NEWS
Gibson bound
APPOINTMENTS PLUS Big Apple welcomes Irish GM Irishman Gerard Denneny has been appointed as General Manager of the brand new property Viceroy New York. Mr. Denneny was responsible for overseeing the successful launch of the 29-story hotel on the iconic West 57th Street in October 2013. A graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology, Mr. Denneny holds a BSc in Hotel and Catering Management and has over 20 years of management experience in luxury hotel properties all over the globe.
Mark his words The Gibson Hotel has announced the appointment of Nicky Logue as General Manager. Nicky was General Manager/Director of Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel Killiney. Prior to this he spent 11 years in the UK at the Selsdon Park Hotel and Golf Resort, south London, where he served as GM. A graduate of Shannon International College of Hotel Management, Nicky gained vital international experience in Switzerland and Russia. Well recognised throughout the Irish hospitality industry, Nicky is currently serving as President of the Irish Hospitality Institute (IHI) and is a past president of SKAL Dublin.
Strategic planning
The Great National Hotels and Resorts Group has announced the appointment of John D. Toner FIH L.FIHI as Strategic Advisor to the Advisory Board of Great National. John, originally from Warrenpoint, Co. Down and a graduate of Rockwell Catering School in Co. Tipperary, joined Hastings Hotels in 1972 as General Manager of the Ballygally Castle Hotel, Co. Antrim. John subsequently went on to manage a further four Hastings Hotels including The Fir Trees Hotel, Strabane, Co. Tyrone and The Stormont Hotel, Belfast. In 1993, John was appointed Director of the Hastings Hotels Group and General Manager of the Europa Hotel. In 2003, John’s next project for the Hastings Group was the £15m redevelopment of the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa, Co. Down, winning Hotel of the Year 2012 (Irish Travel Trade Award) and Best Irish Hotel 2013 (Hotel and Catering Review). 10
H&RT FEBRUARY/MARCH ‘14
Mark Scott Lennon has been appointed the new General Manager at Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel. Mark was appointed a Director in 2012. Mark continues the Fitzpatrick family’s hotelier tradition to a third generation following in his grandparent’s, Paddy & Eithne Fitzpatrick & his mother’s, Eithne Scott Lennon, footsteps.
Bank of Ireland SeminarBuilding Business Momentum First year GMIT students from the Bachelor of Business Tourism Management, Bachelor of Business Event Management and Bachelor of Arts Hotel and Catering Management degrees, accompanied by their tourism studies lecturer Susanne O’Reilly, attended the Bank of Ireland, (BOI) Building Business Momentum conference at the Clayton Hotel, Galway, on Friday the 22nd of November. It was an early start for the students, a breakfast briefing on tourism - building on current success stories. Richie Boucher CEO of BOI met the students before the conference and acknowledged that they are the tourism managers of tomorrow. Richie Boucher was the first speaker and he discussed the importance of repaying debts. He was excited about the growth opportunities for small hotels and the pub trade which now seems to be recovering. Joe Gilmore MD Ireland West Airport Knock, spoke of the growth of the airport todate. The vision for Ireland West Airport, Knock is to grow passenger numbers by 1.3m,and support 1,900 jobs in the region and attract 500 new enterprise park jobs. These are just some of the exciting visions for tourism from Ireland West Airport, Knock. John Crumlish, CEO Galway Arts Festival spoke of what the Arts festival is and where they are going Cultural tourism accounts for 40% of all tourism in Europe and its value to the Irish economy is €5.1 billion. Jim Miley, project director, The Gathering Ireland, 2013 spoke of its success to date and how it might try and replicate this success in perhaps five or ten years time. At this stage the legacy of the Gathering is what the team is now focusing on. Questions from the audience, and then the conference ended at about 11.30 AM. Great day and the students had access to some of the key players in tourism in the West of Ireland.
Astronomical leap for Irish tourism The famous Canadian astronaut who put Ireland on the map with the first-ever tweet from space ‘as Gaeilge’ last year, recently visited Ireland. Tourism Ireland enlisted his help to showcase some of our top visitor attractions and experiences. The former International Space Station commander, Colonel Chris Hadfield visited a number of events, including the Laya Healthcare Pendulum Summit and the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, Croke Park and the Guinness Storehouse, in Dublin. In Northern Ireland, he visited Armagh, Cushendall, and the Glens of Antrim, as well as Titanic Belfast.