TeamTALKS July 2024

JULY 2024 | STRATEGY EDITION

SEÁN O’DRISCOLL

Welcome to our summer edition of iNUA TeamTALKS. Over May & June, I had the pleasure of visiting all our iNUA Collection Hotels. It was wonderful to meet with you, discuss our group strategy for the next two years, and receive such warm hospitality. The opportunity to engage with you has been invaluable and I’ve learned a lot from your questions and our conversations. I was delighted to acknowledge many achievements across our hotels, including long service awards, promotions, and great activity in sustainability and community initiatives.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO CONTENTS

On June 26th, we celebrated our 5-year partnership with Down Syndrome Ireland at the Dublin One Hotel. It was a proud moment to recognise our 25 colleagues employed through the National Employment Programme, ranging from new team members this year to those who have been with us for five years since the start of our partnership as well as colleagues with up to 16-years loyal service! A special thanks to Noel Comer, General Manager and the team at Dublin One for hosting such a memorable event, with outstanding hospitality, a great BBQ and mocktails!

In May, many of you participated in our annual Summer Check-In survey. Your feedback is crucial in shaping our People & Culture initiatives, and we are committed to acting on your insights to create

a better working environment. One area identified for improvement was the onboarding experience for new colleagues. In response, we are developing a comprehensive induction roadmap focused on hotel and group information and policies, learning, development and compliance programs, and department induction, including a buddy system. We aim to ensure every new colleague receives the support, training, and information needed for success in their roles.

I am proud to report that the survey revealed many areas where we do really well; 90% of you agree that there is a caring culture in our hotels, and 87% would recommend working with us to friends or family. While these results are encouraging, we recognize the importance of continuous improvement in these areas. In September, we will invite you to share your voice again in our Great Place to Work® culture audit. This is part of our ongoing commitment to engage with everyone about our workplaces.

We are also delighted to announce that the iNUA Collection has been awarded as one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces™ in Hospitality in 2024, this is a really important recognition for all you do for each other and for our guests and a wonderful start to our busy summer season.

Wishing you and your families a great summer and thank you for your continued support and loyalty.

Seán O’Driscoll Chief Executive Officer

Quarterly Hotel Highlights

iNUA HOSPITALITY

Celebrating 5 Years

On June 26th, we gathered at the DUBL!N ONE Hotel to celebrate the 5-year partnership between the iNUA Collection and Down Syndrome Ireland’s National Employment Programme. We celebrated the achievements of the 25 current graduates of the programme employed across 13 Cliste businesses. Their service and contributions were the focus of the day along with welcoming their families. DJ Gordo, a member of the DSI Dublin branch, providing a fantastic soundtrack that set the perfect fun tone for the event.

John McLaughlin-Ryan, Head of Fundraising for Down Syndrome Ireland (DSI), and Aoife Gaffney, Head of Employment, shared an update about the partnership’s impact. They spoke about how

And the Winner is...

employment opportunities and the support from the iNUA Collection fundraising have transformed lives, providing independence and confidence to the adults working alongside us.

We are proud of our partnership with Down Syndrome Ireland, our colleagues from the programme and all of you who support this work in your hotels and look forward to many more years of success and collaboration.

Thank you for submitting your entries to name our fantastic quarterly iNUA newsletter publication. We are thrilled to announce the selected name is…TeamTALKS. Congratulations to Grace Moore who coined our winning name, Grace kindly chose to donate the Samsung TV prize to be raffled within the entrants who suggested names.

We are delighted to announce as the lucky winner of the Samsung TV… Zoe O’Neill, from the Tullamore Court Hotel, where she is part of the Food & Beverage Team. Congratulations on your win Zoe!

Collaborating on naming our publication has really shown creativity, support, and interest across the team, and we extend thanks to all our colleagues for your contributions.

Quarterly Hotel Highlights

iNUA HOSPITALITY

iNUA Collection Hotels awarded Best Workplaces in Hospitality 2024

We Want Your Honest Feedback!

Hey Team iNUA! We hope you’ve been enjoying reading this issue of TeamTalk. Now, we need your help to make it even better. We want to know what you really think—no holding back, no punches pulled. Whether you love it, hate it, or have ideas for making it sparkle, we want to hear it all.

Please take a few minutes to follow the QR code and complete our short survey. Your brutally honest feedback will not only help us improve but also enter you into a draw for some surprise prizes! So, go ahead, spill the beans, and let us know how we can make our quarterly magazine the best it can be. Thank you for your input!

Quarterly Hotel Highlights

iNUA HOSPITALITY

A huge congratulations to our 19 colleagues who recently completed their online supervisory course! All colleagues have received their provisional results and have passed with flying colours with official certification due from the accrediting body in Autumn of this year! Well done to you all, you should be immensely proud having delivered quality presentations at your final day in Tullamore along with quality submissions thereafter.

In addition to our online supervisory course, a huge congrats to our two colleagues from Limerick, Ada and Redson who completed an in-person version with the Limerick Clare Education and Training Board. Ada was lucky to be selected to travel to Malaga for 3 weeks earlier in the year to complete an Erasmus programme.

Limerick love a bit of sunshine, so Kevin Togher our colleague from Limerick on Commis Chef programme was also lucky enough to be selected to complete an Erasmus programme in Spain which is testament to

both of their hard work during their courses!

Pictured are some of our Management Development Programme colleagues at their final module on Coaching with Úna Crilly, their final module before the summer season. Our colleagues on this programme will resume their course in autumn.

Our Leadership Development Colleagues have also completed their modules and are looking forward to their final module and graduation at the lovely Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Sligo this coming October.

Our TMDP (Trainee Manager Development Programme) students will have recently completed end of semester exams and will either be graduating or returning to their studies post summer.

Keep up the splendid work, everyone, and enjoy your well-deserved achievements!

We are thrilled to announce we have received Silver Accreditation as Investors in Diversity from the Irish Centre for Diversity. Our journey from Bronze accreditation to Silver accreditation would not have been possible without our colleague feedback, so for that we say Thank You! We also implemented additional policies including fertility and gender identity, and in total, we now have 75 Managers trained in Inclusive Leadership.

Whilst this is a huge milestone for the iNUA Collection, we are always striving to ensure our places of work are a safe space where everyone feels valued, respected, and included! We are excited to continue this upwards journey and reach many more milestones ahead!

Hello from Hibernian Kilkenny

We have had an exciting start to the summer months in Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel. We are delighted to share two colleague promotions, celebrate a milestone length of service award, and and we welcomed Sean O’Driscoll to Kilkenny in May for our colleague Townhall Meeting.

And finally, we are very delighted to open ‘Ember,’ our new dining concept with a fabulous interior refurbishment!

Launching Ember

We are excited to introduce Ember to the vibrant Kilkenny dining market. Ember is a direct reference to the open flame Braai grill at the heart of our restaurant concept, inspired by the South African concept of open grilling over wood or charcoal. It places our method of cooking as our key unique selling point to customers, strongly highlighting what sets us apart from other dining choices in the city.

Congratulations & Internal Promotions

Best wishes to Eva Carrigan, Front Office & Reservations Manager, who temporarily departs on maternity leave. We look forward to seeing your bundle of joy in the coming weeks.

We have had 2 internal promotions to celebrate: Aaron Greene, Maternity Cover Front Office & Reservations Manager, and Bosco Onyawanga, Night Supervisor. Wishing you both the best in their new roles!

We wish to extend a huge congratulations to Beth Lennon on 25 years of service. This is a fantastic milestone to achieve, and we are delighted to have such a committed and talented colleague in Kilkenny.

Celebrating Pride

A big thank you to the amazingly talented Alex Jukowska for making these muffins for us in support of Pride month. They looked way too good to eat... but of course, we did eventually!

Hospitality Students Visit Kilkenny

We were delighted to host a group of 30 hospitality students from SETU Waterford and Johnson & Wales Hospitality School, USA at the Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel. Thank you to Oran and André who joined us, to offer their assistance and expert knowledge of all opportunities through the iNUA Collection and in the hospitality industry. It was truly a pleasure to welcome these students, the future of hospitality worldwide, to Hibernian Kilkenny.

CEO Visit

On the 8th May, we had the pleasure of welcoming our CEO Sean O’Driscoll, to the Hillgrove Hotel. Sean presented the twoyear Strategy for the business at our Townhall Meeting. Sean also presented our Front Office team with gift bags to acknowledge National Receptionist Day and awarded the Team Appreciation Cup to our wonderful and hardworking Accommodation Team. Sean also congratulated us once again for winning “Hotel of The Year 2023’

A Special Visitor!

On the 17th of May, President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina stayed at the Hillgrove Hotel while attending an event in Monaghan town. Whilst we arranged a number of photographs with The President, he actually asked himself if he could get a photograph with our very own PKs Bar Manager Chris! Obviously, Chris had left quite an impression looking after the President and his wife when dining in PKs bar the previous evening. What a moment for Chris - superb!

Internal Promotion

Cormac Treanor joined the Hillgrove Hotel in 2016 as a Food & Beverage Assistant. Over the years, Cormac’s hard work, passion and customer care have paid off as he has now been promoted to Bar Supervisor. We wish Cormac continued success in his new role at PKs Bar and it must be said, this news has been so well received by the team here at Hillgrove, as he is such a popular and valued member of the team.

Hillgrove Hotel - Best Customer Service - Irish Restaurant Awards

The Irish Restaurant Awards Ulster Regional Final 2024 took place on Wednesday, April 10th, in the Armagh City Hotel, where Hillgrove Hotel was nominated and won the Best Customer Service Award 2023!

This is fantastic recognition for our front-line team who naturally offer the friendliest and warmest of welcomes to all our guests. We are truly delighted for them.

The award was accepted on the night by our Meeting & Event Manager, Elizabeth Meegan

Pictured are our DSI colleagues Michael and Claire, who enjoyed a superb day out at the fabulous Dublin One Hotel to celebrate five years of the partnership between iNUA and DSI, whilst picking up their own long service awards from our CEO, Sean O’Driscoll

Awards & Recognition

Garrett Power and Madina Zikare had the pleasure of attending the Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence Awards at Lyrath Estate, representing The Muckross Park Hotel & Spa. We were thrilled to receive a Gold Certification in the Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence programme for 2024. This achievement, our second year in a row, is reflective of our journey of continuous improvement, dedication and commitment to our team. We are also proud to say we really are a Great Place to Work Ireland.

Internal Promotions

We were thrilled to announce the following promotions at Muckross in the past few weeks:

Madina Zikare to the position of People & Culture Manager

The entire team at Muckross Park Hotel & Spa was delighted to welcome our iNUA Group CEO, Sean O’Driscoll, to Killarney today for a visit during his busy nationwide tour of iNUA Collection properties. Sean updated us on Group Strategy for 2024/2025 and shared his insights on the wider tourism market at present.

While thanking the team for their service and dedication, Sean also presented several of our colleagues with awards to commemorate their long years of service, some more than 20 years... remarkable.

In Other News

We were delighted to host an Ice Cream Funday in aid of Down Syndrome Ireland in the month of June.

Lucian Hagiu to the position of Yew Tree Restaurant & Monks Lounge Manager

Eugenie Blanchard to the position of Duty Manager

Dean Farrell to the position of Assistant M&E Manager

Green Hospitality

The Muckross Park Hotel & Spa had the privilege of being the only Irish hotel to be invited, alongside Tourism Ireland, in promoting the island of Ireland as a luxury destination at the 11th Annual Luxury Travel Advisors (LTA) ULTRA Summit in Palm Beach, Florida. During his week in Palm Beach, GM Garrett Power met with over 30 of the top luxury travel agents in the US and attended several networking and business conferences.

The Muckross Park Hotel & Spa joined the Green Hospitality Programme last year and has since achieved the Silver Award in Sustainability. We also received a Certificate of Food Waste Recovery from Cliste Hospitality. General Manager, Garret Power, highlights some of the hotel kitchen’s sustainability measures:

“We’ve reduced our food waste significantly, to below five percent, using portion control and employee training on sustainability. Our menu development considers portion size, locality and wastage. Recipes often incorporate a by-product from somewhere else. For example, used coffee grounds are used to roast carrots, then used again for compost. Bones and vegetable trimmings are used to make stocks and sauce bases.”

Team Appreciation and Awards

In June, we held a summer BBQ for the team, celebrating what we have achieved so far in 2024. We look forward to a successful second half of 2024.

Employee of the month for May

Linda, our Front Office Receptionist, has worked in Springfield Hotel for 23 years and is a huge asset to the hotel. Linda is well-loved by her fellow colleagues and guests, consistently receiving 5-star TripAdvisor reviews. She has a very kind and helpful nature and has gone above and beyond with supporting the Front Office team whenever needed. Whether it was taking on more shifts, training new colleagues or dealing with changes we’ve implemented, Linda has always been a pillar of support and it has not gone unnoticed. Congratulations, Linda!

Our Accommodation Team are pictured here enjoying a well-deserved team get-together for being the best department in reaching their KPI’s.

We recently welcomed our CEO, Sean O Driscoll, for our Townhall Meeting.

New DSI colleagues

Natalie started working for us in May this year. She comes to us with a lot of experience from previous jobs, having worked in the Musgraves canteens for many years, and in the Mobile Library at Peamount Hospital. We asked Natalie what she loves about her job and working here, and she said it’s just brilliant, she loves it! Natalie loves working with her other colleagues and our customers. Her hobbies include dancing, painting, and archery.

Niamh also started working for us in May and has just finished her Leaving Cert. Niamh has a Golden retriever that she loves, called Penny, and she also plays basketball with Naas Special Olympics team.

Niamh says: “I am really enjoying my job at the Springfield Hotel in Leixlip. My work colleagues are lovely and very helpful. I feel very welcome. I learn something new every week. I really look forward to meeting and helping customers every week”.

Welcome to both Natalie and Niamh!

Recently Graduated

Congratulations to our colleague Conor Barrett, who graduated in Hospitality Skills at City Hall, Dublin recently.

Conor started working with us in August 2023. Conor loves working in hospitality and has already tried out roles in the kitchen and accommodation. He also loves swimming and gardening, and has won a Gaisce Award. Conor is supported in employment by The NOW Group, a social enterprise that supports people with learning difficulties and autism into jobs with a future.

New Appointment

We are delighted to welcome Shareef to the Ariel House team As Food & Beverage Assistant. Shareef brings a high level of professionalism and enthusiasm to our workplace, and we are thrilled to have him join us. With a strong background and a passion for hospitality, Shareef is poised to make a significant impact on our team and the service we provide to our guests. His commitment to delivering outstanding service and his positive attitude will undoubtedly enhance our work environment.

Internal Promotion

We are thrilled to announce the promotion of Taila Vargas to Breakfast Accommodation Supervisor. Taila joined the Ariel team just four months ago, and in that short time, she has shown exceptional dedication with a keen eye for detail. Her commitment to excellence and passion for hospitality have made her an invaluable asset to our team. Please join us in congratulating Taila on this well-deserved promotion! We look forward to seeing her continue to excel in her new role.

Refurbish Phase Two

We are excited to announce the completion of Phase Two of our room refurbishment project. Eight rooms have been beautifully renovated, marking a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to enhance the comfort and elegance of our accommodations.

This phase was challenging, requiring meticulous attention to detail and a lot of hard work from our dedicated team. However, seeing the stunning final results has made it all worthwhile. The newly refurbished rooms are a testament to our commitment to providing an exceptional guest experience.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved in this project. Your effort and dedication have truly paid off, and we are thrilled with the beautiful outcome. We look forward to continuing our refurbishment journey and creating even more wonderful spaces for our guests to enjoy.

Colleague Appreciation

Our team had an amazing time during the Easter Bunny visit back in March! The event brought a lot of joy and excitement to everyone, creating wonderful memories that we all cherish.

The Easter Bunny’s visit was filled with fun delightful treats we shared as a team and took home to our friends and families.

Lots of Steps for Down Syndrome Ireland

In March, we held our ‘Lots of Steps for Down Syndrome Ireland’ event, in which six of our colleagues put themselves forward to take as many as they could over the course of three days. They stepped beautifully, taking a total of 433,237 between them. We completed a team walk during the event in which our DSI colleague Elsie McCullough led us around the walkway by the hotel. Together, we raised €200 for our charity partner Down Syndrome Ireland.

Yes Chef Awards

In May, we hosted the amazing Yes Chef Awards, where we catered for over 400 guests, with the help of our colleagues from The Gateway Hotel and The Hillgrove Hotel. It was held in our very elegant Blackrock Suite, which was decorated to a superbly high standard by our team. We were treated to a 9-course tasting menu at the awards ceremony, and to add the cherry on top of the night, our team was very grateful to be awarded the fabulous Social Media Award for Leinster. It was absolutely incredible work by all our colleagues in our Events Dept.

Employee of the Year 2023

Congratulations to our shining star, Sheila McGuirk, on being named our Employee of the Year 2023! Sheila, our dedicated Accounts Assistant, embodies excellence in everything she does. Her commitment and diligence never go unnoticed.

World Earth Day & Sustainability

In April, we celebrated World Earth Day, where we completed a huge clean up around our beautiful hotel. Several of our colleagues donned their hi-vis jackets, grabbed a litter picker, and for 90 minutes, held a clean-up on the grounds of the hotel and out on our main Dublin Road.

We also held an internal event related to ‘Fast Fashion’ where our colleagues brought in their clothes and could swap them with another colleague for a period of two weeks. The remaining items of clothing at the end of the event were bagged up and donated to our local ‘Women’s Aid’ charity shop, where they will be sold or donated to women and children in need.

We also have an ongoing new practice of collecting our bottles and cans in-house – those that are used behind the bar, found left in guest rooms and from personal colleague use. We collect and bring them to a re-turn centre, with all proceeds made at the end of the year to be split between our charity partner, Down Syndrome Ireland and the Dundalk Dog Rescue Centre.

A personal note of thanks

We wish to extend a huge thank you to the hotel team for your hard work and effort during our transition to voco Hotels. The refurbishment has been busy but rewarding, with the front office and bar & restaurant now complete. Many of you have worked on days off and cancelled leave, showing incredible work ethic, passion, and commitment. Be proud of what we’ve achieved and continue to achieve as we move closer to normal operations and delivering true hospitality.

Hotel Hero

Employee of the Month

Belfast

Congratulations to James Kane, Maintenance Assistant and Magdalena Stachyra, Room Attendant, who were awarded our Employees of the Month for April and May. James has been an incredible support throughout the refurbishment, both with reactive and planned maintenance, and Magdalena has ensured that guest room standards are consistently maintained within tight deadlines. Both are advocates for our iNUA Values.

Massive well done to Severina - our Hotel Hero & industry recognised Hotel Hero with the NIHF!

New appointment

We are delighted to welcome David McClelland to the team as Executive Head Chef. David brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience, more recently from Crowne Plaza, which is under the IHG portfolio. We look forward to his leadership & culinary infusions during the launch of our restaurant Pomo.

Internal Promotion

Charity Partnership

Robin (GM) and Danielle (Director of Sales & Marketing) proudly presented a cheque to Down Syndrome Association, our charity partners, from our Launch Event. We raised £962.00 through various activities such as a raffle, basket prize and tea/coffee morning on World Down Syndrome Day. Thomas can also be seen collecting his raffle prize from the event.

Deivids Kalnietis, recently appointed F&B Supervisor, is a vital member of the team, ensuring smooth operations. He has enhanced our cocktail range and practices and is progressing well in his Level 3 apprenticeship in Supervisory & Leadership with Inspiro. His passion for bar and team development is clear; we look forward to his continued contributions in his new role, and to see what his future holds.

Learning & Development

The team has worked incredibly hard through their brand training throughout the rebrand to voco Hotels. Simone from IHG visited us in June, facilitating voco and IHG brand training.

Celebrate Service Week

From 10th-16th June, we celebrated IHG Celebrate Service Week – we held various activities and events to say thank you to our wonderful colleagues for their dedication, commitment and great work. A special thank you to Sheila for hosting a quiz night for the team – we will definitely invite you back.

Meet our Colleague

Ailish Noonan, Longford born and bred, graduated DKIT with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting & Finance 2021. Currently employed as F&B Assistant with us she brings a smile to everyone’s face with her warm, positive attitude.

Ailish is an inspiration to us with her diverse sporting achievements. She has won high accolades playing Gaelic, including Leinster club (St. Helens) Junior and Leinster County titles with Longford, and was an All-Ireland Winner of the Lynch Cup with DKIT in 2019.

Ailish has also performed on the world stage, competing in Irish Dancing since she was 15. She achieved world qualification for The World Irish Dancing Championships hosted in Canada in 2015 and in Dublin in 2019.

Ailish’s latest sport of choice is Jiu Jitsu. Having remained unbeaten at white belt, she is now graded blue belt. Ailish has won the Irish Open two years running in her class at white and blue belt. As a blue belt, she has won the prestigious Shamrock Cup and two invitationals in Scotland and Grapple Queen in Dublin, also competing at the European level representing her club, Team Torres.

Ailish is currently training hard for the Europeans in October, and her sporting goal is to follow in the footsteps of her inspiration, Aisling Daly (ex-UFC fighter); to compete at Master Europeans as she progresses, just like Aisling. Another goal is to go pro in Muay Thai and MMA, with her MMA debut this September in the IUR Championship in Newry. Please come support!

Ailish’s love for sport equals her love for hospitality, which gives her the opportunity to develop, keeps her moving, and offers her the flexibility and support around her sporting commitments. The friendly team and regular customers create a positive environment for her.

Awards

Congratulations to our recent Employee of the Month Winners,

March Tania Pinto – F&B Dept – bringing sunshine and delight to our guests, Tania always makes your day better.

April Przemek Swiecicki – Kitchen Dept. Serving breakfast to our guests for the last 12 years, with his awarding winning porridge as warm as his hospitality.

May Diego Reina – Kitchen Ast. Dept. Diego’s hard work, dedication and passion for high standards, productivity and professionalism in the kitchen made him our May winner.

Colleague Appreciation

Meet our amazing Food & Beverage Team, led by Bar Manager Sarah Coburn at the launch of 54 degrees.

Giving Back

We enjoyed an afternoon giving back to the community with litter picking celebrating World Earth Day, and held a charity fundraiser for Down Syndrome Ireland with an ice cream fun day.

Hello from Radisson Blu Athlone

We have had a busy start to the summer season at the Radisson Blu Athlone, with a massive focus on internal promotions, colleague and team recognition events, and the introduction of bitesize ‘’Flash Mob’’ briefings with our General Manager, Fergus O’Donovan. We were also delighted to welcome our CEO, Sean O’Driscoll, to the Hotel as part of the nationwide Colleague Townhall Tour. Finally, we are very excited to introduce our new Marina Club with a fabulous interior refurbishment!

Internal Promotions

We have five internal promotions to celebrate: Lauren McMahon to Senior Reception Supervisor, Mehmet Ali Altintas to Bar Team Leader, and pictured are Nicole Geraghty – Trainee Duty Manager, Aurimas Barzda – M&E Team Leader and Manuela Ribaric – Assistant Bar Manager. Manuela is also progressing onto the Management Development Programme.

Team & Colleague Recognition

During April and May we began the rollout of our Departmental Dinners. This was a great chance to enjoy a meal with each department and acknowledge colleagues with Team Choice Awards and Team recognition.

Pictured are Jevgenij Gordin – Nights Team and Lucia Alvarez – Reception, with their Team Choice Awards for Nights Team and Front Office respectively, alongside our GM Fergus O’Donovan, at the Front Office Departmental Dinner.

Also pictured are Shirley Courtney -Accommodation Manager and Oana Alupoae - Accommodation Supervisor, receiving their team recognition award at the Accommodation Departmental Dinner, and Ayodeji Alabi – Accommodation Assistant receiving his Team Choice Award.

Best wishes to all in their new roles!

Interior Refurbishment

We are thrilled to introduce our Marina Club in Athlone, boasting a very impressive pergola with a stylish finish. It is a fabulous new space for our guests to enjoy drinks and dining with breathtaking views of the River Shannon in the heart of Athlone.

And finally…

We have had the pleasure of hosting some VIP guests with us over the last quarter. Notably, we hosted the IHF Midlands Branch Meeting on site in April, while in May we were delighted to have our CEO, Sean O’Driscoll, visit us as part of his CEO Townhall Tour!

A super shot of all the Team with Sean O’Driscoll at the CEO townhall in May!

Colleague Congratulations

We are very proud to recognise our colleague Fiona O’Brien for her part in the Special Olympics as goalie in floorball. Fiona is competing in competitions throughout the year in both floorball and gymnastics and we are super proud of her achievements so far. Good luck with your next competition, Fiona!

Refurbishment

We have just completed the refurbishment of 21 bedrooms within the hotel. This was a project that took many weeks, and we all had to work around the builders, their materials and the new furniture to make it a reality whilst operating a full hotel! Big thanks and congratulations to Joe and the Maintenance Team and our contractors for keeping us on schedule and delivering some really amazing rooms for our guests to enjoy.

Awards

Our very own Daniel O’Connor and Paul Turton headed up the country earlier in May to attend the Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence Awards at Lyrath Estate, representing Radisson Cork. We achieved Silver Certification in the Fáilte Ireland Employer Excellence programme for 2024, where previously we hadn’t been listed for any award. This achievement is a great recognition for the work of our management team in their personal development and improvement, and their commitment making Radisson Cork a better place to work.

This year we have successfully been recertified as a PSYCHED employer, recognising our commitment to mental health. It’s important to know that Radisson Cork has an experienced team and a significant number of resources and support which colleagues can access for free. If you are experiencing any mental health challenges, please refer to posters in the team areas or ask the People & Culture team for support.

We are also proud to be enrolling managers onto the mental health first aider training in the autumn to help boost our support for our team even further.

Radisson Cork was also named a Great Place to Work for 2023-2024 recognising the hard work we are all putting in to make the hotel a “Great Place” to work. This is a significant achievement for the hotel, as previously we were unsuccessful in being recognised. It is thanks to everyone sharing their opinions and being heard by our management that we have been able to make these strides in improving our workplace.

HOTEL & SPA, LIMERICK

Giving back

On 5th May 2024, we took to the streets of Limerick, participating in the Great Limerick Run 10km event for the 2nd year, raising an amazing €1,008 for our chosen charities – Down Syndrome Limerick & Down Syndrome Clare. Fundraising was championed by Ashlynn Sweeney and supported on the day of the run by colleagues Ada Vila Calm and Dagmar Salzwedel Gomez

Internal Promotions

Congratulations to Paulina Biedziak, who joined our team in May 2022 as an Accommodation Assistant and has been promoted this June to Accommodation Supervisor

Congratulations to Dagmar Salzwedel Gomez who joined our team in January 2024 as Duty Manager, and has been appointed to cover as temporary Guest Experience Manager.

Congratulations to Amir Khan, who joined our team in February 2023 as a Kitchen Porter, and has been appointed as Night Porter.

Family Fun Day

On 16th June we hosted a Family Fun Day for Down Syndrome Limerick. Colleagues volunteered their time to run the event. Thanks to Michelle Sousa, Ashlynn Sweeney, Kevin Togher, Dagmar Salzwedel Gomez, Eimear Fitzgerald, Ali Uddin Ansari, Majella Clune, Inga Sirbu, Kayley Ryan and Laurna Gaynor Well done to Angela McCabe and Gerard Costelloe for organising the day and giving their time voluntarily. We had over 100 members of the Down Syndrome community attend on the day.

Best of luck to our colleagues in their new roles!

Lean Initiatives

Kudos to our Accommodation Team for their smart idea to buy a second trolley for the first-floor team, reducing unnecessary back-and-forth trips. Now, with two trolleys, the team is happier, and room turnaround is quicker for our guests. That’s thinking smarter!

Colleague Appreciation

We recently celebrated National Receptionist Day by inviting our front office team for lunch in the Brasserie.

Awards

Congratulations to our colleagues who have been voted as Employees of the Month this quarter: Keith Begley Accommodation, Bríd Stanley Brasserie Majella Clune – Spa

We thank you for your dedication, hard work and for making Radisson Limerick a Great Place to Work!

Angela McCabe has been awarded Manager of the Quarter for Q1 this year. Angela goes above and beyond in everything she does, and we are so lucky to have her on our team. Congratulations, Angela!

Colleague Development

Kevin Togher and Ada Vila Calm have recently returned from a three-week employment placement in Malaga, Spain. Their hard work, dedication, and determination resulted in being top of their classes in our Commis Chef Programme and Supervisory Course with LCETB.

It’s been a busy quarter here in Sligo with the launch of our Wellness trail in April and Summer Corporate BBQ nights, as seen here hosted by our wonderful sales team and Grill Master Joey

Team Development

We were lucky to spend a day recently with Tom McDermott, from Agility Hospitality, learning how to recognise where to improve efficiencies in the hotel, and in our lives, using the Lean Six Sigma method.

Speaking about the launch of the Wellness Trail: “I am immensely proud of what we have achieved, it’s been such a rewarding journey! I couldn’t have done it without the dedication of the entire team and now we have a calm inclusive hotel both inside and out!”

Paula Scallon DOS and

Innovation

Leader Sligo

As summer begins, we’re celebrating notable successes at Radisson Sligo. Thanks to the team’s commitment to incredible warm hospitality, we’ve accumulated over 250 memorable moments from guests and achieved a new record of 37 consecutive five-star Tripadvisor reviews!

The M&E team has been busy; honoured to be chosen to host the RNLI’s 200th birthday and Sligo Bay Station’s 25th, along with several more prestigious conferences, including Irish Prison Officers, IACP, ETBI, and Road Services.

The Northern Lights came and went, reminding us how lucky we are to live and work in such an outstanding location We like to keep Sligo beautiful, so in honour of World Environment Day, we dispatched our Beach Clean Team to the three beaches of Rosses Point to ensure they remain as beautiful as ever.

It hasn’t been all work and no play, however, as we did manage to squeeze in a small colleague gathering at one of our local world-renowned watering holes, where a few too many crepes were had by some, dancing by more and merriment by all.

Employee Awards and Appreciation

Big shout out to Shane, who was not only unanimously voted Employee of the Month for March but also gave his cocktail masterclass to the cameras to create content for the hotels. Shane, although relatively new to the bar team, has quickly become invaluable to the hotel and a pleasure to work with.

Congratulations to Simon Spellman, our Brasserie Manager, who is in his 20th year at the Radisson Sligo. From a fresh-faced F&B Assistant with a love of long hikes and his beloved Mayo, Simon has grown and progressed with the Radisson Sligo to his current role overseeing our Brasserie Team.

Big Changes in the Leisure Club have also taken place with Shane Collis O’Donovan being promoted to Leisure Club Team Leader and Claudia Alves to Assistant Manager. Well done to both!

New Appointments

We extend a warm welcome to Nutu Radu, our new Deputy General Manager, who joins us from Druids Glen. Nutu brings a wealth of experience to the hotel.

Welcome also to Abhisek Gupta, our new Bar & Restaurant Manager joining from Samuel Hotel; and Marija Cibaric, Breakfast Manager, joining us from Fitzwilliam Hotel. Best wishes to you all in your new roles, and we wish you every success.

Recent Events

Internal Promotions

Congratulations to Marko Bobetic, who has been promoted to Front Office and Reservations Manager. Wishing you every success in your new role Marko!

Awards & Recognition

Well done to Eva Rodriguez and Aine Mulvey who both received “Employee of the Month” recently. Thank you both for your continued dedication and hard work.

Thank you to our accommodation team who have gone above and beyond in facilitating the cancelled flight business in recent weeks. We really appreciate your efforts and hard work to ensure our guests are satisfied.

We are delighted to announce our most recent Trip Advisor ranking of 48 out of 184 hotels in Dublin.

DUBLIN ONE was the chosen venue of this summer’s Annual iNUA Senior Management Summer get-together. We hosted a BBQ on the terrace and a hotly contested table quiz in The Big Tree.

As we are in the midst of the GAA and concert season, all roads lead to Dublin One and Croke Park! We are eagerly anticipating the upcoming visits of AC/DC and Coldplay. Well done to the hotel team for their hard work during this busy period.

Sustainability Initiative

DUBLIN ONE was honored to host the 5-Year Partnership Celebration with Down Syndrome in late June. The celebration was attended by our DSI colleagues with family and friends. We had a fantastic day, and congratulations to all those who received service award recognition.

We have recently launched the Opt-In Service for stayover guests. Guests now have the opportunity to help reduce our carbon footprint by opting out of housekeeping services. Currently in the pilot phase, this initiative has been well received by our guests.

Retirement

Best wishes to Ollie Hughes, who is retiring from the hotel after nine years of service. All his colleagues would like to wish him many years ahead of health and enjoyment.

Internal Promotions

Huge congratulations to our colleagues who recently received promotions. It is fantastic to see them achieve their ambitions to progress and develop within the hotel, thanks to the learning & development opportunities throughout the Group.

Elizabeth Hipwell Assistant Front Office Manager

Karolina Pitera Assistant Court Bar and Restaurant Manager

Margaret O’Neill Food and Beverage Supervisor

Breda Hickey M&E Supervisor

Ciara Gallagher and Julianna Supule Food and Beverage Team Leaders

Pradeep Kumar Rajarathnam Junior Sous Chef

Spanish Students

We recently bid farewell to our Spanish Erasmus students, Sara and Beatrix, who arrived on March 16th. They worked mainly in the pastry section with Chef Linda, who described them as exceptional and like family. They enjoyed sightseeing, including a Tullamore Dew tour. Their departure was emotional, with both the girls and Linda shedding tears, and they promised to visit again.

Service Awards

We were delighted that Sean presented service awards to several colleagues when he visited the Tullamore Court. Congratulations to:

Philip O’Brien, Donnie Conway and Sandra Vaugh Ross - 26 years.

Annamarie Hogan and Declan Cuskelly - 25 years

Colette Boland Sweeney - 24 years.

John Faulkner - 21 years.

Elizabeth Hipwell and Fiona Egan - 19 years.

Darren Cuskelly - 18 years.

Breda Hickey and Jacinta Cuskelly - 17 years.

Barbara Ginalaka and Olga Rastauskiene - 16 years.

Violetta Jaworska - 10 years.

Agnes Gal, Ollie Hughes and John Reddy - 9 years.

Anieszka Kuzma - 8 years.

Carloline Nolan and Karolina Pitera - 7 years.

Ciara Gallagher, Cillian Whittle, David Cox and Krista Mihelsone - 6 years.

Karina Fismeistere - 5 years

Lifeguard Course

Congratulations to our newly qualified lifeguards! We are delighted to have Colette as a Trainer Assessor so that the courses can be completed in the hotel. Colette frequently completes CPD (Continued Personal Development) with all the lifeguards, which keeps their training up to date.

Ice Cream Fun Day

Thank you to Fiona for coordinating the Ice Cream Fun Day for Down Syndrome Ireland. A huge thank you to everyone who donated on the day. €130 was raised for this great charity, and the ice cream was very welcome also!

Internal Promotions

Introducing our new Head Chef at the Viaduct – Roshana Gayan Senevirathna. Gayan had been the Sous Chef here at the Viaduct since its opening and he took on the reins of Head Chef in January. We look forward to great food in the future with Gayan at the helm.

Pramod Don joined the Viaduct in July 2023 as Chef de Partie. His attention to detail, amazing customer service and creativity led to him being promoted to Sous Chef

Employee of the Quarter

Congratulations to Christina Jurgens our most recent Employee of the Quarter. Throughout the quarter, Christina went above and beyond providing the best customer service. Christina, thank you so much for your hard work and positive attitude.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Collette O’Regan on recently completing the QQI Level 6 Managing People course. Collette has been an employee at The Viaduct since October 2022 and was promoted to supervisor in October 2023. Collette attended remote training over five weeks and had her final exam in May, completing the course with Distinction.

Adrianne and her teammates recently won the Irish Pool Association All Ireland Pool Championship 2024. A massive achievement - huge congratulations from all your colleagues and friends at The Viaduct. Adrianne has already represented her country in Morocco this year, and we are sure she will be called up again in the future.

Pictured is Michelle Cooney, P&C Manager, accepting 1-year service award on behalf of Paul Fitzgerald. Congratulations Paul!

After a progress-filled first half to 2024, Cliste Marketing Studio would like to say a huge thank you to all our colleagues across The iNUA Hotel Collection who are supporting the rollout of our digital strategy goal.

Social Media

In May, 35 of our colleagues across all hotels gathered for two days of Social Media Workshops held in the Radisson Blu Cork and Tullamore Court Hotel by the Cliste Social Media Team and influencer, Dev Skehan. These 35 colleagues have now graduated as our On-The-Ground Photographers (OTGs) and are live posting content on their hotels’ social media. Debi French and Eoin Davis will be continuing to host monthly check-ins with all OTGs through-out the year so we can continue to grow our hotels’ social media together – and most importantly, check-in on which hotel is top of the iNUA Social Media Leaderboard. Engagement rates on Instagram have already grown in double and triple digits since May – Thank you, OTGs!

PR

Over 50 influencers have collaborated with The iNUA Hotel Collection so far this spring / summer season, bringing us well on our way to hitting our objective of 80 PR collaborations. Highlights include American Tiktok star, Madi Montes , who showcased Ariel House to her 1.1 Million followers, former Miss Ireland Aoife Walsh who took a family staycation in Radisson Blu Cork, Tadgh Fleming live streaming from a shower in Dubl!n One, and a broadcast with Deric of Virgin Media’s Ireland AM show held at Fairways Hotel. Cliste Marketing Studio also held guerilla marketing pop-ups on the streets of Dublin, Dundalk, Tullamore and Cork with giveaways of iNUA vouchers, goodies & suitcases to celebrate all there is to see in Ireland this summer.

IVY

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is our most fruitful marketing channel across The iNUA Hotel Collection, generating €11.3 million in direct room revenues since launch in 2021. Led by Brian Murphy, our CRM objective for 2024 is to expand CRM from email marketing to Whatsapp marketing, and to enable two-way guest dialogue rather than just sending one-way marketing messages to guests. IVY, an AI-powered concierge has been integrated to our Revinate CRM software to achieve this.

Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa Sligo have now completed a successful pilot of IVY, with a special thank you to Daniel Cross and Adrian Drozd. IVY received a 5/5 average satisfaction score from guests during the two week trial, by responding directly to their queries via AI-generated responses. IVY also successfully alerted Front Office colleagues to guests who are not fully satisfied during the course of their stay, and helped resolve small issues before they escalated to a complaint. Roll-out to hotels will continue over the summer, with Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa Limerick and Springfield Hotel commencing in July.

Domestic Market

Objective

Our goal is to identify and explore largely untapped domestic markets to further drive revenue for our hotels. We have narrowed our focus to the following groups:

1. Cyclists – cycle trails and greenways

2. Golfers

3. Walking & Trekking enthusiasts

4. Alumni

5. Religious & Wellness retreats

1. Cyclists

We aim to be recognised for having the best facilities for cyclists. To achieve this, we are implementing the following:

• Secure indoor storage for 30 bikes per hotel.

• A repair corner equipped with pumps, a bike work stand, and a 43-piece bike tool set.

• Complimentary Bike Hire: Guests will have access to complimentary bike hire.

B&BB Rates: We will promote Bed & Breakfast & Bike (B&BB) rates to attract cycling enthusiasts.

2. Golfers

For golfers, we will offer:

• Dry Room: An area for golfers to change out of wet gear and store their gloves, shoes, umbrellas, etc., in a comfortable and secure setting.

Other Targeted Groups

Our goal extends beyond the Golf & Greenways market to include:

1. Walking/Trekking Enthusiasts

2. Alumni Events

3. Wellness Retreats

Christian Schmelter , alongside Paula Scallon , Fiona Boland , and Sharon McMahon , lead a dedicated team that has researched these potential markets. They have built an impressive database of over 1,500 contacts and are actively targeting these leads to generate business for our hotels.

The Product

Research indicates that golfers and cyclists have specific needs that our hotels can meet. Many of our hotels are conveniently located near Ireland’s Greenways, providing an ideal base for individuals, couples, and families to explore the unspoiled countryside.

Implementation

We have identified the hotels that would benefit most from these facilities first:

Current Fit-Out:

• Athlone

• Springfield

• Tullamore

These hotels, located adjacent to Greenways have commenced their fit-out in partnership with Halfords, thanks to the efforts of Veronica Timlin. The facilities will be completed and ready very shortly.

Next Phase:

• Sligo

• Dundalk

• Hillgrove

• Muckross

These hotels will be the next to implement the cyclist and golfer-friendly facilities. All these hotels also have excellent golf courses nearby, making the Dry Room facilities an ideal addition for golfers after a long day on the course.

Our Goal

By enhancing our facilities and targeting specific domestic groups, we aim to drive revenue and establish our hotels as the premier choice for cyclists, golfers, and other niche markets. Our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction will position us at the forefront of the hospitality industry in Ireland. Philip Kelly is starting to promote our new offering and will be implementing a comprehensive Sales & Marketing plan in the coming weeks.

Engagement, Recognition, Benefits

A huge thank you to nearly 700 colleagues across the group who completed our Investors in Diversity Silver survey through the Irish Centre for Diversity earlier this year. Your feedback is truly invaluable in guiding our strategy team to find meaningful initiatives that will make our workplaces even more inclusive.

We are thrilled to announce that, with your incredible support, we have achieved Silver Accreditation! This fantastic achievement is a testament to how welcoming and accepting everyone is of their colleagues. Our differences help broaden our horizons, allowing us to learn from one another, gain fresh perspectives, and celebrate what makes each of us unique!

TITLE

So far, we’ve trained almost 80 managers in inclusive leadership in conjunction with the Irish Centre for Diversity, reviewed our current policies to ensure they are inclusive for all colleagues, and introduced 5 days of paid fertility leave for those utilizing assisted human reproduction. We’ve also implemented a supportive policy for the same. One area that stood out as needing improvement was our policies, practices, and processes, and we are committed to making those better.

Key dates on our Engagement Calendar

We were delighted to launch our colleague Benefits Booklet earlier this year, a key strategy goal. Centralizing this information ensures everyone is aware of the fantastic benefits available and knows how to access them. We’re also excited to introduce a new discounts platform, https://spectrumlife.benefithub.com/, available via your wellbeing platform Spectrum Life at Benefit Hub. Just register to access nearly 200 discounts and rewards! Some of these fabulous discounts are highlighted at the back of this magazine—enjoy!

Lastly, we just wanted to draw your attention to the fantastic suite of wellbeing benefits that your Spectrum Life platform offers from nutrition advice to a digital gym to the wellbeing series of webinars held weekly, covering various health topics of interest.

Looking ahead, we can’t wait to review your insights from both the diversity survey and your summer survey to further enhance your working life with the iNUA Collection. If anyone has feedback or questions about this strategy, please reach out to your P&C team.

Thank you once again for your dedication and support in making our workplaces more inclusive and vibrant. Together, we are making a difference!

Food and Beverage

The F&B Team has made lots of fantastic progress on this strategy, with still more to do as we face a particularly challenging time in the Food and Beverage business. The team are working hard expediting initiatives. Our focus is largely on revenue generation given the current industry challenges.

Key focus pillars

Increase guest conversion average spend

We have reviewed all guest pre-arrival communication and aligned them across both Revinate and Avvio to ensure we are presenting all F&B offerings effectively. We have reviewed and enhanced our upsell offer prior to guest arrival across both our booking engine and Revinate pre arrival emails. The first month’s data is quite encouraging, showing a 39% increase compared to the prior month in pre arrival upsells.

We are currently training our Front Office teams in upselling breakfast and dinner reservations, with an incentive implemented to all front office teams. Making sure we have our F&B in the eye of our customers is especially important; we have communicated a collateral checklist and walkthrough to ensure all opportunities to advertise what we have on offer in our outlets is in place.

Creating a culture of Food and Beverage sales throughout the customer journey

We have fantastic training ongoing throughout the hotels on upselling to our customers. iNUAup training programme is rolling out to all F&B colleagues. Alongside this, an incentive programme across all F&B and Front Office Teams focusing on wine sales, dinner reservations and dessert sales has been implemented. Throughout June approximately 42K in upsells were captured. Weddings are a key part of our summer business. Focusing on upsells, we have created a wine upsell and implemented a Table Beverage waiter for weddings and corporate events.

Define a suite of 5 F&B concepts across the group Two Concepts are live, with one rolling out. Ember has been launched in Kilkenny, a Grill & Seafood concept with live cooking over wood. An exciting, fresh concept in Kilkenny City that is sure to succeed.

In Belfast, POMO opened in early July, an Italian-inspired concept serving delicious and intriguing dishes, accessible to a variety of tastes.

Our third concept in pilot is “SNUG GRUB,” a digital ordering, take-away concept for bedrooms. Orders are placed via in-room QR codes with room delivery arriving in compostable, disposable packaging.

Embracing Tech Dining Opportunities

Given the challenges in our F&B revenues the focus has been on revenue generation, but here we have reviewed and discounted many opportunities. The focus is on getting QR ordering in place on the terrace in Athlone’s Marina Club and Fairways Pods.

Guest Experience

Our Guest Experience Team have been working hard on projects and initiatives to enhance the guest experience in our hotels. We held a meeting in Athlone on May 2nd, hosted by Chris Austin and Brian Bowler, with all our Guest Experience Managers in attendance, and supported by our two skills trainers, Danijela and Christopher.

We had a productive day in Athlone looking at ways to help our guests get the most from their stay, both locally and in the hotel. We have compiled a list of all key local activities that would appeal to the different guest markets: families on leisure breaks, couples getting away, solo travellers, corporate travellers, groups, travellers with accessibility or disability challenges, and our international visitors. These will be listed for ease of access on our in-room collateral, at our Guest Experience Desks, and on the digital display screens in our hotel lobbies.

As part of this workshop, we also developed our new Guest Excellence Program – Moments. This new and exciting program takes elements of our existing guest programs, ‘Here for you’ and ‘Yes I can,’ and lifts these up into 7 core moments of guest excellence. The program focuses our teams to ‘take every moment to enhance our guest experience’ and to welcome every guest and create personalised moments to enhance our guests experience, and to engage them with our two loyalty programs, Radisson Rewards and The Club. The program has already launched and is now included on all Flow Compliance Dashboards. All guest-facing employees should complete this short training program in advance of our busy summer season.

Our guest quality scores are holding up well as we are starting the busy summer season across the hotels. Our group Booking.com score is 8.3, which is on par with our 2023 year-end score. We are aiming to achieve 8.4 overall this year, so every positive guest experience and ‘moment’ that you can create is incredibly valuable. On Tripadvisor, we are currently at 81%, which again is on par with our 2023 year-end score. The target for this year is 82%. In a recent review of our competitor hotel groups in Ireland, the iNUA Collection is ranked 2nd on both Booking. com and Tripadvisor, which is an incredible achievement with 13 key hotel groups in Ireland, with a total of 151 hotels between them.

Innovation

Innovation Team Meet Up

Our Innovation Team met in mid-June, with some members meeting face-to-face for the first time. It was an opportunity to bond, review our strategy progress, and focus on our must-wins for 2024. We brainstormed in two teams, generating over 15 innovative ideas for revenue generation and cost saving, in response to current business challenges. We aim to implement up to 100 initiatives before December end. Thanks to all the hotel teams for the continued support of your Innovation Leaders in achieving their goals.

One Year On – Innovation Idea Retrospective

We often face the challenge of integrating new initiatives into standard hotel operations post-pilot. Radisson Limerick is a superb example of successfully managing an initiative - launched in May 2023, their Children’s Birthday Party packages at The Explorers Kids Club have generated just shy of €15k in additional revenue over 12 months. Congrats to the Limerick Team on their continued success!

Think this initiative would work in your hotel and want to implement, contact Anita at a.coughlan@clistehospitality.ie for more information.

Small-Medium Initiatives Update

In 2024 to date, we launched several profitable initiatives, such as the Hillgrove Ice-cream Bicycle, PAYG Coffee Machines at Hillgrove and Tullamore, and the Leisure Centre Retail Range at Radisson Cork. This July, we’re expanding the retail range across all Leisure Centres, working with MyCore Supplements and further supporting our Leisure Strategy.

Additional upcoming revenue generating initiatives include assessing reconfiguration of double rooms to triple, electric bicycle hire, local tour operator partnerships to promote F&B vouchers, among more.

We are also piloting cost saving initiatives like robotic window & vacuum cleaners, leveraging robotics to work smarter.

Innovation Capex Projects Update

1. Muckross Spa Enhancement: Seaweed Baths & Decking Expansion

We eagerly await the launch of Muckross Seaweed Baths in early August. Decking refurbishment is scheduled for July 8th-22nd, followed by bath installation and operational training with Voya Seaweed products. We are expanding the Voya range with upsell products like hair & face masks, pillow spray, body oils. Our goal is to enhance net profit by €15K in 2024, with an ROI in Year 2. Here is a sneak peek at the packages being built...

2. Limerick Spa Enhancement: Wave Wellness Touch

On July 5th, Radisson Limerick are launching the Wave Wellness Touch Massage Bed, underscoring our dedication to embracing innovative technology in our Spa, and creating a USP in the market. Marketing is in place, featuring teaser socials videos, in-house posters, e-zines marketing, and building Day Spa and Bedroom Packages. Our aim is to boost net profit by €15K in 2024, achieving ROI in Year 2

As always, we welcome your ideas to idea@clistehospitality.ie

Contact Anita if interested in championing innovation in your property.

Learning & Development

Learning and Development continues to support various strategy initiatives across the Collection in 2024

As part of SMART Operations strategy goal, L&D supported the organisation and funding of several Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt 2-Day Work Shops with Tom McDermott from Agility Hospitality throughout Q1 & Q2. Pictured is the first LSSYB workshop of 2024.

Following the Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Learning & Development supported the rollout of Continuous Improvement Workshops across the hotels in recent months with Tom McDermott from Agility Hospitality. Below is a picture of the recent Continuous Improvement Workshop in Springfield, hosting DUBL!N ONE, Springfield and Tullamore Court Hotel. This is one of several CI workshops completed to date.

design and creation of an online training session for Reservations and Front Office on the guest journey.

The Learning & Development Strategy 2024 and 2025 is focused on the following key areas:

• Internal Management Development with a focus on Business Acumen and People Management

• Create iNUA Academy and grow the use of Flow Learning| MAPAL

As part of the Guest Experience Initiative Strategy, Learning & Development worked with the Group Operations Teams in designing and delivering of the new Guest Excellence Program – Moments. Our Group Operations Skills Trainers, Danijela and Chris, have already started to roll out this new initiative with hotels.

Continuing the great collaborations with other colleagues and departments, L&D supported several other Strategy initiatives. For example, the refresh and redesign of iNUAUp, and supported the

On the first area of Internal Management Development, the key to this goal is internally developed and delivered. We are working with various colleagues to design, create and deliver online or inperson modules and sessions that will help grow the knowledge of management in the areas of Business Knowledge and People Management. These modules are nearing completion and will start to roll out over the next months. Payroll Optimization for Managers, Understanding Department Profit & Loss, Business Communication and How to Manage Feedback are just a few of these modules.

iNUA Academy will be established in 2024 and 2025 as the overall umbrella for what we offer in Learning & Development, including internal and external programmes and our Learning Management System, Flow Learning by MAPAL. We continue to grow Flow Learning by MAPAL as a key tool and bring new features to colleagues and continue to support departments to use Flow Learning by MAPAL to create access for all our SOPs and more.

Leisure

Welcome to the Leisure Strategy Goal update - in defining our Leisure Strategy goal for the next 2 years, we adopted a holistic view of the entire operation to ensure that we achieve the maximum output by the end of 2025.

Our two-year Leisure Strategy aims to boost departmental profitability by 8% by the end of 2025, with a 5% increase in Year 1 and additional sustained 3% growth in Year 2. This will be achieved through cost-saving and revenue-generating initiatives across five objectives. Leading these efforts are Eszter Morvai (Radisson Blu Sligo), Darren Cuskelly (Tullamore Court Hotel), Thereasa O’Hanlon (Hillgrove Hotel), and Michael Grace (Radisson Blu Cork). Their passion for Fitness & Leisure has driven significant progress in achieving our goals over the past seven months.

Objective 1 saw us complete a comprehensive audit of each Leisure centre to establish a baseline for the remaining objectives. This data was compared across sites to identify key insights, leading to significant changes and standardised processes. For Objective 2 , we reviewed costs and achieved notable successes with pool covers and a new backwash SOP, though some initiatives, like Angel Eye lifeguarding technology, were not feasible. While the first two objectives focus on cost analysis and process standardisation, the remaining three goals will target revenue generation and innovation.

We are currently focusing on our final three key objectives to achieve our overall goal by the end of 2025. So far, we have compiled databases of local tourist providers and sports clubs, updated membership rate cards, and completed incentive bag drops for preferred corporate clients. We are researching a Recovery Room offering with ice baths alongside our sauna, steam room, and jacuzzi. Our retail offering has been enhanced with self-service coffee docks and DC Sports group merchandising. Future opportunities include expanding to retail Dry Robes and MyCore Supplements retail range.

We anticipate launching our new bespoke Leisure and Spa software system, Trybe, across the estate by the end of August, enabling online memberships and expecting a 10% revenue increase. We’ve created group SOPs to support each site’s rollout and ensure a smooth transition for future acquisitions. Additionally, we’ll develop a 12-month quarterly offers plan to boost average membership spend and a corporate QR code for single sign-up access to all our Leisure centres.

Finally, to finish with a fun fact...

Across our entire estate, we currently have at our disposal 104.5m of swimming pool or just over 1/10th of a kilometre!

Meetings, Conference, Events & Corporate

Our Strategy is moving forward with splendid work being done by the iNUA Sales Team & the Cliste Support Office Marketing Team over recent months

Tele-Sales Blitz Day

The iNUA Hotel Collection Sales Team met for the first corporate and conference telesales on March 28th. The day was organised by Fiona Boland and Paula Scallon . Targeting 350 telesales, we exceeded this, making 379 calls with excellent new business opportunities picked up, including a Conference for Tullamore Court Hotel, a series of meetings for the Fairways Hotel and new corporate bedroom accounts for several of our properties.

The telesales blitz day was followed up by Dublin Sales Team blitz targeting corporate accounts that had shown potential from the calls.

Two further telesales days are planned throughout 2024.

Digital Marketing for Conferences & Corporate Business Travel

The first iNUA Hotel Collection corporate e-zine aimed at Meeting, Event and Corporate Travel Bookers was sent to our corporate database at the beginning of June. Over 600 clients had subscribed to the Ezine with a strong open rate of 88% achieved, with the most visited pages being Business Travel and Sustainability initiatives.

The e-zine included details of our Conference, Meeting & Event products, Business Travel solutions and a profile of the iNUA Hotel Collection Sales Team.

Corporate Client Events

In June, the iNUA Sales Team hosted their annual Galway region corporate bookers Lunch with over 35 clients attending. Valuable business connections were made, and clients were thanked for their on-going support.

Other client events the team have hosted include Corporate BBQ evenings, loyalty drops and office visits to host “Lunch & Learns.”

Christian Schmelter and Garret Power , GM Muckross Park Hotel participated in Corporate & Leisure Trade workshops in the US targeting business for Muckross Park Hotel & Spa.

Meeting & Events Team Development Day

Christian and Mark hosted the first of our bi-annual Meeting and Events Team development days, where our M&E teams came together for a day of learning, industry updates and sharing best practices to foster learning from each other. The Sales, Meetings & Events teams continue to drive strong sales into the Group including a strong year of Communions & Confirmations with almost 9000 guests catered for.

The Corporate section of the iNUA Hotel Collection website was also updated giving a much enhanced client experience.

The day ended with a visit to the Dunsany Re-Wilding project, where the Group supports the replanting of native Irish trees, with over 5,000 native trees planted annually. Everyone got “stuck in” for some tree planting in glorious weather conditions!

Procurement

hotels. We have been successful so far through negotiating volume deals on many key lines, in a time of turbulent inflation, we have held and gained back costs.

We are regularly linking products across multiple suppliers, ensuring full transparency for our F&B teams on PO creation. This means comparable items (with varying descriptions, not linked on Procurewizard e.g. milk) are grouped together to ensure the best value is seen in our shopping carts. This is complete for F&B, with non-food categories the next target.

We constantly research ways to keep costs down through substitute products and work diligently with supply partners and the wider team to prevent spend leakages, always with a focus on cost savings, and sustainability.

A recent initiative rolled out is our branded Spa Flip Flops . This was taken on with the support of Gillian Deedigan , aiming to reduce the volume of individual use slippers across The Spa, supporting sustainability and our ESG policy. A new SOP is in place, encouraging our guests to bring their own flip flops to appointments; if they forget we can offer a reusable, branded pair in a personalised cornstarch giftbag for purchase at €4. They are made from 70% recycled material and are themselves fully recyclable. This initiative grew from an idea implemented by the Sligo Innovation Team in March 2023, reducing the volume of individual use slippers given out, resulting in savings of €5,000 across 2024 in the hotel.

We have introduced a new range of Room Guest Amenities - Natural Remedies. All products are C2C certified, vegan-friendly, with all dispensers being fully recyclable.

Another pillar of our strategy is centralised maintenance contracts. We have just finalised our waste and lift tenders for the Group and are in the process of rolling these out. This has added bottom line savings to the group and supports our sustainability policies.

Wine Tender

We recently agreed a new co-partnership between Eno Wines & Findlater. Having two suppliers on board gives us more access to training & support, diversifies our range and supports our drive for improved ESG metrics.

Filip Muckross Park Hotel on the wine tender/ partnerships:

“We held a fantastic food and wine pairing with Masi Wine, that was organized by Findlater in Muckross Park. The gentleman with glasses is Giacomo Boscaini, incredibly a seventh generation Boscaini, the owners of the Masi brand.”

Enowines recently organised a trip to the south of France, to Carcassonne where we visited Fontareche winery.

Smart Operations

Smart Operations Strategy

The Smart Operations team, under the leadership of Seamus Preston , have been incredibly proactive looking at ways to improve operational efficiencies in the face of rising costs and business pressures, particularly across our Food and Beverage departments.

We have completed several rounds of Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Training recently. This course is specially designed for hospitality by our training partner, Tom McDermot from Agility Hospitality. Tom has trained over 60 managers and supervisors from our group office and hotel operations. The course taught them to find efficiencies, make impactful small changes, and reduce waste and inconsistency, enhancing guest service and productivity across our hotels.

Our ‘ Clean the Planet, Not My Room ’ program has been a huge success; with 28% of our stayover guests now electing to not clean their room. This is not only saving us money and time, but also contributes to our Down Syndrome Ireland partnership, where we donate €1.00 per every room not cleaned. We are proud to say to date, the program has generated almost €17,000 in support of DSI. Please all take the time to mention the ‘Clean the Planet’ program when you are speaking to our guests, the more that opt in the more it helps both our Smart Operations team and our charity partner.

In our Food and Beverage departments, we have introduced self-service tea and coffee stations across most hotels in 2024, generating significant savings in labour costs, with guests able to help themselves to hot beverages. With self-service buffets, we can reduce costs and increase face time with our guests, also tying in with our Guest Experience Strategy.

In our Kitchens, Stefan Matz and the culinary teams have been looking at ways of making our operations more efficient. We have invested in our pot wash areas, streamlining processes with installation of new equipment that is not only more energy efficient but also cuts down on the volume of labour required to keep this critical area of our kitchen operations moving. Our Head Chefs have been reviewing their kitchen layouts and finding clever ways to cut down distances and time to move food around which is also playing well into our efficiency targets.

The team are now working on our Spa and Leisure operations with a view to bringing greater efficiencies as we enter the busy summer season across the hotels.

Sustainability

One of the crucial elements of any business nowadays is their Sustainability Strategy, and this is something we have committed to fully in the iNUA Collection, with our focused team under the guidance of our Property Manager, Adrian Heaney working hard across all areas of operations.

Our commitment to using resources carefully and respectfully, and our drive to make sure we leave our planet in the absolute best condition for future generations is at the front of everything that we do. We ensure every decision we make, both at group level and hotels, always considers the impact on our planet and its natural resources, and it is vital that as a team we all play our part in this initiative. We have measured our carbon footprint and know that last year we generated nearly 10,000 tonnes of carbon across the hotels. The Fáilte Ireland climate target is to reduce all hotels in Ireland by 45% before 2030, and we are focused on contributing by reducing ours. We passionately believe this is achievable for our hotels.

We track and manage daily food waste in our hotels, aiming to reduce food waste from kitchen production, buffets, and plate leftovers. Any unavoidable food waste is fully recycled into renewable bio-methane gas, used for truck fuel and energy generation. We work closely with our waste management company, Food Surplus Management, who process our waste through anaerobic digestion, creating bio-methane gas and compost. In 2023, we repurposed an impressive 277 tonnes of food waste this way. We are targeting water conservation across

operations, and ensuring the water we use is recycled properly through local, or property wastewater treatment plants. We have a comprehensive system of measuring and monitoring our water consumption, receiving alerts if leaks are detected or if water use is above a normal consumption level. We have fitted aeration devices into majority of our taps and showerheads and continue to look ways to further reduce water use.

Energy consumption forms the highest amount of carbon generated, we are currently implementing a comprehensive metering platform in Tullamore Court Hotel to measure our electricity and gas consumption. Once this operating to full extent; we will begin group hotels roll out into 2025.

Talent Attraction

Our Talent Attraction team has been extremely busy in the first six months 2024. Our goal is to establish a comprehensive Attraction Strategy that enhances our brand visibility, optimizes the recruitment process, fosters a candidate-centric experience, nurtures future talent, and ensures exceptional role-person fit. This strategy aims to strengthen our talent pipeline, diversify our workforce, and contribute to our long-term success. Our focus is on continuous improvement and innovation in recruitment and engagement practices.

Here are updates on our five key objectives:

1. Development of a Social Engagement Calendar:

Under Jennifer O’Flaherty’s leadership, our engagement calendar has evolved significantly. In the first six months, our posts achieved an impressive 678,717 impressions. Engagements hit 17,265 likes across LinkedIn, and our followers grew by 33.38% to 32,068. Be sure to follow your property LinkedIn pages and the iNUA Collection page for more updates. We have a lot more coming across all other social channels too.

2. Implementation of a New ATS:

We successfully launched a new Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to build our own database of screened candidates. Alongside this, our new internal careers site is live for those looking to make a move. Please speak to your line manager before applying and check out the opportunities via the QR code.

3. Recruitment Strategy Implementation:

Our new recruitment strategy has been rolled out across all properties, reducing our time-to-hire to two weeks. We achieved a candidate NPS score of 79 and a 92% offer acceptance rate. Additionally, 34% of our hires this year are international, thanks to André Claro’s hard work overseeing international recruitment.

4. Hospitality Student Integration:

We aimed to welcome ten hospitality students per property in 2024 and build partnerships with five large international hospitality schools. Progress includes meetings with Vatel France, CCI Maine-et-Loire Formation, and The Tourism of Portugal. So far, we’ve welcomed 40 students, including 23 international students who rated their experience 4.67/5, thanks to the warm welcome from all of you.

5. Introduction of Psychometric Testing:

We’re in the early stages of integrating psychometric testing into our recruitment process. It’s currently being used in some operational and sales-focused roles.

If you want to learn more or get involved, feel free to reach out to Oran Carolan or any team member.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement.

Weddings

& Michelle Kavanagh who have been working tirelessly to achieve our strategy goals.

Our primary focus this year has been working with the support office to introduce an engaging & eye-catching marketing campaign for weddings, including AI hero images but also utilising real wedding content, as a centrepiece for each property. We are also scheduling video shoots in several properties; we are excited to see the latest content we will have for promoting weddings across our social media platforms.

Earlier this year, our team conducted a Lost Wedding Survey whereby we asked wedding couples why they chose not to book our hotels for their wedding. This tool has proved especially useful in gaining insights into where drops offs occur and where we can implement changes to convert more weddings. It also provided an in-depth insight into a couple’s wedding journey from first enquiry with the hotels.

We have introduced new wedding SOPs to ensure the standard for handling wedding enquiries and show arounds within each property is at the highest level possible & maintained throughout the group, to raise the conversion rate within each hotel.

The team have worked closely with the Commercial Management, Innovation and F&B teams to devise numerous ways to increase the F&B spend for weddings. The team have introduced various

ideas including an Upsell Menu, which allows couples to upgrade their wedding package with items like a Ginspiration Bar on arrival, pizza slices on arrival & even a cocktail bar!

Hillgrove Hotel introduced an upsell with their new ice-cream bicycle, which has already proven popular with 33 couples so far in 2024 having booked it for their wedding.

Several hotels have now introduced a cocktail bar using our newly sourced pour over Tails Range, and Radisson Sligo are piloting an innovation initiaitive with a mobile bar with cocktails on tap. These can be used for weddings and other corporate/summer events, we will be working with the operational teams to establish how the cocktail bars will affect beverage spend at weddings & events.

The team will also be trialling beverage waiters for weddings in a few properties, which will allow guests ease of convenience to order drinks directly at their table.

All these ideas will not only help raise the revenue for each event, but we hope they will set our hotels aside from our competitors by offering a more superior and unique service to our guests.

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME

FREE CONFIDENTIAL COUNSELLING & ADVISORY SERVICE

Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a confidential programme at no additional cost that provides you and your family members with immediate help and support in managing whatever issues you are facing.

We offer unlimited access for you and your family, to a telephone helpline, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year

Register for your new discounts platform for up to 200 deals! https://spectrumlife.benefithub.com/app/

How to register on Spectrum Life:

1. Visit the website https://spectrumlife.benefithub.com/

2. Select the person icon on top right hand corner, and click on “Sign In”

3. Enter your details to register (Be sure to choose Ireland as your country to access the relevant deals)

4. You will then receive a confirmation email from Benefithub<member.registration@ benefithub.com>

5. Continue to login and follow the instructions on the website for any deals you wish to avail of.