John Brennan: 'Turbulent times are the times to make business decisions'

The Kenmare hotelier and his brother Francis have expansion plans for South Kerry

Hotelier John Brennan outside the Lansdowne Hotel which he has acquired with his brother Francis. Picture: Don MacMonagle

"There are things thrown at our industry every five years, you just have to roll with it."

Hotelier John Brennan is referring to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on Irish tourism. While he admits there has been nothing like the public health emergency we have witnessed over the past 10 months, he said their industry has faced major incidents in the past giving examples of the bombing in Enniskillen and 9/11, events that severely impacted Ireland's tourism industry.

The Lansdowne will be completely renovated and operated at 50% of the price of the The Park. Picture: Don MacMonagle

Operating the five-star Park Hotel in Kenmare alongside his brother Francis, the pair have shown their commitment to a revival in visitor numbers to South Kerry by acquiring the nearby Lansdowne hotel they plan to completely renovate and open in time for the 2021 summer season.

"Turbulent times are the times to make business decisions," he told the Irish Examiner. "In my mind, only a fool buys a hotel at the top of the market. Now is the time, as it was in 2011 when we bought Dromquinna Manor," he said, referring to another Kenmare hotel he owns and operates with his wife Gwen.

"It is a turbulent time in the hotel industry but everything goes in cycles. We have been there before and will probably be there again. If you are comfortable in the business you are buying with the right management and the right history, over a period of time it is going to be good."

Located just metres from the Park Hotel, John said it made perfect business sense to acquire The Lansdowne in the centre of Kenmare. "It will be at a price point of approximately 50% of what the Park Hotel is. From a business perspective, it is much easier to operate a second business next door than it is 100 miles away. Marketing, purchasing, reservations and housekeeping, there are a lot of synergies there."

Despite seeing a clear business case for the Lansdowne, John Brennan said they also have a strong desire to make a town-centre hotel a success. A mainstay for decades in towns across the country, the hotel on Main St has been disappearing in recent years, often replaced by rival outlets on the outskirts, a negative John Brennan said can be traced back to the Celtic Tiger years.

A significant renovation is also taking place at The Park Hotel considered a flasgship property is Ireland's tourism industry. 

"Back in the early noughties, the tax incentive schemes championed new builds over renovations. As a result in a lot of towns, new multifunctional retail and office developments were forced under planning to have a hotel attached. This is despite no market demand that might be there for a hotel in that location," he said.

"What has happened is the hearts of Irish towns have been ripped out and good, honest, town-centre hotels have closed or are in a bad state of repair. It is a dreadful legacy from the Celtic Tiger," he said.

"The Lansdowne is one of the oldest hotels in the country. To have the ability to address a negative, take it over and open it to the standard we would want to was too good an opportunity to turn down."

"We are completely renovating it from the front door to the back door and all 26 rooms. We are targeting a May or June opening date but builders are not working at the moment along with the factories who make our beds and settees so we are a few weeks behind schedule."

It is a similar situation across the road where a multi-million refurbishment is taking place at the Park while a six-bed house at Dromquinna Manor is also undergoing a renovation. "Very few industries have the ability to eat capital the way the hotel industry does. You never stop refurbishing and can spend hundreds of thousands in small projects. They cost a ferocious amount."

Still in their possession is four of the 18 luxury residential apartments built on the grounds of The Park which they have sold lot by lot over the past decade. "We have sold 14 of the 18 apartments. They were built in 2008. We got the keys the week Lehmann Brothers went in the gutter. It was disastrous from a timing point of view," he said.

"However, what we have learned since then is that if you build quality, it’s gong to last. We sold two last year and not worried about the remainder. Once we have the renovation in The Park complete and get the Lansdowne up and running we will go back to the market with the remaining four but they are of no financial burden and we will sell when the right person comes along."

The four remaining unsold luxury residential apartments on the grounds of The Park will likely be sold over the coming years. Picture: Denis Scannell

John Brennan said they are driving forward with such investments because they are confident of the summer ahead, a taste of which they received last year when Ireland enjoyed a brief reprieve from lockdowns and the country flocked to summer homes, rentals, hotels and campsites on the west coast.

"We are an island of the four and a half million people, none of whom could get get off last summer. People rarely stayed in Ireland for a holiday before but everyone who came here were pleasantly surprised by what we have to offer." The three and a half months they were open were extremely busy.

"A slight concern on the horizon is that short haul flights will rebound quicker that long haul and when they do have choice people may be looking for a bit of sunshine. So when that happens there will be a lull between the domestic market leaving us for abroad and the long haul business coming in."

Dromquinna, a popular wedding venue saw the postponement of 54 weddings last year with no immediate likelihood of them taking place in the coming months. "We will not see a wedding at Dromquinna this side of April. Then we will have to wait and see what we can go back to 25, 50 or 100 guests. We had four small weddings prior to Christmas with just close family and friends. It will be interesting if the pandemic will result in smaller wedding becoming more popular. If that happens we will adapt our business to suit what the market wants."

Despite the challenges they are facing, Brennan said the financial supports are keeping the industry ready for a return of tourism. "We can get very blinkered here but the reality is very few countries have put the financial supports in place for their businesses the way the Irish Government has."

"It means we can be ready for when the recovery comes. If we can deal with Covid and get the vaccine out and administered there is a lot to look forward to in 2021."