Hotel & Restaurant Times 201209 Aug/Sep

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER ‘12

THE

BUSINESS

PUBLICATION

FOR

THE

HOTEL

AND

RESTAURANT

€3.65

INDUSTRY

GREAT NATIONAL DRIVING BUSINESS, REDUCING COSTS

TURNING A BLIND EYE

HOW ACCESSIBLE IS YOUR RESTAURANT?

IRELAND’S MOTHER DUCK 50 YEARS OF SILVERHILL FOODS

THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN REVERSING THE TREND

www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie

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COVER: David Byrne, MD, Great National Hotels & Resorts

CONTENTS NEWS APPOINTMENTS GREAT NATIONAL HOTELS CLODAGH'S KITCHEN RAI’S BRIAN FALLON INTERVIEWED SILVERHILL – IRELAND’S MOTHER DUCK FÁILTE OPTIMUS CROWE HORWATH REPORT DIT’S INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION RAI NEWS MERRION SQUARE TOURISM IRELAND NEWS BOOKASSIST LA CAVERNA BIM FAMILY-RUN HOTELS HUGGARD HOTEL THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN COUNTING CALORIES WINE TURNING A BLIND EYE ON THE MENU

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Hotel & Restaurant Times 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 Contributors: Pavel Barter, Cynthia Bifolchi, Marilyn Bright, Eloise Cahill, Frank Corr, Stephen Dudley, Dr. Des O’Mahony, Crowe Horwath, Caroline Leddy, Restaurants Association of Ireland, Tourism Ireland & Fáilte Ireland Design, Layout & Production: Andy Ryan @ DIA - 086 8050464 Printing: GPS All paper used in the production of this magazine comes from certifiably sustainable forestry.

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ALL CONTENTS OF THE MAGAZINE ARE COPYRIGHT OF HOTEL & RESTAURANT TIMES: H&R HOUSE, CARTON COURT, MAYNOOTH, CO. KILDARE. TEL/FAX: 01 628 5447.

E-MAIL: editorial@hotelandrestauranttimes.ie WEB: www.hotelandrestauranttimes.ie H&RT AUGUST/SEPTEMBER ‘12

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No turning back Our Olympians have returned weighed down by their success and are to be congratulated on their respective achievements. Sad to say, we can’t bestow the same accolades on our Minister for Health, or should that be Ill-Health. The barmy scheme to try and eradicate our obesity problem is akin to the sledge hammer and nut scenario.

All of a sudden, in one swoop, by putting calories on menus, the nation will stop eating food that helps create the problem.

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I seem to recall a similar programme re smoking - as in warnings on packets. The result? We now have more young people smoking than ever before and are ahead of most other European countries. No lesson learned there it seems. Maybe the real issue is the implied legislation.

Although Minister Reilly acknowledges the need for food service businesses to be given some grace regarding the implementation of the new practice, he warns that the new initiative will become mandatory, saying, "voluntary for now, but if people don’t come to the party, I will legislate". And what do you bet there won’t be a charge for those who don’t comply. Or even maybe a licensing of food outlets, just like pubs (which after all are in a decline and as such a rapidly disappearing revenue resource) and so this could be easily addressed by such a scheme.

Maybe I am a tad cynical, but then nothing our government (particularly the Dept of Health and Environment) does surprises me when it comes to revenue schemes.

Families of patients in hospitals are now asked to transport them from one HSE unit to another by private car due to cutbacks. We will wait and see what Dr O has in store for us. Maybe the medicine will be worse than the cure!

The latest CSO figures again are source of concern and the continual UK decline has alarm bells ringing. While the agencies charged with promoting Ireland as a destination are working hard, and having success in other European and long haul markets, the UK still appears to be an Achilles heel.

Frank Corr tries to unravel some of the cause and impacts in his article "Can We Win the ‘Battle for Britain’? Some interesting points include the real economic position in the UK, along with the impact the bad summers are having. Our own experts have seen a rush to the sun in the last few weeks, with bookings well ahead of expectations to the sun hotspots. Time will tell if can we recover the lost ground in the UK or should we continue to boldly go on developing new markets.

One sign of encouragement is the recent Crowe Horwath report, which has to bring relief to the hotel sector. The Survey for 2012 reveals that after a four year decline, the hotel sector in Ireland is showing growth in profitability across all regions, giving Irish hoteliers cause to be cautiously optimistic that trading levels will improve over the coming years.

2011 was the turning point for the sector with room occupancy at Irish hotels averaging out at 61.4%, up nearly 2% year on year. Higher room sales and the continued benefit of cost cutting measures generated net profits per room of €5,220, up €981, or 23%, on 2010.

Let’s all hold our breath. Dare we say, we have turned the corner!

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Cyril McAree Editor

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NEWS Birthday bash at Royal Marine

The Royal Marine, Dublin, recently celebrated five years of business since reopening. Over 200 Guests came to mark the occasion including Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown An Cathaoirleach Councillor, Tom Joyce, local businesses, TDs and regular clients.

Front row (l-r) Xun Xun Ding, Aidan Ryan, Petra Mrazova; Second row (l-r) Gina Passi, Paulina Strzebek; Third row (l-r) Alma Kenny, Karen O’Brien, Benedicte Gache, Helen Fewster-Leng; Back row (l-r) Brenda Killeen, Therese Neville, Mary Macken, Paul Barr.

Harvey’s Point gets fully charged

NEWS

New bar gets the Point

A new bar offering panoramic views of Lough Eske has been opened at Harvey’s Point Hotel, Donegal. Formerly known as ‘The Dome’, the new bar complements the hotel’s Cocktail Bar and offers a new leisure option to both hotel guests and the local community. Pictured is Miss Ireland Maire Hughes at the opening of the bar with Noel Cunningham, customer relations manager, Harvey’s Point Hotel, Donegal.

Major industry support for Catex 2013

Harvey’s Point Hotel in Donegal has introduced a battery-charging service for electric cars. This follows the hotel’s publication of a ‘Green Guide to Donegal’ and the launch of a Green Guide App for visitors to the County.

The Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance (formerly the CEA) has announced that over 50% of stand space has already been snapped up for CATEX 2013. Leading exhibitors across the foodservice sector have secured their place at the biennial event, which is the biggest showcase in the industry and in 2011 96% of exhibitors rated their participation as “very worthwhile or worthwhile.” CATEX 2013 takes place at the RDS, Dublin on 19th-21st February.

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NEWS

Hoop dreams

French connections

Moran & Bewley’s Hotel Group have announced a three year sponsorship of Basketball Ireland, the national governing body for basketball on the island of Ireland. Part of FIBA Europe, the European Governing body, and of FIBA, the World Governing body, Basketball Ireland is responsible for the promotion and administration of basketball throughout Ireland and for Irish international participation. Basketball Ireland positions itself as a service centre for all levels of the game, facilitating all aspects of promoting and running the sport.

Catherine Bertin, Tourism Ireland; A r m a n d o Borgatta, A Touch of Ireland; and Caroline P e t r i n e , Conference Partners, at the a n n u a l conference of the national association of event agencies in Marseille.

Get your motor running Denis Murphy and Brian Quinlan of Audi Cork presenting the keys of the Audi A7 to Manjit Gill, Financial Director of The Gleneagle Group. Also pictured are Donagh Davern Regional General Manager at The Brehon, Les Vickers Business Development Manager and Shane O’Driscoll, Entertainment Director of The Gleneagle Group. The Brehon in Killarney has signed a partnership deal with Audi Cork. The car will transport the hotel’s VIPs and international stars to and from the hotel.

Matt Hall (Eagles basketball team), Tracey Moran of Moran & Bewley’s Hotel Group, Bernard O’Byrne of Basketball Ireland, and Fiona Mooney (Meteors basketball team).

O’Driscoll’s Tipp touchdown

Jamie Donaldson wins freedom of the Old Bushmills Distillery

The Brian O’Driscoll Rugby Academy, held earlier this summer, was sponsored by Tipperary Water for the third year running. “The last few years have been fantastic meeting the young generation of rugby players at the Rugby Camp from all over Ireland and beyond,” said O’Driscoll. “Marie Cooney, Director, Tipperary Natural Mineral Water said: “It is a pleasure to be involved with the BOD Academy once again.”

FSAI publishes new food information The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published a new industry booklet to give food businesses operators an easy to understand overview of some of the upcoming changes to food labelling under the new food information regulations.

The FSAI is encouraging all food businesses to familiarise themselves with the new regulatory requirements and download the booklet, which is available on the Authority’s website www.fsai.ie .

Jamie Donaldson has been awarded the freedom of the Old Bushmills Distillery by Bushmills Master Distiller Colum Egan. The Welshman was given the accolade after winning the 2012 Irish Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club. The award means that he will have access to a special bottle of Bushmills Irish Whiskey, housed in a bespoke cabinet, handmade from oak used in the whiskey making process.

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13 enforcement orders served in July The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) stated that twelve Closure Orders and one Prohibition Order were served on food businesses during July, making last month one of the highest in ten years for Enforcement Orders. The FSAI is reminding food business operators of their responsibility to fully comply with their legal obligations for food safety.

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NEWS

Full of beans

Fresh off the boat

Robert Roberts, the Irish tea and coffee company, has been awarded a highly-coveted Three Star Great Taste Gold Award for its Java Beans Coffee, and a further nine awards at the Great Taste Awards.

The Tallaght-based company roasts 458 million Java beans annually at its artisan roasting factory, off the Broomhill Road. Pictured is Garath Scully, Master Coffee Roaster and Commodity Buyer at Robert Roberts, next to the famous Robert Roberts Artisan Coffee Roaster, where coffee has been hand roasted since the turn of the last century.

The Write Stuff A group of journalists from the Middle East - including a representative of Al Bayan, the leading national Arabic newspaper in Dubai, and Emarat Al Youm, the only Arabic daily tabloid in the UAE - visited Kildare last weekend, as guests of Tourism Ireland and Emirates.

Carling has been rolling out the first phase of its biggest marketing campaign in Ireland to date.

The brand’s Brilliant Refreshment Guaranteed programme is activated in on-trade outlets across the north and south of Ireland over the summer months. The all-Ireland campaign invites consumers to buy a pint of Carling and - if they are not satisfied their pint is ‘brilliantly refreshing’ - they are entitled to claim their money back.

Electric dreams Laoise Molloy, Tourism Ireland (left), with a group of journalists from the Middle East in the Japanese Gardens, including (l-r) Bahij Warda, Azad Iesho, Mustafa Al Sheilby (interpreter), Carmen Ossaily and Osama Al Asmar.

Clarion’s winning team Manchester City FC enjoyed the facilities of The Clarion Hotel Limerick prior to their recent pre season friendly against Limerick FC. The squad arrived in time for lunch and relaxed in the Clarions 4 star accommodation’s prior to enjoying a pre match meal. Pictured (l-r): Samir Nasri, Manchester City; Ivan Tuohy, General Manager, Clarion Hotel Limerick; Joe Hart, Manchester City.

Restaurants condemn calorie count plan Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly’s proposed changes of putting calories on menus will cost each restaurant an estimated €5,000. At a time when restaurants are trying to create new jobs as well as saving existing ones, extra costs don’t need to be placed on them, according to the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

The move will cripple the restaurants industry at a time where revenues are 20% down on 2011, and one restaurant a day is closing, says Adrian Cummins, Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland. “How does the Minister for Health and his Department suggest that we pay for this without having to absorb the cost? It’s not easy for any business to cough up €5,000 in the morning. The banks aren’t lending any money.”

The 5-star Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Co. Waterford has become the first hotel in Ireland to purchase and run a 100% electric vehicle.

The hotel has invested in a new Renault Kangoo Z.E. 5 seat commercial vehicle as their on-site vehicle. The luxury hotel endorses a strong environmental policy and was keen to own a vehicle that reflected this. Hotel staff will use the new Kangoo Z.E. as a courtesy vehicle for guests and as a pick up and drop off for guests to surrounding areas. Pictured is Adriaan Bartels, General Manager of Cliff House Hotel, with Shane Hamm, EV Ambassador, H&H Motors, Renault.

Right direction for catering Compass Group Ireland, the Aviva Stadium foodservice providers, has received an industry award for its catering at last year’s Europa League Final which was held in the Aviva Stadium. The Final, which was a sell-out, attracted worldwide television coverage with over 100 countries taking the pictures.

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NEWS

Voyage of discovery

Clare Byrne, Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, recently joined the young Irish trainees about to set sail on a voyage of a lifetime: the last leg of The Tall Ships Races 2012. Over 50 Irish trainees flew to A Coruña in Northern Spain on August 11 then sailed home on a 10 day voyage to join over 40 Tall Ships for one of the biggest, free festivals of the summer. For more information www.dublintallships.ie or www.facebook.com/dublintallships

Put a Cork in it

Moher or less

Chinese business tourism buyers with Vicky Wu, Tourism Ireland China (third right), Joyce Fu, Emirates (fourth right) and Fiona O’Sullivan, Custom Ireland (second right), at the Cliffs of Moher.

Teeing up golf for the web As part of a series of web supports targeted at various industry sectors, a web conference for the golf sector was held at Druid’s Glen Resort Co. Wicklow.

This event was attended by over 30 delegates representing over 20 Fáilte Ireland Approved and Quality Assured Golf Clubs.

Pictured (l-r): Stephen Masterson, Powerscourt Golf Club; Danielle Cameron, Portmarnock Golf Club; Tony Lenehan, Fáilte Ireland; Bebhinn Carey, The K Club; and Denis Buckley Fota Island Resort.

Rooms to roam

A new brand, Ring of Cork, has been launched

by South and East Cork tourism to attract visitors to South and East Cork.

The Grand Canal Hotel has completed the refurbishment of over 70 Executive Rooms.

Facilities now include Egyptian cotton duvets, Smart TV’s - with complementary access to Internet including Facebook and Google, Recliner Chairs, Complimentary 12Mbps Wi-Fi, Professional HairDryers, Laptop Safes, CD Players and Bathrobes.

The refurbishment is part of a larger project to update the hotel, which opened its doors in 2004.

Flying visits

Has summer gone too soon?

Commenting on the CSO figures issued today for overseas visitors to Ireland for the first six months of 2012, Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Global economic conditions, and in particular the ongoing problems within the Eurozone, continue to present a challenging environment for travel to Ireland, as reflected in today’s CSO figures, which are flat for the first six months of the year.

“However, within today’s figures there are a number of encouraging indicators. The second quarter shows an improved performance on the first quarter; and the month of June alone has seen overall growth of several percentage points when compared with June 2011, including from the important GB market. As our tourism partners at home and overseas have suggested, business from Mainland Europe continues to grow with core markets all recording increases.”

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Hotels and guesthouses in regional tourism areas saw a disappointing start to the summer season, according to the latest Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) Quarterly Barometer with increased business in urban areas masking poorer performance across the rest of the country. On a national basis, 55% of hoteliers saw some increase in business compared with this time last year, with Dublin, Cork and Galway witnessing increased activity concentrated around business and event tourism. However, outside the main urban areas, the anticipated upturn in tourism failed to materialise with occupancy levels lagging in many seasonal hotels and resorts, particularly along the west coast.

Keep it clean Almost 70% of hotel guests said that cleanliness and hygiene was the most important factor when making recommendations to friends and colleagues, according to research completed across Europe by Hotel School The Hague in conjunction with Sealed Air’s Diversey business. The research also shows that most people now make their decisions on where to stay using online rating sites and leave bad online reviews or tell their friends if they encounter poor conditions. The cleanliness and appearance of bedrooms and bathrooms were the most critical areas for guests when forming their opinions.

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NEWS

Galway stops the press Journalists from eight different countries including Great Britain, the US, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, China and India recently visited Galway city and county. The journalists were here as guests of Tourism Ireland.

Hilton GM scoops awards

FAB coffee

Erwin Verhoog, general manger of the Hilton Dublin Hotel has been announced Hilton Worldwide General Manager of the Year 2012, at an awards ceremony in Germany.

Mr Verhoog, who has managed Hilton Dublin since 2008, was named ahead of 225 of his industry peers from all over Europe at the Hilton Worldwide Europe Region Awards.

Lisa Sheridan, from the Chocolate Lounge at Terminal 2, Dublin Airport, serves ARI Ireland Retail Director Paul Neeson with a cappucino and Dublin Airport’s FAB award, which it received for having the world’s best bars and restaurants at an airport with 10-25 million passengers per year.

Tweetings from Cork

Spreading the love Connacht Gold has been awarded the highest accolade of three stars for its Softer Butter at the prestigious UK & Ireland Great Taste Awards 2012.

Hotels chief seeks clarification on statutory sick pay scheme The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has urged the government to clarify its position on the proposed statutory sick-pay scheme. Acknowledging recent comments by Minister Richard Bruton that such a scheme would impact on competitiveness and employment, IHF President Michael Vaughan called on the Government to abandon the proposal and stop sending out mixed messages to businesses at a time when job creation is a national priority.

Toni Griggs (left) and Sarah O’Donnell, the winners of Tourism Ireland’s “T’weetour” competition, at the Farmgate Café in Cork’s English Market. Tourism Ireland launched the “T’weetour”, a unique business tourism promotion, in Britain in May, targeting senior executives from the International Special Events Society (ISES) and the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) who are active in social media.

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Emer courts managerial role

APPOINTMENTS PLUS

Making his Marker The Marker Hotel has announced the appointment of Charlie Sheil as its new General Manager. The hotel opens in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock in early 2013. Charlie Sheil, 40, was previously the General Manager of The Gibson Hotel in Dublin (2010 - 2012) and the Clarion Hotel in Co. Cork (2004 - 2010) and oversaw the successful opening of both hotels.

A view for management Emer Sweeney has been appointed Corporate Sales & Wedding Manager at Dublin’s newly renamed Clyde Court Hotel (formerly Berkeley Court Hotel, Dublin). From Donegal Town, Emer began her career in the hospitality industry with the Hyland Central Hotel (Donegal Town) on Front Office and from there she moved to work on the pre-opening for Radisson Blue, Letterkenny, as Senior Receptionist.

Emer progressed to Events Manager with Radisson Blue and then moved to their Head Office in Dublin as National Sales Coordinator.

After a short break to travel Europe, Emer returned to Ireland taking up the role of Sales and Marketing Manager at The Village At Lyons.

On your marks

Roisin O’Sullivan joins The Marker Hotel as Director of Sales and Marketing. Roisin has over ten years experience working in senior management sales and marketing roles in the hospitality industry. Prior to joining The Marker Hotel, Roisin was assistant Director of Sales at The Westin Dublin. Previous to this, Roisin held various sales and marketing positions within Star wood Hotels and Resorts and the Ovation/MCI Group. Roisin O’Sullivan holds a first class honours Masters in Business Administration from the UCD Smurfit School of Business.

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Brian McNamara has been appointed General Manager of the Glenview Hotel & Leisure Club in County Wicklow. Deputy Manager of the hotel since 2006, Brian also held the position of Assistant Manager in Parknasilla Great Southern. Prior to this, he was Food & Beverage Manager in the Dromhall Hotel, Killarney, and Killarney Great Southern. Brian trained with the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group in Cork and was Duty Manager in Aghadoe Heights.

New award to recognise local tourism effort Fáilte Ireland has confirmed that 46 towns from across the country have made the long-list for its inaugural Tourism Towns Award to be announced later this year. The new Award has been designed to help Irish towns and villages enhance their appeal to tourists visiting their local area. Building on the TidyTowns seal of approval, the tourism authority this year invited the 100 top scoring towns from the 2011 TidyTown Competition to apply for the very first Tourism Towns Award.

The top ten “Highly Commended Tourism Towns” will be announced at the National TidyTowns Awards in the Helix on September 10th with the overall winner to be announced by Fáilte Ireland in November. The top ten towns will each receive €1,000 with the winner receiving a further €10,000.

Welcoming the new scheme, Leo Varadkar Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport said, “A strong tourism sector can contribute greatly to the economic viability of a local community, and this new award is another step towards supporting Irish towns and villages to provide visitors with a welcoming and enjoyable experience while at the same time boosting local business.”

The award will focus on how participating towns have developed their local area in the following key tourism areas: • Sense of Place - How the town tells its own unique story to visitors, what’s special about it, and what distinguishes it from other towns.

• Local Involvement - How the local community works together to provide an authentic visitor experience.

• Tourism Products Available - What the town has to offer visitors.

• Development and promotion of the town - How the town takes a unified approach to marketing and developing the town into a “tourism town”.

Gordon Gaffney, Manager of Destination Development in Fáilte Ireland, highlighted the characteristics of a tourism town and the mechanics of the award scheme - “We have taken great care in drawing up the assessment criteria, ensuring that towns receiving an award have enhanced the experience of their visitors, improved their local ‘tourism offering’ and encouraged community wide participation in the development of local tourism.”

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Great National:

driving business, reducing costs When asked what is the single biggest difference Great National Hotels and Resorts is delivering to it’s hotels throughout Ireland and the UK, MD David Byrne replies ‘driving business and reducing costs’.

Great National Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Pontoon

“Our hotels comprise independent, owner operated hotels in provincial locations through to city based chain brand properties, and consistently the impact Great National has is to accelerate business through improved ARRs and/or volumes while reducing distribution, marketing and reservations costs,” explains Byrne.

From it’s Customer Contact Centre base in Ennis, Co. Clare, the Great National brand has emerged as one of the fastest growing brands in Ireland and the UK in the last two years and is set to grow further throughout 2012 and 2013: the Hotel and Restaurant Times can exclusively reveal Great National is due to sign an alliance with a further 4 UK based hotels, which will take the group to 24 properties by the end of Q4 2012.

Outlining the Great National model used to achieve this, Byrne attributes it primarily to constantly delivering value to hotel partners, not just in terms of actual business but also in terms service and support.

“Sure, a lot of businesses lay claim to this but this is genuinely the case with Great National: for example our fee structure is largely performance based so if we’re not

making a difference to our client hotels, Great National suffers.”

“Equally on the consumer side, the reason why the Great National brand has become established so quickly as one of today’s top hotel names - certainly in Ireland - is because of firstly the quality and mix of hotels we work with; secondly the integrated brand-driven marketing and distribution mix we use; and thirdly and ultimately, due to the value delivered to consumers.”

When asked further about the key challenges facing hotels, Byrne points to a number of fronts, all of which to a lesser H&RT AUGUST/SEPTEMBER ‘12

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BUSINESS PLANS

Great National Woodstock Golf Resort and Spa, Ennis

or greater extent have shaped today’s industry.

The first of course is the current structure of the industry which is well documented and which is likely to continue into the medium term.

“Specifically the industry will continue to be dominated by management companies, operating hotels on behalf of banks, etc. while awaiting sale. This in turn will in some cases continue to bring pressure to bear on pricing however in my opinion we’re through the worst of this as the commercial property crisis begins to stabilise. Albeit we’re far from out of the woods yet.”

“ As with practically every other business sector in Ireland, in the absence of active bank lending and credit financing, hotels will also continue to struggle with managing cash-flow.

“As with practically every other business sector in Ireland, in the absence of active bank lending and credit financing, hotels will also continue to struggle with managing cash-flow.

Massive unemployment combined with falling house prices both of which impact consumer confidence, and of course increasing energy costs, are clearly impacting on demand and the cost of supply ... and that’s even before you get into the current global down-turn so we’re caught in what’s rightly called the ‘perfect storm’.”

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Hotels are feeling the brunt of this because in simple terms they’re largely seen as fitting into the category of discretionary spending and we see this both within the B2C and the B2B market. Despite the fact that personal saving levels are at Great National Riverside Park Hotel and Leisure Club, Enniscorthy their highest ever in this country.”

Asked as to what a hotel can do on a practical level to address these challenges, Byrne identifies the following: strong branding, aggressive distribution, proactive yield management, optimising conversion and real-time reporting.

Elaborating, Byrne explains how each of these ‘strategic strands’ as he calls them can and will make a significant impact on any hotel business, stressed or otherwise.

Strong Branding “Customers buy from brands they recognise and hotels are no different. Having a widely recognised, well perceived brand will enable a hotel to communicate and compete more effectively in what has become a saturated market-place where customers are increasingly distracted. Critically, a strong brand will also encourage past customer loyalty as well as positive word of mouth which in turn helps reduce client acquisition costs. So branding is key and should not be under-estimated in enabling a hotel to compete in what is a crowded, increasingly noisy market-place.”

Aggressive Distribution “By this I am referring to the various channels-to-market a hotel uses to promote itself and sell rooms: everything for example from traditional media such as radio and newspaper advertising through to 3rd party agents, GDS channels and deal sites, the latter being a more recent phenomenon, through to a hotel’s own website. These are all means of distributing product and will each have their merits; either way it’s important in today’s market that a hotel manages these channels so as to achieve a mix that maximises exposure while delivering as many, what we call, OTB’s or ‘opportunities to buy’. Without OTB’s, customers simply can’t buy.”

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BUSINESS PLANS

Great National Kilmurry Lodge Hotel, Limerick

Proactive Yield Management “There’s frankly a lot of lip service paid to this in the industry yet without fail some hotels will not flex their rates based on supply and demand, preferring instead to rely on uniform pricing.

Consumers will by their very nature shop Great National Victoria House Hotel, Killarney around for the best price; furthermore, the market is now more transparent than ever before, case in point being 3rd party agent sites which allow dynamic price comparison based on star ratings, location, hotel type, etc.. So it’s vital that hotels proactively manage their rate plan not just to stay in the market but also to optimise marginal returns.”

“

Optimising Conversion “Clearly there are two primary booking ‘routes’ for hotels, on-line and off-line, the former referring to web reservations and the latter referring to phone reservations.

Take on-line first. There are a number of key determinants which drive conversions: obviously availability and price but there There’s frankly a lot of lip are others such as for example the how service paid to this in the easily navigated a website is, the quality of your photography, the booking engine industry yet without fail and payment gateway used, etc., all of some hotels will not flex which will impact directly on a visitor’s their rates based on willingness to make a booking. supply and demand, “Equally, converting phone enquiries preferring instead to rely requires a stable, secure environment such as we provide in our Customer on uniform pricing.

Contact Centre where reservations agents can comfortably and confidently talk to customers. The reality within hotels unfortunately tends to be the opposite where a receptionist has to handle check-ins and check-outs, billing issues, housekeeping queries etc., as well sound enthusiastic to potential bookers while achieving the best rate.”

Real-time Reporting “In order to achieve all of the above, at the heart of this is real-time reporting: that is, knowing the numbers in your business.

Everything from search engine visibility to rate effectiveness to turn-away rates, through to call volumes to ARRs to marketing cost of sale. Getting a handle on KPIs or key performance indicators, will enable a hotel to better compete while developing and maintaining market share.”

In conclusion, Byrne adds, “each of these strands are central to unlocking the potential of any hotel, be it city centre or resort-based, and form the basis for what we do in Great National. As to their impact, this is demonstrated by Great National consistently delivering month on month, year on year growth for our member hotels, despite some of the most challenging times our industry has had to face.”

For further details on Great National, visit www.gnaffiliates.com or email David Byrne at db@greatnationalhotels.com.

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NEW RESATURANTS

Homemade

by Clodagh

Arnotts is Dublin’s largest department store and is renowned as Ireland’s landmark retailer of superior goods. However Arnotts is more than just a purveyor of clothes,

Michael Andrews

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homeware, cosmetics and other quality products as nestled within this bustling emporium are two of the busiest food outlets of their kind in Dublin’s city centre.

Under the brand ‘Homemade by Clodagh’ by chef, media personality, author and entrepreneur Clodagh McKenna, are: Clodagh’s Kitchen, an intimate restaurant in a country kitchen setting; the Food Court, a convenient self-service dining area offering Clodagh’s wholesome, fresh homemade fare for those who want a quick bite; and Clodagh’s Bakery, selling cakes, pastries and sandwiches made fresh from the bakery.

The outlets and concession are under the guidance and care of innovative and creative Clodagh and are rooted in the philosophy of locally sourced, homemade, healthy and affordable cuisine. Clodagh’s Kitchen recently had an investment of €350,000 from Capital Foods resulting in a newly refurbished contemporary restaurant/bistro with seating for 80 in a warm and inviting atmosphere akin to the kitchen and dining room of Clodagh’s home. A combination of bespoke materials were used to create the new look and feel of the restaurant including a decorative metal and painted wood panelling throughout. The new cooking area has been redesigned in such a way to open up to address the dining room where diners can enjoy being part of the cooking experience of Clodagh’s working kitchen.

Hotel and Restaurant Times caught up with the multitasking Corkonian to talk about her beginnings in the food industry, the newest addition to the brand, Clodagh’s Kitchen, and to discover what she attributes her success to.

‘Homemade by Clodagh’, which launched in Arnotts in September 2011, was the culmination of many years of hard work, vision and determination. After obtaining a scholarship in New York University’s prestigious Stern School of Business Clodagh studied a degree in business focusing on marketing. This gave her the impetus to start her own business. After deciding to move back to Ireland Clodagh took out a modest loan from the Credit Union to train at Ballymaloe Cookery School.

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“I got offered a job as a chef there and the business ideas went out the window,” says Clodagh. “I just loved it and stayed there for three years while I was training. I went on then to work at farmer’s Sourcing the best Irish markets. They had a great vibe and I ingredients is key. We have thought, wow, this is the future. It was a someone employed new excitement because people hadn’t specifically to source spoken directly to farmers before about produce.You could easily their produce. The first one I did was Midleton and the sense of community have one company to spirit really put the village atmosphere supply you with everything back into Midleton. I’ve never liked food but then there wouldn’t be snobbery. I’ve always been interested in the passion with the chefs making good food accessible to people or waitresses. like myself. You don’t feel inhibited when you go to a farmer’s market. You feel included and that’s what I love about food. At its heart it’s inclusive.”

This was the beginning of the sense of refreshing down to earth honesty that would go on to define the ethos of Homemade by Clodagh. After going on to set up a farmer’s market in Farmleigh and developing other markets through giving talks in different communities about how to reach out to farmers in their area, Clodagh decided to write a book on the subject.

“I got a no from every publisher I approached in Ireland. So I went one bigger and got a yes from Harper Collins!” laughs Clodagh. “From there RTÉ approached me to do a series based on the book and at the time I also was the head of Slow Food Ireland events. I then went to Italy for further specialised chef training so it was a busy few years.”

This tenacity and work ethic stood to Clodagh when setting up Clodagh’s Kitchen.

Clodagh, along with Peter Gaynor and John Collins of Capital Foods Emporium Ltd. who control the Arnotts restaurants, approached Michael Andrews, who, having worked in Harvey Nichols Dundrum as hospitality manager in the setting of hospitality operations side by side with retail, was the ideal consultant for Clodagh’s Kitchen.

“They had some great plans,” Michael explains. “Clodagh had great passion and

vision as to what she wanted based on homemade philosophy- using the best of Irish and keeping it fresh and honest.

Clodagh’s Kitchen offers good quality and good service and it complements Arnotts well.”

Clodagh is insistent on using only the best quality seasonal produce and she changes the menu each season. The menu features shellfish from Castletownbere, salamis and cheese form Gubeen Farm in West Cork and meat from O’Coiléain Butchers in Foxrock, among others.

“Sourcing the best possible local and Irish ingredients is key,” Clodagh says. “We have someone employed specifically to source produce. We try and taste everything. You could easily have one company to supply you with everything but then there wouldn’t be the passion with the chefs or waitresses.

I get the staff to taste things every few weeks too so they know what everything tastes like if customers ask. We try to keep everything as personal as possible.”

Michael adds - “We have a purchasing manager who ensures we purchase directly, daily, weekly and monthly, making sure we’ve paid the right price, making sure it arrives. We are very detailed and everything is micro-managed. Everyone has a job to do and everyone needs to work together for it to succeed.We have strong individuals in each area who understand what we need to do and are responsible for their niche areas.

Teamwork is extremely important” Clodagh is very hands on in the restaurant and agrees with Micheal’s teamwork ethic.

She is on site week to week and she is in out of the kitchens on a daily basis working closely with the chefs and bakers. She explains - “I work hard. Everyone needs to work hard together; it makes work easier and the restaurant nicer place to be. I love this work, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. I’m more on the creative side and then Peter and John run the business side of things. We come together, along with Michael, and everyone pools their ideas.”

Clodagh loves food and is passionate about creating dishes that are made from scratch that are nourishing and delicious, yet affordable.

“Everything in Clodagh’s Kitchen is homemade,” says Clodagh proudly. “From jams, chutneys, mayonnaises and salad dressings to our breads to the cookies that go with their coffee, it all can be traced back to the restaurant’s kitchens.”

So what are Clodagh’s plans for the future? Well she’s certainly showing no sign of slowing down.

“Clodagh’s Kitchen is my baby. I want to get to the level where I say, wow. A mistake is if a chef thinks they’re bigger than their brand, never think that. I do want to open another Clodagh’s kitchen in the future but for now I want to focus on this one as it’s taking up all my time!”

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INTERVIEW

The meal deal RAI chief Brian Fallon on the resistance of the restaurant sector amid recession, the challenges from cheap menus and government charges, and why we don’t need calorie counts on our menus.

Brian Fallon knows, perhaps more than most, the resilience of Irish restaurateurs. In 2005, his family hotel, the Red House, was destroyed by a fire. The Fallons took a lease on a local restaurant to keep the Red House team together while considering their next move. Eventually they sold the hotel site, which was located between Naas and Newbridge, and founded the restaurant Fallons in Kilcullen. Fallon, the current president of the Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI), knows how difficult it can be for restaurateurs who face hardship.

“People put their heart and souls into their restaurants - you have such an emotional connection with your business,” he says. “It’s not like you’re making toilet seats or selling car batteries. You become emotionally involved in the fabric of the building. People are emotionally bonded to their businesses and they find it very difficult to let it go. They will make sacrifices, cut corners and shave costs.

Apart from the fact they have huge emotional investment, a lot of places have substantial financial investments where they put serious money into decor, into the background of a kitchen, places the customer may never see.”

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however, many proprietors face this situation. One of the problems is an oversupply of restaurants, a trend that began in the boom years when most mixed development planning applications included a restaurant. Furthermore, business costs are increasing all the time.

“Light and heat bills, food products...,” muses Fallon. “Where wages have stabilised and we can shave a few corners here and there by putting in extra hours, the margins have become so thin because the general public’s expectation has been reduced so low. As a result you have busy restaurants that are not making any money.”

One of the biggest problems facing businesses is the reluctance of revenue to compromise when a restaurant gets into financial trouble. “It just takes one strike, one failure of an arrangement and the revenue can close you. I’ve spoken to [Tourism Minister] Leo Varadkar about this - it can’t just be down to someone [in revenue] to close a business, be it a restaurant or supermarket, without investigating all the particular avenues Where wages have stabilised and seeing if there is a possibility of and we can shave a few saving it. A lot of restaurants find corners here and there by themselves in that difficulty - having to putting in extra hours, the talk to revenue and not being able to margins have become so thin get any answers. ‘If you’re not paying, we’re closing you’.” because the general public’s Fallon’s Dublin outlet, Fallon & Byrne, expectation has been faces troubles of its own after going into reduced so low. As a result examinership in late 2011. Earlier this you have busy restaurants that year, the High Court approved a rescue are not making any money. plan for the business, which employs 160 people. Fallon, who recently returned to the team after stepping off the board a few years ago, says it is back on a strong financial footing and operating well.

Customer spend has fallen dramatically, though. In a recent discussion with Varadkar, the Minister told Fallon that his local restaurant is packed every Thursday night. Fallon pointed out that people are sharing starters, eating starters as main courses, and avoiding desert.

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Recession-friendly menus, offering prices as low as €15 for a three-course meal, have succeeded in attracting people to restaurants. Fallon says these venues are often fly-by-night. “Often, you have to question the longevity of these places,” he says. “Some of them don’t last long. As a result, when they close they do so at a huge cost to suppliers and the exchequer. In the meantime, they have created a playing pitch that is incredibly unlevel. The basic punter is very confused. ‘How come this little place on the corner can do it for €10 and others can’t?’

“When you look deeply into it, you might find there are so many factors When you look deeply into it, contributing to that €10 menu. Some you might find there are so of it is not always completely many factors contributing to legitimate. It can be based on the fact that €10 menu. Some of it is that someone is in there for a short not always completely period of time, take what they can, and legitimate. It can be based on then disappear.” the fact that someone is in Surely many of these low-budget there for a short period of eateries make their margins on time, take what they can, and cocktails? “Possibly. I’ve seen that then disappear. over the last couple of months. That was always the case in Spain. You go to a Spanish resort and see menus for €10 and wonder how they do that.

They tell you they make their profit on drink. They are providing food as a vehicle to get you in.”

The RAI reckons the government are hardly helping matters with their scheme to introduce calorie counts on menus across the country. The Association has estimated that the proposed changes will cost each restaurant an estimated €5,000, at a total cost of €110m to the industry. Fallon agrees there is a problem with obesity in Ireland, but does not think it should be the position of restaurants to rectify this.

Minister of Health, James Reilly, has said that if businesses have not complied by Christmas he will legislate. Restaurants who change their menus or offer daily specials will find it impossible to keep up with the calorie count, Fallon points out.

In their report about the matter, Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said “food businesses currently do not have the expertise or resources to implement and sustain a calorie menu labelling scheme”.

The FSAI went on to recommended the creation of a business support plan, training modules, and an online software package to help businesses calculate the calorie content of food and beverages. These plans have yet to be implemented, so

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how can the industry possibly comply before Christmas?

“My own feeling about this has been that Minister Reilly really didn’t think it through,” says Fallon. “The way to tackle this problem was to start with the multiples. It can work in certain situations, but to go on a special night out to l’Ecrivain and choose your menu based on the calorie count is crazy. I don’t know if that’s going to tackle obesity in Ireland.”

Other issues continue to hamper the Irish restaurant industry. When he became RAI president, Fallon vowed to outlaw upwardonly rents. The European Court, however, deemed such a move unlawful and many businesses continue to struggle as a result of exorbitant rents. The JLC wages issue also looks set to come back with a vengeance, alongside Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton’s sick pay scheme.

Fallon declines to comment on the ability of the tourism bodies to return the sector to a sense of stability, but he’s obviously disappointed with their performance. He reserves praise, though, for the Department of Tourism, particularly Minister Leo Varadkar who he describes as “a good mind. He’s frustrated about his inability to do more but slowly he’s getting places.

He’s a smart guy, very well versed and read on the situation. There’s little he doesn’t know about. He has a surprising business mind for a politician. He’s a little critical of our industry. He thinks we shot ourselves in the foot in terms of prices and as a result, prices climbed up to exorbitant rates. In many instances, he’s probably right.”

Right now, the industry is too busy tackling current challenges to dwell on past misdemeanours. Fallon says the urbanrural divide has been exacerbated by this summer’s miserable weather. “Rural restaurants would have normally taken some of the business from the cities; that hasn’t happened now. Everybody is feeling the pinch. I’ve a restaurant in Dublin and a restaurant in the county. The dynamics are completely different, but they’re equally challenging.”

Nevertheless, quality will always rise to the top. “People who are sticking by their guns and the quality of their ingredients seem to be surviving the best,” remarks Fallon. “Time and time again, we’ll see the good operators. The people sticking by their quality are the ones that survive.” And that doesn’t necessarily mean adding calorie content to menus.

Not long after our chat, Brian Fallon leaves a message on H&R Times’s answer machine, in which he quotes the American chef and food writer James Beard: “A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch.”

Once again, the government is trying to force the industry into bed with another undesirable scheme.

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LOCAL PRODUCE

Ireland’s Mother Duck

As a young boy growing up in Monaghan, Silver Hill Ducks was always a place of awe to me. Visiting my grandfather in Emyvale I marvelled at the duck duvet in the fields at the edge of the village, without any knowledge of the genesis of the business.

Little did I know of the compromise involved in the company’s evolution. Silver Hill Foods are a testament to this. Over 50 years ago Ronnie and Lyla Steele embarked on a journey which today has resulted in one of the countries leading poultry success stories. When they decided to go into business back then, one wanted turkeys and the other wanted chickens, so they comprised, and went into duck production, and the rest as they say, is history.

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It’s hard to believe standing in the headquarters in the sleepy but quaint village of Emyvale Co. Monaghan, that Silver Hill Ducks are referred to in China as the Mother Duck and command a following some producers can only dream of. Such success and accolades don’t just happen. They are the result of continual research and development and this is where Silver Hill Foods excel. They can trace the lineage of the breed right back to the company’s inception just as racing horse breeders do with a thoroughbred horse, and it’s the breeding that holds the master key to success. Its worth noting there are, in total worldwide, only four companies who breed ducks, but Silver Hill are the only one that keeps its breed and stock entirely to itself, where others sell their breeds to competitors.

Understandably they protect this component and asset of the business with the intensity you’d expect. But what might surprise you is despite its worldwide success, this company retains its sense of being a family run business, with all the values and the ethos which that brings. This is ultimately reflected in the product and equally in the pride of those who work in Silver Hill Foods has about their produce. This is a somewhat refreshing finding in the heady world of conglomerates and the dog eat dog culture we often attribute to large businesses in today’s marketplace.

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But what might surprise you is despite its worldwide success, this company retains its sense of being a family run business.

This unique exclusively bred Silver Hill Hybrid duck has been continually developed over the years, to produce a duck that is consistent in its quality making it much sought after, as you would expect. Today, they supply the best Chinese restaurants in Europe with their Head On and Oven Ready Ducks range. Such is the company’s understanding of their customer base, Silver Hill can provide a perfect weighted duck for their consumers exacting requirements.

It’s hard to believe standing in the headquarters in the sleepy but quaint village of Emyvale Co. Monaghan, that Silver Hill Ducks are referred to in China as the Mother Duck and command a following some producers can only dream of.

The celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is known for the ludicrous lengths he’ll go to in order to find the best ingredients. He duly went searching the globe to find the best duck to make a traditional Peking Duck dish, and travelled through China and most of Europe before ending up on the outskirts of the sleepy village of Emyvale, Co. Monaghan.

Equally, numerous chefs throughout the island of Ireland also use the Silver Hill Duck range of produce in their menus, as they also have become aware and acknowledge the superior quality and flavour and importantly the flexibility it allows them with their menus.

With celebrity chefs Nevin Maguire and Noel Mc Meel, two local success stories in their own right, serving dishes to the great and the good, continuing to use this product it bodes well for the future. It’s highly probable that most restaurants or hotels that have duck on their menus in Europe will have sourced it from Silver Hill.

These days, Silver Hill’s display cabinet in the hallway of its small office complex is quickly running out of space. In the past couple of years alone the company has received numerous gongs and pieces of crystal, including an Ulster Bank Business Achievers Award in 2009, for best familyrun company; the prize for best food producer in this year’s Irish Restaurant Awards; a place on Deloitte’s 2011 and 2012 list of best-managed companies; and nomination as a finalist in the 2011 Green Awards.

Today the company produces about 60,000 ducks a week, all part of a special breed that is hand-reared and fed on a natural diet. The result, say fans, is meat that’s succulent, tender and full of flavour.

We’ll let you be the judge of that.

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WEBINARS

Web supports monthly webinars Make them a regular date in your diary Fáilte Ireland’s Web Supports Team have been running a very interesting series of FREE Webinars since March this year. Each Webinar focuses on an aspect of online and offline topics associated with marketing your business as a Tourism Product Provider.

These 30 min sessions allow you to gain insights into key areas of online and offline marketing are provided free of charge and don’t involve you having to take a day out of your busy schedule.

The Webinars contain lots of really useful tips and techniques for Digital Marketing as well as offline marketing suggestions.

The Webinars have included topics such as a session on Trip Advisor where you can learn about invaluable tools available on Trip Advisor such as the Trip Advisor Management Centre which handles queries from Tourism businesses about their listing.

You can also learn tips on how to encourage your customers to leave reviews on Trip Advisor on your product or service, as well as benefit from advice on how to engage with your customers online when they write a negative review.

Another Webinar addressed the untapped potential of the Chinese market and the exciting potential impact this market could have on your bottom line.

This session includes specific advice on how to market your business online in China and how to prepare your staff to receive Chinese visitors when they arrive with key insights into the cultural preferences of the Chinese visitor while on holiday.

Other topics covered to-date have included sessions on mobile technology, and Facebook Timelines.

You can register for the Webinars by emailing Colette@razorcoast.com - to participate in the live event (e.g. to view and to contribute a question to the speaker on the topic in question during the online session). Alternatively you can access the Webinar of your choice as many times as you wish after the Webinar has taken place. h t t p : / / w w w. f a i l t e i re l a n d . i e / N e w s Features/News-Library/Web-Supportsnow-available-Online.aspx To register for the next Webinar (11.00am 29th August 2012 - Topic: Marketing Tips for the Christmas & New Year period 2012/13 guest speaker Clodagh O’Brien) email Colette@razorcoast.com

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Making sure your Christmas campaign isn’t a turkey It may seem strange to be thinking about your Christmas marketing plan when the shops are still stocking bikinis. But having a truly effective Christmas marketing campaign requires planning in advance if you want come up with something exciting and different, and not just last year’s flyer with a new date! So this year, why not make your New Year’s Resolution in advance, and make sure you give yourself the time to be proactive and thought-provoking.

On Wednesday 29th August at 11am, Clodagh O’Brien, Newmarket Consulting, will deliver a webinar on behalf of Fáilte Ireland highlighting the importance of carefully planning a Christmas and New Year’s marketing campaign in advance, including planning tips, the need to have a clear picture of your target markets, your campaign goals, and how they will be measured.

With so much competition for the Christmas and New Year’s markets, it’s important to make yourself stand out from your competition. Think creatively about what is unique about your offering and what that will mean to guests and visitors.

For example, think about what emotional connections people have with Christmas, and how this might create an association with your business. Host a Christmas cinema club, design a menu based on Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, a 12 Cocktails of Christmas menu or make Christmas cup-cakes!

And remember you don’t have to do it all on your own, you can design a joint

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WEBINARS

marketing campaign with other businesses to broaden your offering and add-on resources. Offer an accommodation package with local retailers and a personal shopper who will help with Christmas shopping, but do it in October and November! If families are your target market, join up with a local craftsperson and

have a Christmas card or Christmas decoration making classes in November.

Organise an unwanted gifts exchange event in January. Welcome Christmas pets in January and February. Have a games weekend with boardgames, lego, charades competitions to avail of the return to tradition. It doesn’t have to be just about Christmas day and New Year’s Eve. Running a Christmas campaign does not necessitate a Hollywood Blockbuster budget either. There are many no-cost or low-cost marketing tools that can be used that do not need to involve a major budget. Use social media, not just to start

conversations, but to see what people are saying about Christmas and New Year. You should respond to them and create an association with your business and also use the conversations as a source of ideas.

Creative promotional videos can be shot on a shoestring with the potential to go viral if they catch the imagination.

Clodagh will also be discussing how important it is for any tourism business to set clear campaign targets and monitor them. Measuring a campaign can be easily done for online marketing, but should not be forgotten for offline marketing too. Tips such as having a dedicated Christmas phone line or email addresses, or sending out vouchers with your Christmas cards will all you to find out what’s working, and what’s not. If you want to ensure you’re getting a good return for your hard earned marketing budget - measuring is key!

So rather than reheat the leftovers from last year, write a new recipe that includes choices based on your target market’s preferences. Join Clodagh on 29th August and find out how to design and plan, in advance, an up-cycled rather than recycled Christmas campaign.

To register for the next Webinar (11.00am 29th August 2012 - Topic: Marketing Tips for the Christmas & New Year period 2012/13 guest speaker Clodagh O’Brien) email Colette@razorcoast.com H&RT AUGUST/SEPTEMBER ‘12

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INDUSTRY REPORT

Hotel sector experts call on banks to restructure Irish hotel debt Crowe Horwath, advisors to the Irish hotel sector, is calling for an immediate restructuring of Irish hotel debt by banks operating in the sector, to protect industry standards and generate investment. The call came as Crowe Horwath launched its 17th Annual Irish Hotel Survey in Dublin.

The Crowe Horwath Annual Irish Hotel Survey 2012 reveals that after a four year decline, the hotel sector in Ireland is showing growth in profitability across all regions, giving Irish hoteliers cause to be cautiously optimistic that trading levels will improve over the coming years. 2011 was the turning point for the sector with room occupancy at Irish hotels averaging out at 61.4%, up nearly 2% year on year. Higher room sales and the continued benefit of cost cutting measures generated net profits per room of €5,220, up €981, or 23%, on 2010.

Overall Ireland’s hotel sector was boosted in 2011 by a return to growth in the number of overseas visitors to Ireland, which at 6.5million, is over 6% up on 2010 visitor numbers. Furthermore: Dublin hotels enjoyed occupancy growth (up 3% on 2010 to 70.5%). Average room rate growth is up €2 to €81.01, and average profit per room for Dublin hotels increased by €1,464 to €7,690, or 24%.

All indications suggest that Dublin will continue to outperform other regions in future years While hotel profits in 2011 were up for all regions for the first time in four years, hotels at the premium end of the market performed best. The Luxury (5 star) and First Class (4 star) hotels enjoyed a strong rebound in profit growth in 2011, while Mid Price (3 star) and Economy hotels recorded a decline in profits. Growth in average room rate achieved was a key factor in the varying performance.

The South West region also enjoyed both occupancy growth - up 1.5% to 58.9% and average room rate growth - up €0.53 to €71.36 per room. The average profit per room for the South West hotels increased by €1,129, or 34%, year on year, albeit off a low base. While the Western Seaboard and Midlands and East recorded profit growth, this was mostly attained through cost efficiency as both regions suffered a fall in average room rates.

Despite the optimistic figures, there is real concern around the level of investment 22

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Pictured at the launch of the Crowe Horwath 17th Annual Irish Hotel Survey, at the Merrion Hotel Dublin: Minister of State for Tourism & Sport, Michael Ring TD; Aiden Murphy, partner Crowe Horwath; and Anne Walsh Horwath HTL (Hotels, Tourism & Leisure) division.

in general repairs and maintenance in the sector where hotels have needed to implement cost savings. There is a fear that that the burden of debt now on hoteliers will have long-term The Crowe Horwath Annual repercussions on standards in the Irish Hotel Survey 2012 reveals industry, as hotel owners focus on that after a four year decline, paying off debt in the immediate term the hotel sector in Ireland is and investing less in repairs and maintenance. showing growth in profitability The level of investment per room in across all regions, giving Irish 2011 is in contrast to the amount hoteliers cause to be invested in repairs and maintenance in cautiously optimistic that Irish hotels in 2006 and represents a trading levels will improve 34% fall, which for each year of underover the coming years investment leads the hotel product to deteriorate further.

According to Aiden Murphy, partner Crowe Horwath, “While it is expected that

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IHF responds to report by Crowe Horwath

Pictured at the launch of the Crowe Horwath 17th Annual Irish Hotel Survey, at the Merrion Hotel Dublin: Christine Connolly, Crowe Horwath; Aiden Murphy, partner Crowe Horwath; and Anne Walsh Horwath HTL (Hotels, Tourism & Leisure) division.

hotels will cut back on maintenance in times of lower profits, we have a genuine concern that this may damage the sector in the longer term if the Irish hotel product develops a reputation for being shabby. It is vital for all stakeholders that the hotel sector is not jeopardised in this way.”

“Our reputation as a destination that offers quality hotel product was established after a period of intense investment. In the seven years up to 2007, 36%, or 22,000 rooms, were added to the hotel stock as hotels benefitted from capital investment to renovate and expand their property. The main source of funding for this investment was through bank loans, which was provided with the expectation that the hotel sector would enjoy steady profits and that banks would be in a position to provide long term funding for the hotels. The market intelligence suggests there is currently €6bn of loans attached to Irish hotels with BoSI/Certus, NAMA, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank the main providers. There appears to be a limited capacity by the remaining banks to absorb these loans.

Major events in Irish banking in recent years included the decision to establish NAMA to acquire loans, associated with property developer borrowings and the closing of Bank of Scotland Ireland (BOSI). The impact for the hotel sector is to seek early repayment of the €2.5bn loans attached to 250 hotels whose borrowings are now managed by Certus/BOSI and NAMA. While profits in the Irish hotel sector are up for the first time in four years they remain at 50% of the peak levels achieved in 2006, prior to which most this funding was sanctioned by banks.”

According to Murphy, “It is inevitable that with more hotels will be placed in the care of bank appointed receivers and that the role of specialist hotel operating companies, or asset managers, will grow. The number of hotels which require new financing away from their present lenders could be as high as 300 Irish hotels, or 40%, of the sector. The appetite for lending into the sector by the banks still committed to the Irish economy is limited.

“We believe a restructuring of debt for the hotel sector will ease the burden on hoteliers and allow for investment in the sector to safeguard the industry in the future. Based on an understanding of likely future profit levels, banks can start to make informed decisions on loans. By allowing forbearance over the last three years, banks now have the benefit of seeing how the hotels are likely to perform following the result of full adjustment to their sales and cost base.

“It seems the time is now right to renegotiate the loan facility agreements to make them affordable and to optimise recovery over the terms of the loans. Currently

Commenting on the recent survey and report by consultants Crowe Horwath, the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) notes that the profitability figures cited in the report are ‘Before Finance’ and that, when the cost of finance is taken into account, the majority of hotels across the country are making a loss. The IHF estimates that the average cost of finance per hotel room in the country today stands at €6,500 per annum.

Michael Vaughan, President of the IHF states that, while 2011 figures showed an increase in occupancy rates, this was from a historically low base and followed a drop of over 30% in revenues since 2007. He states that the sector had expected a significant increase in business for 2012 but that this has not materialised to date and that hotels and guesthouses in regional tourism areas are continuing to experience a disappointing summer season.

Mr Vaughan notes that some increase in business is being seen in the main urban areas of Dublin, Cork and Galway (due to increased activity concentrated around business and event tourism), but that outside these areas occupancy levels are lagging in many seasonal hotels and resorts.

Commenting on difficulties experienced by hotels and guesthouses in accessing standard credit facilities from their banks, Mr Vaughan states: “The quality of hotel stock in Ireland is very high following years of investment.

The challenge now is to ensure hoteliers have access to appropriate levels of credit to enable continued investment in their product.”

there are over 80 hotels have been had a receiver appointed by their funders and, unless there is a movement towards whereby both banks and hotels become more engaged in agreeing new finance restructuring, this number could easily double over the next 12- 18 months.

“The process of dealing with these challenged loans, where there is a mandate for early recovery, will be daunting for many hoteliers and full of unknown consequences.

“The hotel stock in Ireland is a strategic asset for our tourism sector and we can only hope that the fall out from the banking and property crisis will not harm the tourism prospects of this country, which in turn is key component to the national recovery plans,” Murphy concluded.

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EDUCATION

DIT’s School of Hospitality Management and Tourism developing its international profile DIT is set to develop a new 300 acre iconic hotel and tourism college campus on Hainan island China.

The proposed new college will be based in Sanya, a major tourist resort on the island and forms part of the Chinese government’s plans to develop the island as a major international tourism destination. Hainan with its tropical climate, exquisite beaches, breathtaking scenery and quality tourism product is the number one domestic destination for Chinese tourists and is marketed as the ‘Hawaii of the East’. Visitor numbers have grown by 20% per year since the Chinese government announced its plans to develop the island as an international destination in 2009.

The Government’s strategic plan for the development of the island has as a strategic priority, the establishment of an international tourism college by attracting an internationally university’ to the island.

DIT’s School of Hospitality Management and Tourism has been formulating a proposal with local Hainanese partners over the past year to deliver on this key strategic objective for the Provincial Government.

This process culminated with the agreement signed in Hainan on July 13th between DIT, China Aroma Investment Corporation and a local university.

The agreement will see China Aroma Investment Corporation design, build and maintain the college while DIT will manage the college and deliver the programmes from Bachelors degree up to PhD level. It is anticipated that the college, when fully operational will have up to 10,000 studying on a range of hospitality management, tourism and culinary arts programmes.

The college will produce graduates primarily for Hainan, Macau and mainland China. In addition to building the school the investment company will also develop a resort incorporating a hotel, golf course marina and convention centre which will be operated by a leading chain and will act as a training facility for students. There will be a student exchange programme with students from DIT being able to study and get work placements in China and Chinese students will spend a period of their studies in Dublin.

Oman Tourism College

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Professor Brian Norton, President of DIT and Mr. George Lu, CEO, China Aroma Investment Corporation, sign agreement to establish Hainan International Tourism College as a branch campus of DIT

Head of School Dr. Dominic Dillane signs agreement with Beijing International Studies University

“This is an important step in the further internationalisation of DIT. It demonstrates the growing worldwide recognition for Irish education in general, and the career orientated focus which has formed the backbone of DIT’s mission, since its inception,” said Professor Brian Norton, President of DIT, following the formal signing ceremony. “The agreement sits well with the Irish government’s strategy for international education and follows the growing trend in higher education of establishing branch campuses around the world,” he added.

In a separate development DIT is partnering with Oman Tourism College to deliver DITs programmes in Oman. Developing tourism is a priority for the authorities in Oman and the tourism college will be the principal provider of hospitality management and tourism graduates for the region.

Dr Dominic Dillane, Head of the School of Hospitality Management & Tourism added, “ DIT has pioneered hospitality management education in Ireland and is recognised as a World Tourism Organisation Centre of Excellence in tourism education. These exciting developments are a strong endorsement of the quality of our programmes but equally important it recognises the high quality of the Irish tourism product which has been developed and delivered by our graduates.”

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TOURISM INITIATIVE

Fáilte Ireland unveils plan to put Merrion Square on the map

Dublin’s finest Georgian square celebrating its 250th anniversary

Fáilte Ireland recently launched an initiative to “awaken” and promote Dublin’s Merrion Square as a unique and vibrant cultural destination and tourist attraction.

Merrion Square, located in the heart of Georgian Dublin, has an exciting cultural and events programme happening this year which is sure to position it as a “go-to” place for national and international culture seekers. Enabled by Fáilte Ireland, the stakeholders and community around Merrion Square are coming together to build awareness of its rich history and heritage, and to stimulate civic pride. This is especially apt for 2012 as Merrion Square is celebrating its 250th anniversary.

A Merrion Square Open Day will be held on August 25th followed by September On The Square, a month long series of events bringing visitors on an exciting journey of discovery through art, literature, music, history, architecture and family activities.

Last year the museums and institutions on Merrion Square attracted 1.6 million visitors but Fáilte Ireland believes there is huge potential to increase this number.

Launching the Merrion Square initiative, Fáilte Ireland Chief Executive, Mr Shaun Quinn, said globally cultural tourism is the fastest growing tourism segment.

“Merrion Square has all the elements necessary to make it a strong, vibrant and important cultural tourism centre. Right now Merrion Square is asleep and many of its treasures are hidden from view. Through this project Fáilte Ireland, along with the Merrion Square stakeholders, will promote the Square. Nurturing Dublin’s heritage and cultural assets in this way is critical to the long term prosperity of Dublin.

“We are delighted to be working with the stakeholders in Merrion Square in order to reveal the inaccessible culture and heritage that is waiting to be explored.”

This initiative has emerged from ideas that were generated during the Merrion Square Innovation process where 37 stakeholders came together to unlock the potential of Merrion Square as a key cultural destination in Dublin for local, national and international visitors.

Speaking at the launch, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, Sean Rainbird, said - “Promoting the Merrion Square cultural quarter is a very important development that will create awareness of and enhance the public’s access to art, history and heritage.”

Merrion Square has an abundance of strengths from its strong Georgian heritage, cultural institutions, leisure facilities, and its political, social and scientific history.

Mapped out 250 years ago in 1762, it has fine Georgian Houses on three sides and the garden of Leinster House and The National Gallery and Natural History Museum on the 4th.

Today many of the houses are predominantly used as office space but there is a wealth of history attached. Oscar Wilde lived as a child at 1 Merrion Square, where Bram Stoker also spent a lot of time attending Lady Wilde’s salons, while W. B. Yeats lived at No 82, and Daniel O’Connell at No 58.

The Square is well known for its Sunday Open Art Gallery and is home to diverse organisations such the National Maternity Hospital, the Irish Traditional Music

Archive, the Irish Architectural Archive, the Irish Georgian Society, the Society of Antiquities, the College of Anaesthetists and the Irish Red Cross. It has a stunning public park and is looking forward to welcoming increased Dublin visitors over the coming weeks.

The September in The Square activities will include walking tours, mid-week lunchtime music performances and talks in key buildings as well as special events on Culture Night on Friday September 21st.

The programme will give people the opportunity to see inside key buildings on the square, and experience events in some of Dublin’s most beautiful rooms.

Events during the month will include: • A series of Weekend Wonders with themed programmes, all with a spirit of discovery to uncover the secrets of Merrion Square and its unique character.

• A dedicated Family Trail free of charge to encourage the young at heart to uncover Merrion Square’s secrets.

• A series of pop-up evening events giving the opportunity to experience Georgian Living on the Square, the great period of socialising, ideas and culture that the Square was expressly developed to meet.

• Specific Sunday events will include a Wilde about Words day, where great thinkers, poets and innovators will come together inspired by the spirit, and writings, of Oscar Wilde and his family The month will conclude with a Weekend Wonder on Sunday 30th September designed to get behind the personalities and characters of the individual buildings and their histories.

Many of the events will be free of charge.

See www.merrionsquare.ie for more information.

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TOURISM

Tourism Ministers invite Irish in GB to come home for ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’ Tourism Ministers Leo Varadkar and Michael Ring travelled to Britain recently, to invite the millions of people of Irish descent living and working there, as well as those with Irish connections, to come and visit Ireland next year for ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’ or to encourage their own extensive networks of family, friends and business colleagues to organise their own ‘Gatherings’ here in Ireland during 2013.

Vanessa Markey, Tourism Ireland; HE Bobby McDonagh, Irish Ambassador to Britain; TV and radio presenter Miriam O’Callaghan; Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar; Simon Gregory, Tourism Ireland; and Terence O’Rourke, KPMG, who spoke at the event in the Irish Embassy in London.

Phase one of a ‘Gathering’ roadshow got under way in Britain, led by Minister Ring, when he met with Irish communities and Irish business networks in Manchester and Glasgow.

Minister Varadkar was in London, where he addressed members of the Diaspora at an event in the Irish Embassy organised by Tourism Ireland; he also met with and briefed representatives of Former Irish and Celtic the London media and gave a series of goalkeeper Packie Bonner, with broadcast and print media interviews.

Minister Michael Ring and Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Vanessa Markey, Tourism Tourism Ireland, said: “Great Britain is Ireland, at a networking event in Glasgow for ‘The Gathering our largest and most important tourism Ireland 2013’. market, delivering over 50% of all overseas visitors to the island of Ireland. With an estimated six million people throughout GB claiming Irish descent or affiliations with Ireland, Tourism Ireland is actively reaching out to the Irish Diaspora, inviting them to come home and visit Ireland in 2013.”

Phase two of the ‘Gathering’ roadshow in Britain will take in Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh. Tourism Ireland is also planning promotional events for ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’ in the United States, Australia and other markets into the autumn, working with the ‘Gathering’ project team.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Shoot for Second Phase of Tourism Ireland’s Global TV Ad Campaign Filming for the second phase of Tourism Ireland’s global advertising campaign, Jump into Ireland, took place recently at various locations around the island - including in Dublin, at the Cliffs of Moher and Lahinch Golf Club in Co Clare, and in the walled city of Derry. The three-year campaign - comprising TV, radio, print and online advertising - has already been rolled out successfully across all Tourism Ireland’s main overseas markets in early 2012. The campaign will reach an estimated annual audience of 200 million potential visitors.

Other locations which feature in the three television ads unveiled earlier this year include Dublin’s Ha’penny Bridge and Sweney’s Pharmacy (which features in James Joyce’s Ulysses), showcasing Dublin as a fantastic city break destination and as a cultural and literary mecca; the new Titanic Belfast building and a music concert in Belfast, placing the spotlight on the city’s links with the famous ship Brian Twomey (left) and Mark Henry (right), and its dynamic music scene; as well as iconic tourist spots like the with Baz Irvine and Samuel Abrahams, Giant’s Causeway, the beaches of Connemara, Dingle, the Ring of during filming at the Cliffs of Moher.

Kerry and the Rock of Cashel.

Juggler Johnny Phelan (front) with Brian Twomey and Mark Henry, both Tourism Ireland, director Samuel Abrahams and director of photography Baz Irvine, during filming for the second phase of Tourism Ireland’s global advertising campaign, Jump into Ireland, in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin.

Tourism operators hit the road in GB Tourism companies from around the island of Ireland travelled to Great Britain recently, to join Tourism Ireland for two roadshows aimed at raising awareness of Ireland as a fantastic holiday and short break destination.

The roadshows involved workshop events hosted by two leading tour operators specialising in group and coach travel to Ireland - Albatross Travel in Kent and Discover Travel and Tours in Worcester. These business-to-business workshop sessions provided a valuable opportunity for the Irish companies to present their product to the sales and operations staff of both tour operators and to communicate what is unique about the island of Ireland as a holiday destination. The roadshows also took in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham, targeting shoppers and potential holidaymakers with messages about the many things to see and do on holiday here as well as the ease of access from GB to Ireland.

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Ciara O’Donoghue, Randles Hotels, Killarney; Claire Cole, Tourism Ireland; Jim Maher, Select Hotels of Ireland; Mark Fryer, Albatross Travel; and Debbie Moran, Tourism Ireland, at a workshop event in Kent.

Margaret Mellor, Tourism Ireland; Lorraine Vickers, Grand Hotel, Wicklow; Linda O’Sullivan, Randles Hotels, Killarney; Alan O’Neill, Irish Boat Rentals; Richard Hurley, Granville Hotel Waterford; and Noel Coffey, House of Waterford Crystal, outside the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham during a recent tourism roadshow to GB.

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Dublin plays starring role in new Bollywood film Some of Dublin’s best-known locations appear as never before in a new Bollywood blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger which hit the screens on 15 August. Starring two of India’s most celebrated actors, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, the film, which was shot on location in Dublin last autumn, features lots of the city’s landmarks for spectacular dance sequences and stunts - including Trinity College, the Shelbourne Hotel, Temple Bar, St Stephen’s Green and Grafton Street.

The film, which means ‘Once There Was A Tiger’ portrays Dublin as a modern, fun and vibrant city, rich in history and culture. It will ultimately be released in 24 countries, projecting images of Dublin on the big screen to a massive audience of over 100 million people across the globe.

This is the first time that a major Bollywood production was shot in Ireland. Tourism Ireland worked with the Irish Film Board to secure the film for Ireland and with Dublin City Council and other agencies to Salman Khan, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars (front, help facilitate filming in centre), with Irish extras during filming of Ek Tha the city. Tourism Ireland Tiger in Trinity College, Dublin. is confident that it will help to significantly boost awareness of the island of Ireland among India’s growing middle and upper classes, as well as the Indian Diaspora around the world, who have the potential to come here on holidays.

Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland’s chief executive, said: “Bollywood is deep-rooted in the psyche of most Indians and the films have a considerable influence on Indian travellers when they are deciding on their holiday destination. We are confident that the footage shot in Dublin will help whet appetites and create a curiosity among Indians to come and visit the places where the colourful ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ was shot. We are delighted to have cooperated with the Irish Film Board in securing this important film for Ireland which was also made possible through strong support at Government level.”

Free opportunity to promote your business overseas Tourism Ireland is always on the look-out for excellent ‘experiential’ offers to use in a range of campaigns which are designed to encourage potential holidaymakers around the world to come and visit the island of Ireland. These feature in the offers section of the discoverireland.com website, which last year attracted almost 12 million unique visitors.

Research shows that offers which include uniquely Irish experiences help to convert enquiries into sales. The ‘experiential’ offer is based on the idea of helping visitors get a real sense of the island of Ireland, by offering additional value and an experience that can make their holiday truly memorable.

This opportunity is free of charge. If you feel you have a great experienced-based offer, then Tourism Ireland would love to hear from you. Offers are accepted on an ongoing basis but please check with the industry opportunities website for specific campaign deadlines.

For more information on the offers criteria, visit www.tourismireland.com/industryopportunities or for assistance with your offers submission, email tioffersdesk@tourismireland.com

Tweetings from Ireland!

Cork, Dublin and Belfast rolled out the red carpet recently to welcome the various winners of Tourism Ireland’s “T’weetour” competition. During their time here, the winners - all social media enthusiasts working in the important business tourism sector in GB - visited some of the most recognised and historical sites in and around each city while tweeting and blogging live about their experiences. They sampled venues for conferences, events and meetings and also got to experience some fun events which business delegates can enjoy here on the sidelines of their conference or meeting, interacting with locals and savouring aspects of our unique culture and heritage.

The “T’weetour” was a new and unique business tourism promotion which targeted senior executives from ISES (the International Special Events Society, an organisation representing hundreds of professional events planners across GB) and ICCA the International Congress and Convention Association, whose members organise international meetings and events) who are active in social media.

T’weetour winners Toni Griggs, ISES (one of the most influential international event management bookers in Britain) and Sarah O’Donnelll, online editor and feature writer with Mash Media, with Yvonne Carr, Tourism Ireland (right), at Castlemartyr Resort, Co Cork.

Yvonne Carr, Tourism Ireland; Ciaran McCloone, Dublin Convention Bureau; and T’weetour winners Juliet Heather, Richmond Creative Events, and Jonathan Byrne, president of ISES, enjoyed the Skyline tour at Croke Park in Dublin.

Celtic Festival is Launchpad for ‘The Gathering Ireland’ in France The Festival Interceltique took place recently in the city of Lorient in Brittany. With a huge audience of some 700,000 people coming together to celebrate Celtic music and culture, it was the ideal opportunity for Tourism Ireland in France to kick off its promotional programme for ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’. Tourism Ireland had a busy stand at the festival, distributing information about ‘The Gathering’ and holidays to Ireland.

The Festival Interceltique is an annual festival which takes place in the heart of the city of Lorient every August, with about 200 events and shows featuring traditional Celtic music, singing and dancing.

A full-page colour ad for ‘The Gathering’ ran in the festival programme which was distributed with Télé 7 jours magazine to about 116,000 people. Featuring a competition to win a trip to Ireland in 2013, the ad invited readers to come to the Ireland stand at the festival to find out more about ‘The Gathering’.

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ONLINE MARKETING

Reducing your hotel’s dependence on OTAs is surprisingly easy, and best of all it’s free!

The news this year has not all been doom and gloom for travel. At the end of July, the Central Statistics Office released figures that showed there were 12,300 more visitors to Ireland between April and June this year compared to the same period in 2011. Apart from those welcome numbers, it is also clear that online travel continues to grow strongly as a segment for hotels as the move from offline to online continues unabated.

So why are so many hotels still not growing margin from direct business to their websites, and continuing to be overreliant on online travel agencies (OTAs)?

The fault for this lies squarely with hotels and their baffling inaction on their web presence.

OTAs have their place in your business, but you should be in control of how you use them, not reliant. Many hotels seem to think that there is no way to fight the OTA tide, yet the answer is surprisingly simple and can cost little or nothing in real terms.

To illustrate, let’s look at the behaviour of online bookers so we can determine the facts of the approach that a smart hotelier should take.

There are two cases to focus on: (1) The customer who knows your hotel, or has already decided on your hotel, and wants to stay with you - let’s call this person “Your Customer”. This is your business to lose.

(2) The customer who wants to stay in the general location where your hotel is but who has yet to decide which hotel to choose - let’s call this person “Your Potential Customer”.

They are an opportunity for you.

Case 1. Your Customer For Your Customer, who has already decided on your hotel, there is no excuse for not being able to capture that business directly through your website at the lowest cost of acquisition. Two things can happen, depending on whether Your Customer already knows your web address or not.

If Your Customer does not know your web address, then they will search for your hotel. This search results phase is the first battleground that determines your success or failure. You must be running pay per click (PPC) advertising to ensure that your hotel’s advert appears at the top of the results page for searches for your hotel 32

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Figure 1 Example of an Irish hotel showing a PPC advert (top) with clear calls to action and pricing, versus the OTA generic approach, plus top position in the natural search listings (bottom of screen).

name, and your advert must be more enticing in terms of its offer than that of the OTA that is inevitably competing with you (see figure 1). Additionally, your website structure and content must also be fully search engine optimised (SEO) to ensure that your hotel website also comes top of the natural listings for searches for your hotel name.

Even today, a significant number of people cannot distinguish between paid and unpaid search results, and a majority of people click on the first search result on the page, whether paid or unpaid.

Failure to properly manage PPC and SEO at a professional level can therefore cause you to lose Your Customer at this point, who may click through and end up on an OTA and book your hotel at significant and unnecessary high commission cost to you.

On the other hand, if Your Customer already knows your web address or clicks through to your site via search, then the battleground moves directly to your website. This is the offer phase, where you make your pitch via your website. Your website must instantly confirm their opinion of your hotel and not introduce any doubts about their decision if you are to convert Your Customer. This means good, clear and simple layout, easily accessible and bang-up-to-date content, text in Your Customer’s language, relevant content to anticipate needs such as transport and location information, high quality informative photography everywhere and a site built to impress, promote and sell. Your Customer will expect a clear best price guarantee and last room availability. If you can tick all those boxes, then Your Customer will likely proceed to book.

At this point, the booking phase itself must be as clear as day and must avoid

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ONLINE MARKETING

Figure 2 Clarity in the Bookassist calendar booking system with clear visual pricing, customer feedback on booking conditions, dynamic calculation of total cost for children of different ages, clear pricing and design matched to the hotel website all help to instill customer confidence and improved conversion.

creating any doubt in Your Customer’s mind (see figure 2). Your system must provide clear pricing, exact information on what is and is not included in the price, terms and conditions of booking, clarity on whether full or part payment is to be made during the process, easy configuration of changes like extra children or room additions, and on the payment page a clear policy on who has access to the personal and credit card details provided by Your Customer. Security is a key concern for online customers and Your Customer will want to be sure that they can trust the process and, by extension, you. Choosing a secure Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant booking system such as Bookassist’s is critical today.

What is clear is that the offer and booking phases on your website are key to removing doubt and encouraging a sale to Your Customer. These phases need to be seriously invested in. To put it another way, failure to invest in the points raised above will result in you turning away business from someone who actually wanted to be Your Customer!

Case 2. Your Potential Customer For Your Potential Customer, the initial approach is different, There is no direct search for your hotel at first. Instead, Your Potential Customer typically uses OTAs and review sites to get information about accommodation in a location, and may simply stay on the OTA and complete their booking if it is attractive enough to them.

But a significant number of those users will also narrow their choices and then investigate potential hotels further by performing a search and clicking through to hotel websites for further information. When they do so, they follow the offer phase outlined above for “Your Customer” and your hotel has an opportunity to convert if it gets everything right in the search, offer and booking phases.

campaigns to tackle the above requirements might seem a tall order when budgets are tight. But your hotel already has ample budget for this if you view your business in the big picture rather than focusing on apparent isolated costs of web development. Here is a simple exercise that you should follow using your own figures for (a) your hotel’s average booking value, (b) your booking engine commission and (c) your typical OTA commission.

Figures across hundreds of hotels in Ireland using our services show an average booking value nationally of €194 today.

Let’s suppose website booking engine services are provided for a commission of 3%, and an OTA’s commission level for the same booking is 18%.

A direct booking therefore might cost on average (3% x €194), or €5.82.

But you fork out (18% x €194) or €34.92 for the same booking via OTA. So if you can divert just one booking per day from an OTA to your website, then you are saving (€34.92 - €5.82) or €29.10 on that same booking. But the key is to look at it another way: you can afford to spend €29.10 on efforts to divert that one booking from the OTA to your website without any loss of income.

Now if you do that every day then you can afford to spend (€29.10 x 365) = €10,621.50 in one year on that effort without any loss of income. That’s a lot of “free” budget you’ve made available from just diverting one booking per day, budget that can be used to ensure you are successful at diverting by investing it in the best quality web design and online marketing available.

In reality, proper investment will result in far more than just one booking per day redirected, so there is plenty of cash in the budget to tackle your website and online marketing professionally and take control of your online business. This puts professional website costs in perspective given what they can achieve for you.

The Bottom Line Skimping on website costs and not dealing with it professionally is wasting rather than saving money. It plays directly into the hands of OTAs who are more than happy to see hotels continually miss the big picture.

It’s a no-brainer to invest in this and it’s a very costly mistake not to.

The Big Picture Investing thousands of euro in professional website development and PPC Dr Des O’Mahony is CEO and Founder of Bookassist (bookassist.org), the technology and online strategy partner for hotels. Bookassist provides Site Builder web design, Traffic Builder PPC management and Booking engine services to drive direct business to hotels.

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RESTAURANTS

Drive, experience and dedication La Caverna is an Italian restaurant and wine bar in the heart of Temple Bar, Dublin’s renowned cultural quarter. The restaurant focuses on fresh pizza, pasta, chicken, fish and meat dishes with an Italian flavour and spans three floors, including a newly renovated 300 year old wine cellar dining area. Temple Bar, with its many eateries, bars and cafés is a competitive area to run a restaurant. This, coupled with the economic downturn means all restaurants, including La Caverna, face a challenging time.

However Transylvanian born Dan Balau, who has run La Caverna for the last six years, has the drive, experience and dedication to ensure the restaurant overcomes these difficulties. Hotel and Restaurant Times met with Dan to talk about his commitment to the business, his understanding of the customer’s needs and the challenges he faces.

Dan has been in the restaurant business for over twenty years, with his passion for food beginning at a young age when he began helping his mother in the kitchen. In Romania he studied marketing and management but it wasn’t until he moved to Ireland that he began working in restaurants as waiter, chef, head chef and eventually restaurant manager.

“I always wanted to have a restaurant at some stage in my life,” recalls Dan. “I worked in different departments to gain as much experience as I could. What you learn in school is different to the reality. The restaurant business is not easy; it is not just the nice food, the nice dining room that you see. I was a restaurant manager at the time before I came here but I wanted to be my own boss. I fell in love with this place and connected with it as soon as I saw it.”

This experience was a crucial learning curve for Dan and prepared him for running La Caverna. He explains - “Through experience I learned how to develop the menu to adapt it to the area I am in and what the customers want. Temple Bar is an area mostly visted by tourists so La Caverna needed a broad menu to cater to all tastes. Even with sourcing produce- yes, we are Italian and we try to get some Italian products such as tomato sauce and flour, but mostly everything else is Irish. This suits our tourists as Irish meat and fish are well known for quality and taste. The biggest seller in the restaurant is the 34

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beefsteak followed by the lamb and then Italian pizza and pasta. Key to ensuring the quality of produce for my restaurant I am fortunate to have sourced a number of key suppliers. We buy only Irish Through experience I meat even though it costs more to learned how to develop the buy and Quality Meats are our menu to adapt it to the area main supplier for all our beef I am in and what the requirements. All my Italian produce is sourced and supplied customers want. Temple Bar

by Little Italy, and my wines are is an area mostly visted by sourced by Wines of Italy.” tourists so La Caverna This understanding of the needed a broad menu to customers’ needs extends to Dan’s ability to adapt the business cater to all tastes. to meet the challenges it faces.

When he started running La Caverna the economic climate was very different.

With the decline in tourists and people spending less Dan had to rethink his

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RESTAURANTS

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approach to overcome these difficulties and accomodate the changing nature of the hospitality industry.

“People want something more casual now,” Dan explains. “We try to include fine dining elements to give customers a good experience but we are very competitive on price. You have to come up I work very hard to keep with new things to be competitive. the business going.

We come up with different offers Sometimes I don’t leave and discounts and update them regularly on our website which is until two or three in the looked after by our web company morning but I leave Future Business. We also promote satisfied people are happy the restaurant every day in Temple and I’ve done a good job. A Bar; we talk to tourists and we tell restaurant’s survival them about La Caverna and depends who is running the our special offers to give them business. that ‘push’.”

Other problems Dan feels the hospitality industry faces at the moment are local authority charges, rising supplier costs and lack of support from banks.

“I hope the new local authority charges being brought in at the end of the year reflect how Ireland is at the moment,” says Dan. “We have to cut our prices yet we have to pay more for certain services such as waste collection etc. The VAT reduction hasn’t had a noticeable impact either. Many restaurants are being crippled at the moment.”

Despite these challenges Dan’s commitment and passion to his career hasn’t wavered and he remains positive about the future- “I work very hard to keep the business going. Sometimes I don’t leave until two or three in the morning but I leave satisfied people are happy and I’ve done a good job. A restaurant’s survival depends who is running the business. If I didn’t love this I wouldn’t be able to do it. If you don’t have passion you can’t achieve anything. I want to keep this restaurant open and keep people in a job and to do that I will work as hard as I can.”

Little Italy: 01-8733935 Wines of Italy Wine: 01-2811007 Quality Meats: 01-8775600 Future Business web company: 01-4441387 www.fbi.ie

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SEAFOOD

Coming from Out of the Blue Marilyn Bright talks to Tim Mason of Out of the Blue, Dingle, Co Kerry, a man who saw potential in a derelict shack beside the harbour - and turned it into one of Ireland’s best-known (and most uncompromising) seafood restaurants.

For restaurateur Tim Mason, Out of the Blue couldn’t be a more appropriate name for his seafood Mecca now enjoying its twelfth year beside Dingle pier. Although a South County Dubliner, Tim spent most of his working life abroad, shifting between financial powerhouses of Zurich, New York, London and Dusseldorf as a stockbroker and commodities trader. Taking a sabbatical from the stress of the trading floor, a leisurely home holiday brought him to Dingle, which was to prove his fatal attraction.

“I drove down to the harbour and passed this tumbledown jumble of a shack with the light sparkling on the bay and boats bobbing up and down,” Tim recollects. “and I thought that’s it - I could do something here.”

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Although Tim always had a keen interest in food and his mother was a good cook and follower of Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David, he had never been involved at the sharp end of cooking, much less the catering profession. What did stand him in good stead, however, was the fact that stockbrokers (in those days anyway) I drove down to the dined extraordinarily well, so he had harbour and passed this experience of the best restaurants tumbledown jumble of a around the world. shack with the light The tiny restaurant/fish shop that opened in the summer of 2001 was a far sparkling on the bay and cry from international fine dining, but boats bobbing up and fresh paint had worked wonders and the down and I thought that’s emphasis was on fresh, fresh fish – sold it - I could do from the iced counter to be taken home something here. or cooked and served up at one of the five tables. With the nearest trawler just 50 yards away, Tim and his chef would literally drag the boxes across to the shop.

“In the early days we used to sort the fish in front of the cafe - we just had no room inside - but it drew a lot of attention and attracted customers who could see how

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really fresh everything was. You couldn’t do that today, though.”

The restaurant has expanded bit by bit over the years, with derelict sections of the premises gradually reclaimed. The main dining area today was formerly the old donkey shed with a holed tin roof and the fish counter has given way to a much needed bar area. There’s seating now …Tim found that three for 35 - 40 people, with three tables chefs working switchable outside under a bright awning. rotas suits the confines of “We’ve gone as far as we can,” Tim says, “without digging a basement.” the kitchen, the menu and The very small kitchen only fits the pressure of business three people - the head chef Jeanwhich means that tables Marie Vaireaux, a sous-chef and a may be turned two to kitchen porter who also doubles up three times an evening on desserts. during high season.

All good friends of necessity, Tim asserts. Eric Maillard who was the original Out of the Blue chef, has returned after a few years abroad and Peter Stephane is the third chef in the team. With a seven day opening, Tim found that three chefs working switchable rotas suits the confines of the kitchen, the menu and the pressure of business which means that tables may be turned two to three times an evening during high season.

Ten to fifteen different fish appear on menus chalked up on blackboards every service, dishes varying with the catch of the day and “whatever is in the chef’s head.” Various elements are interchangeable, like the toasted almond and lemon butter that may appear with pan-fried lemon sole one day and another fish on the next. Oven roasted sea bass may be partnered with garlic butter and black olive tapenade while creamy clam and mushroom sauce complements braised turbot cutlets. Crayfish salad has homemade mayonnaise and the langoustine bisque has a classic Provencal topping of croutons and aioli.

With Jean-Marie hailing from Lyon and Eric from Brittany, it’s no surprise to see

French classics like beurre blanc, sauce Grenobloise or the roast apple and cider sauce served with turbot, while Gallic favourites like ratatouille and celeriac remoulade are here too.

Sauces and flavourings are designed to let the freshness of the fish speak for itself and accompaniments are kept simple too.

“Fish has to be the star and we do a combination of different small salads maybe 15 or so, with a different selection going out on each plate,” Tim explains.

Although he takes pride in a ‘ fish only’ menu with no concession to carnivores, they will cater for vegetarians, making up a chef’s selection plate of the salads and accompaniments of the day.

Pollock in a crisp potato crust served with chive cream has become the Out of the Blue signature dish, highly popular and appearing on every menu. “It’s our version of fish and chips,” Tim jokes, “and although we’re always being asked for the recipe, it’s going to remain our secret.”

Glenbeigh Shellfish Company supplies the oysters, clams and local mussels that are farmed just below Inch strand.

Langoustines aren’t landed so much now in Dingle, Tim has observed, and there is less gurnard than there used to be. “Working with fish every day, you get to know what is really local to a specific area. Our own Dingle Bay cod has a purple colour from living among the reeds, while other cod has a greenish cast.”

Although Tim had a basic knowledge of fish from his young angling days, he’s learned about filleting and how to keep fish by watching the fishermen, observing at the local fish factory and asking “plenty of questions.” Reading is important too and Tim regards Jane Grigson’s Fish Cookery as his bible, while having high regard for Rick Stein’s books as well as the Irish published From Tide to Table by Georgina Campbell which is sadly now out of print.

The fish cookery book collection has grown over the years and well-thumbed copies appear as décor on the restaurant tables instead of flowers.

The success of Out of the Blue would be an achievement for any caterer, but especially so for a self-taught seafood specialist like Tim. “Membership of the BIM Seafood Circle has been a badge of honour and winning the Most Informative Menu award is the icing on the cake. It’s a great and sometimes exasperating business and I always say it’s my first restaurant and my last.”

This article is taken from GCG syndicated portfolio.

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Family Values

Despite the ongoing economic challenges being faced by the hotel industry in Ireland, the traditional Irish family run hotel retains its strong position in striving to overcome the problems.

“The difference with smaller, independent and family run hotels is that families put their heart and soul, blood,

sweat and tears into providing an optimum service to guests, meaning these hotels have a unique position in the future,” says Michael Vaughan, President of the Irish Hotels Federation and owner of the four star Vaughan Lodge in Lahinch, Co Clare.

With one in six Irish hotel rooms under direct control of a bank, the single biggest challenge for hoteliers is the overhang of debt. However, Mr. Vaughan has an optimistic view that “there has never been a better time for hotels to stand out and market themselves.”

Following a recent comment by Pat McCann, Managing Director of the Delata Hotel Group, that “small hotels will have to become part of bigger groups,” can the traditional independentally run hotel be sustained into the future?

Michael Vaughan says “the typical family hotel in a rural Irish town is very much part of the future because of the individuality and uniqueness of service it has to offer. Business is important, but the difference with family hotels is that they will make the kind of sacrifices that group hotels won’t make.”

With the family hotel being “the The keystone of the backbone of the Irish Hotels Federation,” Mr. Vaughan believes that marketing group is its the family unit is often a lot more ability to reflect the very efficient than many group hotels as, for best of Irish heritage and example, savings can be made through family work. traditional values of

“ hospitality with the

Michael Vaughan

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Irish Country Hotels highest standards of care Irish Country Hotels, a collection of 26 individual family owned and run hotels and attention. nationwide, has a central role in the future of independent hotels in Ireland. The keystone of the marketing group is its “ability to reflect the very best of Irish heritage and traditional values of hospitality with the highest standards of care and attention.”

Mary Fitzgerald, Chairperson of Irish Country Hotels, and owner of the Woodlands House Hotel in Adare and Vienna Woods Hotel in Cork, agrees with Pat McCann to a certain extent in emphasising the importance of independent hotels

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FAMILY-RUN HOTELS “We very much appreciate the Fitzgerald family hospitality and attention to every detail - it’s one of the things that makes the Woodlands House Hotel different from the competition” - just one example of a review which portrays the importance of the personal touch which is unique to Irish family run hotels.

Mary Fitzgerald with Enda Kenny at the recent Guaranteed Irish launch in Cork

pulling together in certain areas including marketing and Key Performance Indicators.

However, like Michael Vaughan, she believes that the independent family run hotel has a fundamental role to play in the future of the industry in Ireland, and that it is important that individual hotels maintain links with local hotel federations, as they can help each other move forward by sharing certain information.

Guaranteed Irish Mary Fitzgerald says the addition of Irish Country Hotels to Guaranteed Irish earlier in the year helped the group gain market share. With our current economic circumstances, it is more important than ever to support Irish products and services, and undoubtedly this group of hotels will benefit from being a part of Guaranteed Irish.

“We feel we are an ideal fit for Guaranteed Irish. The owners of our hotels have a big connection with their community, and this is reflected in their commitment to buying goods locally where possible. We support artisan producers and provide rooms and facilities to local charities and sports organisations. There is an important spin-off for local businesses and huge potential to increase jobs. The more people we attract to towns, the more business that is done in that area,” explains Ms. Fitzgerald.

As Michael Vaughan says, “overseas tourists seek out the unique Irish hotel for the warm and friendly hospitality,” and this is evident from the latest figures showing an increase in bookings for Irish family owned hotels this year.

The independent family run hotel differs enormously from the modern group hotel because it is at the centre of rural community, home to all kinds of gatherings including GAA meetings. “To the locals, the family run hotel is almost like a local home, while visitors have a sense of coming home and feeling welcome,” says Mary Fitzgerald.

New Marketing Techniques Michael Vaughan believes that “social media has a huge part to play in the future of small hotels”. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Trip Advisor are all ways of creating a difference and for independent hotels making a niche for themselves.

In the Travellers’ Choice 2012 awards on Trip Advisor, Vaughan Lodge’s position in 9th place in the Top 25 Hotels in Ireland, ahead of the Westbury Hotel and the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin, is testament to the impact modern media has on the future of smaller, family owned hotels.

“People are looking before they book as they want to know what to expect. They may be booking on the last minute, but they are researching six months beforehand”, explains Mary Fitzgerald.

Potential guests are very much taking into consideration and being influenced by previous guests’ reviews on Trip Advisor and the importance of the “going the extra mile in making guests welcome” approach in family run hotels is evident.

The Gathering 2013 “The Gathering Ireland 2013 is about the people of Ireland throwing open our arms and inviting anyone with a connection to our country to come and visit.”

Expected to be a year to experience Ireland like never before through celebrations of our heritage in local and national events and festivals, hoteliers are optimistic that The Gathering will have a very positive impact on business for the traditional family run hotel.

“The Gathering aims to engage with our global diaspora, to entice them to come home in 2013 and to encourage them to extend an invitation to Ireland to others. It’s not just about encouraging anyone with Irish heritage - it is also addressed to those who love or have an interest in Ireland,” says Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.

“ The Gathering Ireland

2013 is about the people

of Ireland throwing open our arms and inviting

anyone with a connection to our country to come and visit.

The values of the traditional family run hotel in Ireland are parallel to the philosophy of the Fitzpatrick Hotel group, owned by the same family for over 30 years. According to their website: “Our goal is to provide our customers with memorable experiences, by combining the warmth of an Irish welcome with the meticulous attention to detail that comes with the individually tailored personal service of a boutique hotel.”

As Michael Vaughan says, “there are people for every type of hotel,” but as the hotel industry in Ireland moves forward in these tough economic times, we must remain positive that initiatives like The Gathering 2013, along with the impact of quality marketing techniques, will ensure the survival of the truly welcoming hospitality shown in family run hotels.

The personal touch makes all the difference for guests, and as Mary Fitzgerald says – “family hotels have the edge; we just need nurturing.”

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Doing it well for a century Frank Corr meets The Huggard family As international brands and ‘designer names’ appear over the doors of more Irish hotels, the importance of the family business to the sector has declined. Many families who were pioneers of the hotel industry have bowed out of business, but a core group remain and none more significant than the Huggard family from Kerry which this year celebrates its centenary as hoteliers.

The story began in 1912, when local farmer, Martin Huggard, purchased the 28bedroom Bay View Hotel, overlooking the seashore in Waterville, Co Kerry. Later that year he married Mary Doyle from Aughrim, Co Wicklow, who had trained in hotel management with the Great Southern Hotel Company. As ‘Mary Huggard’ she was to make an enormous contribution to tourism and hotel-keeping in Ireland.

Her daughter Cicely Gallagher is the last surviving member of the second generation of Huggards and maintains an active interest in tourism and the family business. She was born into the Butler Arms hotel in Waterville and grew up there with her siblings Noel, Maud, Hilda, Brendan, Billy and Pat. She recalls working in the hotel from an early age, helping out with small jobs like shelling peas and watching the arrival and departure of guests.

“It was a popular holiday spot for clergy, including the occasional Archbishop,” she recalls. “We had Mass in the sitting room regularly.”

‘The great and the good’ were regulars at the Butler Arms during the War Years including the German Ambassador to Ireland Eduard Hempel. Cicely remembers being once admonished by an English Colonel who spotted her decorating tables for dinner.

“Why are you putting the best roses on the Hun’s table ?” he asked.

The late Noel Huggard told me before he passed away that he also helped out in the kitchen of ‘The Butler Arms’.

“Fishermen would come to the kitchen door selling lobsters and my father would haggle with them. Women would arrive with baskets containing trussed chickens.

Sometimes my mother would buy them, but other times she would send them back to be fattened up a bit more.”

The marriage of Martin and Mary Huggard was a big success both on a personal and a business level. Martin was Church of Ireland and Mary a Catholic but when Brendan decided he wanted to be a Catholic Priest, his father gave him his blessing by saying: “Brendan, if you want to be a priest, be a good one.” And that became the Huggard motto: “Whatever you do, do it well.”

As hoteliers, they were the perfect match.

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Niall, Joseph, Tony and Colm Huggard pictured at the Lake Hotel Killarney

Mary was renowned over the years for her warmth and hospitality while Martin was highly respected as the business entrepreneur.

Their first expansion was across the road in Waterville when Martin and Mary acquired the 60 bedroom Butler Arms Hotel in 1917, having sold ‘The Bay View’. There they quickly earned an international reputation for excellence that attracted high profile guests including royalty, politicians, clergy, diplomats, sports stars and big screen icons including Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin. The Murphy (Freeman’s Journal) and Crosbie (Cork Examiner) families were also regular guests.

Hotels were however relatively Spartan places in those days. Cicely recalls that the Butler Arms had only a few bathrooms and was among the first hotels in Ireland to install wash hand basins in the bedrooms. Chamber pots were concealed under beds and hot water bottles were placed under the sheets every night to help warm cold feet.

Linen and guest clothing was washed in the hotel laundry and staff would clean the boots and shoes left outside the guestrooms every evening.

“The hotel was like a big family home,” Cicely recalls. “We had tennis and croquet on the lawn and many of our guests went fishing every day. The ghillies would provide advice and assistance and would display the fish that were caught in the hotel every evening before packing them carefully for carriage to London or some other city. A display of fishing flies was a popular feature and discussions on the best type of fly to use would occupy many hours.”

The food, she recalls, was of the highest quality including lobster, fish, beef, mutton, vegetables and potatoes. It was simply cooked by the mother of football legend Mick O’Dwyer.

She does not recall a fondness for alcohol among the guests. “The men would drink sherry before dinner. We had a wine stock that was topped up regularly by a supplier from Tralee.”

The next expansion came at The Huggards used the ‘Butler Arms’ the start of World War 2 in as a template for building what was Ireland’s first chain of family-owned 1939 when the Irish hotels. Their next acquisition, in 1922, Government invited Martin was the Caragh Lake Hotel outside and Mary Huggard to restore Killorglin which was one of the four and run the old Guinness original Great Southern Hotels. The Royal family mansion of Ashford Hotel on Valentia Island followed in 1927.

These three hotels were promoted as a Castle in Connemara, seat of group offering interchangeable meals Lord Ardilaun and fishing. “You would get a docket at the Butler Arms so that you could have lunch at Caragh Lake,” Cicely recalls. Caragh Lake and The Royal Hotel, Valentia were owned by the Huggards until 1951.

The next expansion came at the start of World War 2 in 1939 when the Irish Government invited Martin and Mary Huggard to restore and run the old Guinness family mansion of Ashford Castle in Connemara, seat of Lord Ardilaun. Their eldest son, Noel (who had trained in both The Majestic Hotel in Harrogate and The Dorchester

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in London) subsequently bought Ashford from The Land Commission and transformed it into a Grade A Hotel which he and his wife Angela ran until October 1970 when it was sold to John A Mulcahy. At the auction of the Ardilaun house contents the Huggards bought anything they believed would be useful in the hotel including beds, linen, silverware and kitchen equipment and this enabled them to open the hotel very quickly. It became a ‘trophy’ honeymoon hotel because of its luxury, gardens and excellent food. The rack rate was £3.10s per week for full board. “The rates did not change very much until after the war,” Noel told me. “We were self-sufficient and I could buy lamb for seven pence a pound and fresh salmon for ninepence a pound.”

In 1940, Martin and Mary bought the Lake Hotel, (established as a hotel since 1820) on the Lakeshore in Killarney from the Hilliard Family. The Lake Hotel was run for the next 50 years by Hilda Huggard, until sons of Billy and Hilda’s nephews, Tony, Colman, Niall and Joseph Huggard took over the management to continue the line of Huggard hospitality into a third generation. Hilda was a driving force in the development of tourism and amenities in Killarney and nationally. She played an important role in Killarney Golf and Fishing Club when it moved to Fossa and, as an enthusiastic bridge player, she founded local bridge clubs and hosted a Bridge Congress at the Lake Hotel which continues to this day.

In 1949, Noel Huggard bought Ballinahinch Castle in Connemara from the Irish Tourist Board which he turned into a hotel still renowned for its fishing and surroundings. In 1957 he sold the hotel, but not the fishing rights, to an American businessman Ed Ball.

Billy Huggard and his wife Mary took over The Butler Arms Hotel from his parents.

They ran the hotel until the early 1970s when Noel’s son Peter and his wife Mary purchased it. Peter and Mary are still involved in the business with their two daughters, Louise and Paula Huggard, now representing the fourth generation of Huggards at the Butler Arms. Both Martin and Mary Huggard were entrepreneurs with a vision. They

embraced the opportunity offered by the trans-Atlantic route of the Cable Station in Valentia Island and Waterville and turned a local hotel into an international destination.

The Huggard hotels employed and trained hundreds of local men and women to very high standards over the decades. To this day relatives of those who worked with Martin and Mary call back with pride to tell the present generation where their relative worked.

The family also played an active role in tourism development and promotion. In 1946, Mary Huggard was a founding director of the first Irish Tourist Board and later Fógra Fáilte. She was also a member of the Executive Council of the Irish Hotels Federation for many years. Noel Huggard was a Director of Bord Fáilte in the 1950/60s and also as a worked as a hotel consultant.

He was also a director of the Irish Sugar Company.

With a strong family tradition and century of experience the Huggard family remains at the centre of Irish tourism and is very determined to continue to ‘Do It Well’ into the future.

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TOURISM CHALLENGES

Can we win the Battle for Britain?

Frank Corr sees a worrying downward trend in our biggest tourism market

Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar promoting Ireland at a UK trade fair

The last lap has been run, the final jump has been cleared, the champions and vanquished have returned home and now Britain can return to some form of postOlympics normality.

In the run-up to the biggest sporting festival on the planet, Britons were subjected to a plethora of pressures.

Londoners had missile launchers in their front lawns, traffic restrictions and soaring hotel prices while all over that ‘green and pleasant land’ life became suspended as a nation held its breath for its athletes.

Tourist destinations including Ireland hoped to benefit from these pressures which, they believed, would send the Brits scurrying through air and ferry ports to, as we Irish put it ‘escape the madness’.

The Bulldog Mentality prevailed however and Britain experienced no mass exodus during those Olympic days. Instead the vast majority were quite happy to enjoy street parties and crowd around the television.

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“

Indeed if there has been a trend in UK tourism this year it has been the growth of ‘staycations’- the home holiday which the Irish have embraced since the death of the Celtic Tiger. In the year to May 2012 the number of Britons travelling overseas declined by more than 600,000 from 56m. to 55.44m., although numbers travelling to Europe (including Ireland) were down only marginally from 43.53m to 43.34m.

The numbers travelling for holidays however was down by just over 1m from 36.9m to 35.8m.

The keystone of the This may be a factor in the sluggishness of the GB market for Irish marketing group is its tourism in the first half of 2012, ability to reflect the very although ‘sluggish’ may be too best of Irish heritage and optimistic a word to describe the performance of our biggest market. traditional values of Q2 figures published by the CSO at hospitality with the the end of July indicate that visitor highest standards of care arrivals from Great Britain fell by 3.4% to 735,200, while total visitor arrivals and attention. from all markets grew by 0.7%. These figures confirmed a trend which has been evident all year, of Britain underperforming in terms of visitors to this country. While the decline in percentage terms may be balanced by growth from Europe and North America, in numerical and revenue terms it is extremely costly. Over the first half of this year the decline in arrivals from Britain has all but wiped out the combined growth from other destinations.

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TOURISM CHALLENGES

All this has taken place in the context of a high-spend, high-profile marketing campaign by Tourism Ireland and on the back of a feel-good factor among the British in the wake of the Queen’s visit last year. It is also a reversal of encouraging growth from the market in 2011 when Ireland grew its share of a static market for outward travel by Britons. In presentations early this year Tourism Ireland targeted a growth of 5.5% from Britain this year with 6% growth in holidaymakers and 8% growth in revenue. In the light of Q1 and Q2 returns it is difficult to see how these targets can be achieved, but of course the key Q3 is still running.

If Irish tourism is to win the ‘Battle for Britain’, an effort must be made to understand just what has gone awry and why the Brits are staying away from Ireland in ever increasing numbers. As recently as 2008, Britain was delivering more than 4.5m visitors, but this slipped to 4m a year later and 3.35m in 2010. This gives us around 5% of the total British outbound market, a figure which grew slightly last year but may have slipped back again in 2012.

The economic turmoil which has swept across the Western world since 2007 may have had an impact on our performance although this could be exaggerated. In Q1 of this year the GDP of Britain remained flat and the labour market stabilised. For the remainder of the year GDP is expected to grow by only 0.31% and unemployment will run around 8%. These are not statistics of a booming economy, but they are nevertheless better than those of many other European destinations, so the impact on travel should not be all that dramatic. In addition sterling has strengthened against the euro which gives British holidaymakers more push for their pound and makes travel to Eurozone countries, including Ireland, somewhat less expensive. Access from Britain to this country has also improved marginally with available seats up around 2% this Summer.

So if it is not the economy, not currency, not access and not cordial relations- just what is keeping the Brits away?.

In seeking an answer, one place to look might be at the number of British visitors who actually come here on holiday. A few years ago ITIC estimated that it was around 1.8m out of 4m total visitors. Digging into the available statistics reveals that business and conference business from the UK is holding steady and has been given a fillip since the opening off Conference Centre Dublin. It may be that companies are sending fewer people here on normal business tasks such as routine meetings but this fall off is likely to be marginal. My guess is that the principal decline has been among holiday-makers because of a number of factors. The first of these is a waning of the ‘fashionability’ of Ireland as a short break destination.

During the boom years it was difficult to walk through Dublin’s Temple Bar at weekends because of the crowd of (largely British) visitors. The place is still busybut nothing like I remember it. If this is happening in Dublin, the decline is likely to be more pronounced in other popular weekend venues like Kilkenny or Galway.

Secondly, cheap air fares are no longer cheap. A succession of additional charges and taxes has pushed up the real cost of a flight to Ireland and no doubt canny British travellers are doing their sums. The weather may also be a factor as we are now in our third successive miserable Summer. And of course there is ever-growing competition from European and long-haul destinations.

The ‘on the ground’ cost of an Irish holiday also remains relatively expensive for British visitors compared to many European destinations. Accommodation and restaurant prices are now a lot more competitive, but the cost of a pub night, transport, and entertainment remain high. A question may also hang over the quality of accommodation now on offer. Until recently we were able to boast of one of the most modern and best-maintained hotel plants in Europe but with many hotels now in financial difficulty and more than 100 in receivership, funds needed for refurbishment and maintenance are scare or simply unavailable.

Whatever the reasons for the continuing decline in tourism from Britain, it is of great importance that we discover the facts and take any remedial action that is necessary.

We simply cannot sit back and watch the continuing decline of our most important market. The regular ‘Visitor Attitudes’ research conducted for Failte Ireland and Tourism Ireland reports on how visitors have reacted to their Irish holiday, if they would return and recommend a visit by friends etc. The results are almost always positive, but could generate a false sense of satisfaction. What we really need to discover is why British travellers choose other destinations (including staycations) over a visit to Ireland. Research conducted in Britain and published some years ago was revealing as it highlighted issues like access, cost of accommodation and food.

Many of these have been addressed, but a new set of valid reasons may now exist for not visiting the Emerald Isle.

There is no indication that the British market is in terminal decline, but the trend evident over the past 12 months gives cause for concern and emphasises a need to discover what has gone wrong, so that we can fix it.

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CALORIE CALCULATOR

Counting calories Unilever Food Solutions launches an innovative new tool to support industry in implementing calorie menu labelling Calorie menu labelling is a hot topic at the moment. According to market research commissioned by Unilever Food Solutions, more than two-thirds of Irish consumers believe that calorie labelling on menus will help lower obesity rates in Ireland. A further 71 per cent of Irish consumers said that calorie labelling on menus would affect their choices when eating out of home. And, as the food service industry is more than aware, calorie menu labelling is very much on the Government agenda.

Unilever Food Solutions unveiled these research findings at the launch of their third bi-annual World Menu Report into eatingout-of-home habits. With a working campaign title of Seductive Nutrition, Unilever Food Solutions issued a call-toaction to the food service industry: make small changes to your menus and become part of the solution to the growing obesity crisis.

As part of its Seductive Nutrition Service, Unilever Food Solutions developed an innovative free tool, which has the potential to support the food service industry in implementing calorie menu labelling something that is widely considered to be a major challenge for the food service industry, given that most food service businesses in Ireland are not equipped to calculate the calorie content of items on their menus1.

Unilever Food Solutions’ calorie calculator, however, is an easy-to-use tool that enables chefs and operators to experiment with different ingredients and see how these ingredients can affect the overall calorie content of a dish. It’s simple to use; you can create a dish from scratch, selecting ingredients from a comprehensive database or you can load a top-selling dish from a selection of pre-loaded recipes. Recipes can be saved to the system, as well as printed out.

With an easy-to-navigate interface, chefs and operators simply drag and drop ingredients onto a plate, adjust the weights and quantities accordingly and watch as the system works out the calories per portion of each recipe. The search function allows you to quickly locate specific ingredients, while a special ‘compare’ function suggests ways of easily reducing the calorie content of a dish without compromising on its overall taste.

Similarly, when creating a dish from scratch or updating an existing recipe, the calculator will advise you on when a healthier ingredient is available.

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search through a collection of popular dishes tailored to specific catering outlets pubs, restaurants, institutions etc - providing a before and after recipe option. Among the list of top-selling recipes are Thai Green Chicken Curry, Cured Salmon, Chicken and Mushroom Pie, Bangers and Mash and the Ultimate Beef Burger.

And if there is a recipe you would like Unilever Food Solutions to add to the database, the calculator has a built-in recipe request function. Similarly, if there is an ingredient that a chef or operator requires that is missing from the database, Unilever can add this ingredient on request.

1

Food Safety Authority of Ireland (2012), Calories on menus in Ireland: Report on a National Consultation

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CALORIE CALCULATOR Reduce calories without compromising on taste With a campaign tagline of ‘Reduce Calories without Compromise’, Unilever Food Solutions’ Seductive Nutrition campaign demonstrates that by making smart ingredient choices, reviewing portion sizes and rethinking cooking techniques, chefs and operators can reduce the calorie content of their top-selling dishes without compromising on quality and taste. In doing so, chefs and operators can not only keep guests satisfied and coming back for more, but they can also have a positive impact on the overall health of the nation.

World Menu Report 3: Research findings • Two-thirds of Irish consumers said that they would prefer ‘slightly’ healthier options when eating out • 54 per cent of Irish consumers indicated that they look for the healthy option on the menu quite or very often • 80 per cent of Irish diners, however, said that they prefer to treat themselves when eating out of home • 45 per cent of Irish diners said that rather than swapping their favourite dish for the healthier alternative they would make small changes to their meal to make it healthier • Research revealed that Irish consumers perceive the healthier options to be more expensive (54 per cent), not very filling (48 per cent) and usually doesn’t sound very appealing (49 per cent) • 72 per cent of Irish consumers are unsure of their recommended daily calorie intake • 74 per cent of Irish consumers believe that restaurants should guide customers on healthy options when eating out

Speaking at the launch of Seductive Nutrition, which was held at top Irish chef Derry Clarke’s Michelin-starred restaurant l’Ecrivain, Tracey Rogers, Managing Director at Unilever Food Solutions, said: “To encourage consumers to opt for healthy food choices when eating out we need to address any negative preconceptions they might have against the current healthy choices on menus. We need to show them that healthy options don’t have to be more expensive, less tasty or less filling.

“There is no single approach that can successfully address the obesity crisis. But a small, sustained positive change can have a major effect on the eating habits of

• More than two-thirds of Irish consumers said that the recommended daily calorie intake did not affect their choices when eating out of home • 71 per cent of Irish consumers said that calorie labelling would affect their choices when eating out of home • 69 per cent of Irish consumers believe that calorie labelling on menus will help to lower obesity rates in Ireland

consumers. It’s time to challenge the status quo, rethink our current practices and look at how, together with a single voice, we can be leaders in this global and national battle against obesity.”

Jim Reeves, Customer Director at Unilever Food Solutions, said: “Irish people are still eating out on a regular basis and while the food service industry is not to blame for the obesity crisis, there are actions that we can take right now to position ourselves as leaders in tackling the issue. We have a real opportunity to respond to consumer demands and make significant changes that will provide part of a solution to a growing crisis.”

Unilever Food Solutions’ Calorie Calculator is free to download from the Unilever Food Solutions’ website, www.unileverfoodsolutions.ie. Here you will find even more helpful hints and tasty recipes to help you bring Seductive Nutrition to life.

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WINE

Spain has wines for all seasons Frank Corr explores the regions of Spain The people of Spain have been drinking wine for more than 6,000 years and grapes found in Iberia pre-date mankind.

So they have no shortage of experience when it comes to wine-making.

Yet this European country, which has more land under vine than any other in the world, lags behind both France and Italy in terms of actual wine production, principally because of its climate. Large areas of the country are arid and therefore vineyard yields are low, a phenomenon encouraged by strict wine laws governing irrigation.

Once the ‘wine barrel of Europe’, selling the most prized wines into Britain, Ireland and the Low Countries, Spain seemed to have lost its way in the wine market mainly because of traditional production methods which favour extensive use of oak and long ageing.

Political events in Spain have also impacted the industry. It was during a period of turmoil that dictator General Primo de Rivera introduced the DO appellation system in Rioja in 1926 which was extended to Jerez and Malaga a decade later. The Civil War which had then broken out resulted in the destruction of many vineyards and the deterioration of others through neglect.

It was the 1950s before the industry began to revive with the emergence of large wine co-operatives who made vast quantities of cheap wines which were largely sold in bulk for bottling elsewhere.

Encouraged by EU subsidies, the Spanish wine industry has enjoyed a period of modernisation over the last 20 years or so and is now once again emerging as a dynamic force on the European wine market. While tradition remains sacred for a majority of producers, a new generation of wine makers is now creating wines which are fruity, fresh and made for early consumption.

While Spain is often seen as a hot, sunny land by other Europeans, its climate is quite varied and plays a key role in the styles of wines which the country produces. The land tends to rise steeply from the coast around much of the country and the dominant feature of Spain is the vast central plateau which is at altitudes between 600m and 1,000m, tilting slightly westwards. High mountains divide this plateau into various regions. The North coast is relatively cool and gets more rain while Rioja in the upper Ebro valley is hot and dry. Central Spain tends to have extremely hot Summers and very cold winters while the South of the country has a Mediterranean climate.

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Within this diverse climatic area, wines are produced in most regions and are classified through the DO system which is similar to the French Appellation Controlee.

The mainstream quality wine regions are referred to as Denominaciones de Origen and the wine they produce is regulated for quality according to specific laws.

Denominación de Origen de Pago (DO de Pago) are wine regions which aspire to the very highest standards with extremely strict geographical criteria, focussing on individual single-estates with an international reputation. There are currently only 10 estates with this status: - seven in Castile-La Mancha, three in Navarre and one in Valencia.

Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) are regions with a proven track record of consistent quality. There are only two wine regions with this status: Rioja and Priorat. The 66 Denominación de Origen (DO) are mainstream quality-wine regions. Vino de Calidad con Indicación Geográfica indicates a ‘starter home’ for wine regions climbing the quality ladder.

These are the main categories for wines which are exported, but on the home market you will also find Vino de Mesa (Table Wine) and Vino de la Tierra (Country wines).

Rioja is easily the best-known Spanish red wine region on export markets, including Ireland. Strategically placed between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Rioja is in an ideal location for wine-making, with both the Cantabria and Demanda mountain ranges adding physical protection and the river Ebro providing both moisture and creating various microclimates. It is divided into three distinct areasthe two cooler climates of Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa and the balmier region of Rioja Baja. Rioja produces the majority of its acclaimed red wines from the Tempranillo grape often blended with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. Bottles of Rioja can carry the name ‘Crianza’, which indicates a fresh, fruit-forward youthful red wine that is aged in oak for a minimum of one year and then spends another year ageing in the bottle. Other classifications include Reserva and Grand Reserva.

Among the most popular Riojas on the Irish market are Marques de Cacerez (Cassidy Wines), Cune (Febvre), Muga (Cassidy Wines), Lagunilla (Dalcassian Wines) and Faustino (Gilbeys).

Ribera del Duero is another major red wine-producing region of Spain that continues to gain recognition for its vibrant red wines, made predominately from Tempranillo. The region is situated north of Madrid, but south of Rioja. With a climate that is marked by intensity and extremes, the grapes have typically had to fight against climate. As a result these reds are strong and intense. A good example available here is Finca Villacreces from Comans.

The Penedes wine region is close to Barcelona on the Mediterranean coastline and is the home of the Torres family which has pioneered wines from this region over four generations. The reds are vibrant and elegant and the whites fruity. They are available here from Findlater Wines.

Penedes is also the home of Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine whose production is virtually identical to that of Champagne. The great Cava houses like Codorniu (represented here by Barry Fitzwilliam) and Freixenet make high quality wines which can rival anything from France in terms of taste and effervescence and sell at attractive prices, although they are subject to Ireland’s ludicrous penal tax on all sparkling wines.

Rias Baixas is in the Galician region in the Northwest whose music and culture is Celtic. Rias Baixas has become well-known and loved for its rich source of Albarino grapes, that are made into refreshing, dry medium-bodies white wines with excellent acidity and tropical fruit flavours. They are very popular in the US and are gaining many fans also in Ireland. Good examples are Valdamar from Comans, Terres Guada from Classic Drinks and Bodegal Agnus Dei (Febvre).

Rueda is located in the Community of Castile and León. It is known primarily for its fine white wines based on the verdejo grape. The DO is centred around the town of Rueda, in the province of Valladolid about 170 km northwest of Madrid. The land is a flat high plain at an altitude of between 600 and 780 m above sea level. The River Duero flows through the area from east to west.

Valdepeñas is in the province of Ciudad Real in the south of Castile-La Mancha.

It is almost completely surrounded by another DO (La Mancha) but is independent due to its long history of producing a distinct style of wine known as ‘loque or

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WINE The Torres family - pioneers of Penedes

‘clarete’ which is made by mixing white and red grapes. The most prized vineyards are in Los Llanos in the west and in Las Aberturas in the north.

Priorato is in the mountains of the North East and produces robust reds from Garnacha, Carignan, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon grape, that are high in alcohol with strong tannins. They are among the most expensive wines from Spain and have been winning rave reviews internationally. Not easy to find here but watch out for Priorat from Comans.

Navarra is also in the North East close to the southern border of France and is known for its rosado and reds made from Garnacha and Tempranillo . Look out for Principe di Voana from Febvre.

These are the principal regions from which Spanish wines are exported to Ireland, but it is also possible to discover wines from lesser-known regions. Coman’s imports Emporda from the Costa Brava , Barry Fitzwilliam has Raimat from the Costa del Segre, Classic Drinks distributes wines of J.Palacios from Bierzo in the North West, and Cassidy Wines lists Castillo de Liria and Hoya de Cadenas from Valencia while Febvre lists Bodegas Enate from Somontano among others.

Other DO regions include Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Castile and León, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, Madrid and Valencia.

Jerez is of course the home of sherry, that unique Spanish fortified wine beloved of the British. It fell out of fashion several decades ago and efforts to revive its popularity here and in the UK have been ‘challenging’. It is made in bodegas from

Palomino and Pedro Ximenez grapes grown in chalky soil . Spain is highly protective of the ‘Sherry’ brand and the area has had a DO designation since 1933.

Sherry is produced in a variety of styles, ranging from dry, light versions such as Fino to darker and heavier versions known as Oloroso. Sweet dessert wine Sherry is made from Pedro Ximenez or Moscatel grapes or blended with Palomino.

On 12 April of this year, the rules applicable to the sweet Sherry were changed to prohibit sweet Oloroso and sweet Amontillado.

While its ‘fashionabilty’ has declined, sherry remains an important product within the Spanish wine industry and is exported throughout the world.

Like all wines of Spain it is based on tradition and quality - often with a modern twist.

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ACCESSIBILITY

Turning a blind eye Eloise Cahill visits a number of Dublin restaurants to see how well they fare with disabled access.

Caroline Casey, the Irish activist, once stated, “The world is not designed for people with fluctuating disabilities.”

However, how come in such a modern world where technology is always advancing there is not enough set in place to make disabled people feel more integrated in the dining experience?

Many people boast about how great their restaurant is and how wonderful the service is, when catering to their clients, but how can people enjoy an atmosphere if they can’t access it or if they feel uncomfortable in a dark, step-infested area and where menus are too small to read? This led me to contact some restaurants and hear their views on how accessible they are with regard to the whole area of disabilities. The results were mixed and varied, just like the fare on offer.

I was born pretty much blind and now have some sight but where it affects me the most is in dimly lit, dark areas, and reading any kind of small print below size twelve.

Therefore, restaurants are literally like an assault course and reading the menu is always an eyesight exam which I fail every time. I don’t mind asking people for help 48

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when ordering off a menu but at this stage an audio or clear print would be much appreciated.

Hartley’s Restaurant Dun Laoghaire Manager Eva McGragh described how the old train station ticket office was turned into a beautiful and accommodating restaurant for those with fluctuating disabilities. The Victorian building is situated in the heart of Dun Laoghaire next to the train station. It is in a scenic area that has magnificent views of the sea, one of the oldest harbours and yacht clubs of south Co. Dublin.

Eva stated, “There is a ramp that attaches onto the front of the restaurant like you see in the train stations.”

Usually restaurants are quite dark and Many people boast about how cluttered with furniture but Hartley’s great their restaurant is and created a large amount of light with its how wonderful the service is, massive, bay windows looking onto the when catering to their clients, pier. Everything about this restaurant is but how can people enjoy an accessible from the entrance, restaurant navigation to the bathrooms. However, I atmosphere if they can’t noticed that the menu was a challenge access it or if they feel as it was written in too small a font. uncomfortable in a dark, stepI explained to Eva about the infested area and where alternative menu package, which menus are too small to read? contains formats in Braille, audio and clear print. The alternative menu package was designed by the Cashel Community School and NCBI. I suggested that Eva might consider sending the NCBI a copy of Hartley’s menus and invest in an alternative menu package. I lastly asked Eva about the staff training programmes for Hartley’s and she seemed confident that all her staff was able to cater for people with special needs.

Claudia Eziwis, manager at Peploes in Stephen’s Green, talked about their

“

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ACCESSIBILITY L’Ecrivain’s Derry Clarke spoke about his restaurant being accessible to those with fluctuating disabilities. He said despite his restaurant being divided between three floors, the restaurant was still easily accessible to people in wheelchairs, as there was a main restaurant on the ground floor.

He spoke briefly about how they had spoken with the Cashel Community School and arranged for them to get a Braille menu organised for their restaurant. He said that his staff is more than willing to assist anybody who had a specific need in regards to disabilities. He also said he was looking forward to receiving some alternative menus for his restaurant to make it accessible to those with visual impairments as he joked about his restaurant being behind the times with the Braille menu.

“ Rome wasn’t built in a day. We still have a long way to go before hotels and restaurants become completely accessible to all types of disabilities. With the help of initiatives like Cashel Community School, and a more informed society, we can look forward to a more equally and integrated dining experience.

restaurant’s accessibility. However, I arrived at the entrance to discover it had eight steps leading down to the actual dining room; which immediately put me off wanting to enter the restaurant. I persevered and made my way down the steps and carried on into the main building trying to find my way to a seat.

The overall layout is somewhat confined and is difficult to negotiate with limited sight. Again, I struggled trying to read the menu, once more a size twelve font menu.

The next challenge was trying to find the bathrooms. I couldn’t find the restrooms simply because the sign was in light metal font, which is extremely hard to read in the type of lighting scenario I was in.

Yes it creates atmosphere, but not the most accommodating to someone with visual impairment. I spent five minutes walking around the restaurant trying to locate access to the restroom area, eventually finding the disabled one, which was of course locked.

Speaking with Claudia, it seems clear that Peploes staff were unfamiliar with the accessibility awards. Whilst they have won numerous awards for their food and atmosphere, maybe in the future Peploes will strive to win awards for being accessible to all customers, disabled and nondisabled.

The next person I spoke to was Mirco Cecchini, Duty Manager at Wagamamas in Dundrum, who said they were accessible to people with disabilities. They included an entrance that has no steps, no stairs in the building itself, large daylight bulbs in their lights along with tables which have removable benches. However, there are a number of steps leading down to the entrance of the restaurant, which may pose a difficulty for someone in a wheelchair. Mirco drew my attention to the fact that the main entrance has a rather large door, which allows people in wheelchairs to enter the restaurant comfortably.

They seemed very interested in investing in an alternative menu system, such as an audio, Braille and clear print. Overall, the entire restaurant was very friendly and helpful to customers with fluctuating disabilities.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. We still have a long way to go before hotels and restaurants become completely accessible to all types of disabilities. With the help of initiatives like Cashel Community School, and a more informed society, we can look forward to a more equally and integrated dining experience.

Many of the restaurants that I contacted were listed buildings and maybe the accessibility problem is not solely related to restaurant management but building planners. Joanna Kelly, President of the Irish Planning Institute, said: “Protected structures are protected because they contain features or elements that are of architectural merit. The architectural heritage guidelines emphasise that, so there are limitations as to what you can do.

That’s not to say that modifications can’t be made to make it accessible to others as well.”

In addition, she stated: “It’s a balance that you’ve got to achieve in terms of trying to protect that particular building and make it accessible to everybody as well.”

Joanna added that plans for modern buildings were inclusive to people with various disabilities. “The legislation says there has to be access for everybody,” she said. Lastly, I asked her if buildings should be granted planning permission if they were inaccessible to disabled people but she declined to comment.

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HEALTH

On the menu The recent publication by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), detailing the findings of its national consultation on displaying calories on menus in Ireland, has been received with mixed views.

The study, entitled Calories on Menus in Ireland - a Report on a National Consultation, with The main recommendation of the report focusing on the introduction of a calorie menu labelling scheme for food service businesses.

Dr. Mary Flynn, Chief Specialist Public Health Nutrition at FSAI says, “Calorie menu labelling is a huge step forward for obesity prevention in Ireland. It represents a rare opportunity for health related interaction between consumers, food businesses and public health bodies.”

Dr. James Reilly believes it will have a positive impact in addressing the problem of our rising levels of overweight and obesity and he warns that the new initiative will become mandatory, saying, “voluntary for now, but if people don’t come to the party, I will legislate.”

Financial Implications of Initiative With the proposed changes of putting calories on menus expected to cost each restaurant an estimated €5,000, Adrian Cummins, Chief Executive of the RAI stated, “The move will cripple the restaurants industry at a time when revenues are 20 per cent down on 2011, and one restaurant a day is closing.”

Considering the overall €110 million cost of this initiative to the restaurant industry, projected by the RAI, Mr. Cummins expresses the fears of restaurant owners.

“How does the Minister for Health and his Department suggest that we pay for this without having to absorb the cost? It’s not easy for any business to find €5,000 in the current climate. “ Concerns over Practicality Although Michael Vaughan, President of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), welcomes the voluntary nature of the proposed scheme, he says the organisation would oppose any attempt down the line to introduce mandatory display of calories on menus in hotels and guesthouses.

“Hotels and guesthouses seek to source local, seasonal produce and our menus change frequently to reflect this. Any given premises could have hundreds of ingredients making up their menu and there simply wouldn’t be the resources to calculate, in a scientific way, the exact calorific value of dishes each day,” explains Mr. Vaughan. The financial implication of this initiative is another real concern expressed by the IHF. “At a time when 50

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many hoteliers are struggling to survive, this would result in an additional burden in terms of resources that simply wouldn’t be practical to implement,” says Mr. Vaughan.

Adrian Cummins, Chief of the RAI, reiterates the practical issues related to the proposal. “Any chef will tell you that menus in restaurants vary from day to day, and therefore calorie counting would be highly inaccurate anyway.”

Implementing the Initiative Considering the technical aspects of implementing the proposed measures, just over half of the food service businesses that took part in the consultation stage were in favour of calorie menu labelling.

Although the FSAI acknowledges the need to support food businesses in implementing the changes to menus, and does mention the development of softare and seminars, nothing has been finalised in relation to the exact support that would be made available to such businesses.

Would the scheme be worthwhile?

Nutritional Chef Lynda McFarland supports the RAI’s view in saying, “calorie counts can be very misleading, as they do not represent the nutritional contents of the food. The ingredients and quality of food should be considered when choosing a meal, not just the calorie count”.

Ms. McFarland gives an example of where consumers are likely to make mistakes in relation to healthy choices. “A 100g piece of salmon could have 200 calories, which is equivalent to 12 spoons of sugar or a fizzy drink. But people wouldn’t see the nutritional value of the salmon versus the fizzy drink; they would just see the calorie count.”

Adrian Cummins, on behalf of the RAI, believes that restaurants are not to blame for the obesity problems Ireland. “People are rarely eating out in these bleak times. It’s a treat for them, and the last thing they want is to be made feel guilty or conscious of enjoying a meal.”

The implementation of this measure in the United States has not had much success, with five out of six consumers contributing to a New York University study admitting they paid no attention to the calorie information on menus.

The Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI) and the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) may be right that the negatives relating to this initiative far outweigh the positives.

Caroline Leddy