are gathering on the horizon for Irish tourism; Brexit, market competitiveness and more unstable geo-social and political environments in many of our key international markets. Now is the time for a close working relationship with government to realise how a championed VEA sector can play an even greater role in neutralising some of these obvious challenges. Tourism is a vital part of the national economy, creating jobs in rural Ireland where other industries are not located.”

Niall also cited the increasing costs of doing business as a real concern, impacting competitiveness of the entire tourism industry; “The continued increase in insurance premiums are well-documented and will damage the sectors’ ability to evolve and grow – in some cases our members have had to cancel events as insurance premiums simply make them unsustainable.”

Paul Carty added; “The AVEA annual survey of members also identified the negative impact the increased VAT rate is having on our sector, with some members working on far tighter margins than ever before in order to remain price competitive, as well as concerns regarding funding for capital intensive heritage attractions given their importance as national treasures. These are real concerns that we want to work collaboratively with government to ensure a future proofed VEA sector.”

At the conference, AVEA also launched its first Responsible Tourism Initiative with the National Biodiversity Centre Director Liam Lysaght, who participated at the event. Grainne Kelliher, CEO of Airfield estate and Vice-Chair of AVEA said; ‘A core initiative for 2019 was to develop a Responsible Tourism Charter to enable our members to develop or enhance their own sustainable tourism policies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector and protect our many heritage treasures so that future generations can continue to enjoy them. AVEA attractions are firmly rooted in Ireland’s cultural heritage and have survived countless generations; their ongoing prosperity is integral to delivering the narrative of our history.”

Grainne continued; “Climate change is a key consideration for everyone and every business, we want to act now to address this challenge.

It is also becoming important for visitors when choosing a holiday destination too. Many AVEA members have been actively engaged in sustainable practices – water and energy conservation, environmental protection and conservation, waste management and accessibility.

We now need to show and tell our visitors how seriously we take sustainability, by raising the bar to drive the sustainability ethos amongst our AVEA members, the communities in which we are located and in the wider Irish tourism industry.”

“...you can absolutely see why.”

Best Gin Oscar 2019 “The Best Spirits Known to Mankind”

Jugoslav Petkovic Flaviar Co-Founder

DRUMSHANBO GUNPOWDER IRISH GIN

Oriental botanicals, Gunpowder tea & Irish curiosity.

info@dalcassianwines.com www.dalcassianwines.com Tel: +353 (0)1 2937977

Eve An IF S to nt bro A y CA ou by ught TEX t tea he m

GET A TASTE FOR SUCCESS Food & Bev Live 2020 gives you two days to showcase your business, its products and innovations to an audience eager to buy and build relationships.

To book your space, contact:

4th & 5th February 2020 Citywest, Dublin

Stuart Caffrey Business Development Executive E: stuart.caffrey@eventhaus.ie T: 018460020

Organised by Industry on behalf of the foodservice industry.

By exhibiting at Food & Bev Live you are supporting our Industry partners Chef Network, BAI, Panel of Chefs, SCA, Associazione Pizzerie Italiane showcase 56 H&RT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019 their members excellence in Foodservice.

Margaret Andreucetti Sales Manager T: 01 8460020 E: Margaret.Andreucetti@eventhaus.ie

Sarah McGrath Business Development Executive E: sarah.mcgrath@eventhaus.ie T: 018460020