John Brennan: 'Places like Disney greet people but it's plastic. The Irish welcome is natural'
Brothers John and Francis Brennan at the Park Hotel Kenmare. Picture: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD
John and Francis Brennan, Park Hotel Kenmare
“The Irish welcome is a natural welcome. It’s not a taught welcome,” posits John Brennan from The Park Kenmare, one of the two Kerry hotels he runs with his brother, Francis.
“When you go to places like Disney they’re very hospitable, they’re wonderful at greeting people but it’s plastic. I was in California in February and I came across great hospitality in hotels but when you try to dig a little deeper past what they have been taught to do, they’re lost.”
“I have a good example of that,” Francis, the older of the two, interjects. “I’m in a New York hotel 20 or 30 years ago, and I get into the elevator. It travels one floor, the door opens and a porter gets in. He greets me immediately and says, ‘Oh, have a great day, sir.’ I said thank you very much. Then we travelled in that lift for 25 floors without him saying another word. Now, if he was in Kenmare, where we only have three floors, my fellow would know all about you when he comes out of the lift. Because we genuinely continue to talk and engage. It’s a human link that the Irish just have.”
Hoteliers extraordinaire and brothers in charm, they may have elicited surprise by recently announcing the sale of the landmark Park Hotel Kenmare and sister hotel, The Lansdowne, but they won’t let the excitement distract them from the immediate job of welcoming many of the 22,000 guests expected to stay this year across both properties and Dromquinna Manor, which John owns with his wife, Gwen.
Strong repeat business has played a large part in the hotels’ success, something the siblings attribute to a warm and genuine welcome. “You can go to any hotel in the world and when you check in you will find ‘Mr. or Mrs. Brennan, welcome to X hotel’ on your television screen. All of this personalisation has crept into the hospitality industry, but it’s personalisation programmed,” John argues, “it’s not hospitality, and that’s the difference between the two.”
Staff retention has fed into the hotels’ success, and great hospitality, the pair suggests, comes from hiring people with ‘hospitality in the blood’, such as porter Philip Spillane, one of four staff who have worked at The Park for over 40 years.
“If we get a new porter starting tomorrow Phillip will just, unbeknownst to himself, pass his [intuitive] ways onto that young fella and if that young fella can absorb it and has hospitality in the blood then that makes our lives so much easier. If you have a good person with you long-term they will pass on the knowledge and that’s very, very important,” Francis emphasises. “I couldn’t give a toss how many degrees you have — it’s probably worse if you have degrees! It doesn’t matter your academic qualifications. It’s your attitude that matters and the Irish have a great attitude.”
John senses that the GAA may play a role in that attitude and our ability to connect with people. “The GAA makes us unique. We’re competing against the neighbouring parish one week and then united against another county the next and there’s that element of knowing your neighbour and interacting with respect. No other country in the world has that and that’s part of the reason, I think, why the Irish do very well when they go abroad. If you go to the top companies in the world, you will always find an Irish person someplace. We’re always figuring in the management structure.”
He talks of an inherent Irish cuteness, an instinct, that means intuitively knowing whether clients are Ring of Kerry or Ring of Beara people. It’s the confidence to answer a question about how long it takes to get to Bantry, with a reply of ‘Well that depends on whether you want to stop at Molly Gallivan’s Cottage on the way over, go into Glengarriff, Garnish Island and the Bamboo Gardens’. It’s that personal input that international hotel chains frequently lack, favouring brand consistency and operational procedures over an authentic welcome.
When Francis opened The Park in 1980 there were only five five-star hotels in the country; today Ireland has 45, many with staff who began their careers in The Park Hotel. Talking about the upcoming sale, they admit that staff impact was foremost in their minds. “There is no negativity from the staff for doing what we’re doing,” John shares with relief.
“There’s huge emotion from them all and I never appreciated the impact we had on people. I always thought it was the Park Hotel that had the impact.” Following the sale announcement, their inboxes were flooded with messages of support, including unexpected emails from former staff as far away as Singapore and New York. “They said, ‘Listen, I learned everything in Kenmare and you and John were the people that set me on my career. Thanks very much.’ So that’s been an unexpected comfort.”
Francis has been at The Park since 1980, with John joining him in 1996. Having worked together for so long, how do they feel about this potentially being their last summer working together?
“I don’t think we would ever make a decision, in life or in business, without consulting the other,” John smiles. “Until we have a buyer we’ll continue to do what we always do at both hotels. We have repeat guests and new guests booked in, Irish and international, and we’ll be focused on ensuring they enjoy the same memorable welcome in Kenmare that we have always offered.”
Their hope is that whoever takes over would try and keep the ethos of authentic Irish hospitality that the brothers have fostered in their staff and made part of the hotel’s DNA. “The Park is not generic. The personality of everyone there has always been allowed to shine.” As for handing over the keys, that’s something they’re not quite ready to do just yet.
“We haven’t parted with anything of significance like this in our lives before, so I don’t suspect it’s going to be easy by any means,” Francis muses. While they haven’t dwelt on this aspect of the handover, both agree that it can’t happen in Kenmare. “I couldn’t imagine signing the documents there, handing over the keys to the new owner, shaking hands and walking out the hotel door.”
Kat Riddell, Beer Specialist, Guinness Storehouse
On an average weekend day at Ireland’s most visited tourist attraction, approximately 80 members of the visitor experience team at Guinness Storehouse will look after visitors, meeting and greeting, leading tours, at admissions and managing Guinness Storehouse’s various experiences. (And that’s before you include the team working in the shop, 3 restaurants and bars.)
Beer Specialist Kat Riddell is one of those friendly faces, having moved to Ireland from Scotland to work at Guinness Storehouse.
Starting in the Academy Experience, they teach guests to pour their own pint of Guinness before moving to the Connoisseur Experience bar. “My favourite place, where I used to always work!” they exclaim. “Described as our highest experience within Guinness, with just 16 people, it’s an intimate beer tasting, taking Guinness and its variants and talking through the history as well.”
There’s a standard line of questions Kat expects to hear regularly: Why does Guinness not travel? What’s the story of the harp? And (Kat’s favourite thing to talk about), the ‘small yet mighty’ widget.
“There’s no silly questions, right? We’re the beer that started off as the everyday man’s beer. We don’t want people to feel like it’s gatekept.”
Guinness’s lengthy history means that visitors often have personal connections with the brand, something the visitor experience team loves to hear.
“We see guests [whose] parents or grandparents worked at the Guinness brewery, and they’re telling me their stories, like saying when they remember seeing the barges going down the River Liffey, as well as the train tracks. It’s just so awesome to see this history and how much it means to them.”
A demanding role that requires constant good humour, Kat simply loves talking to people about beer. “It’s the best thing that I do. It’s what brought me to this role and every day is different. And I just want people to walk away with even just a little bit more beer knowledge than they started with. If they do that then I feel like I’ve just succeeded at my job.”
John and Mike O’Connor, Dromoland Castle
Local brothers John and Mike are often the first faces you’ll see checking in at Dromoland Castle in Clare. With 86 years of combined service between them, John joined as a waiter in 1977, younger brother Mike six years later, and they’ve worked side-by-side ever since.
“As porters we’re ‘jack of all trades” John suggests. “We handle luggage, meet and greet guests, park and valet cars, set up meetings and share details on everything from estate activities to tour information.”
How has the job changed since they began? “The bags got heavier!” John laughs.
“True,” agrees Mike. “It’s a much bigger hotel than it was when I first joined too. And is much busier. The hotel used to only be open 9 months of the year from March to November and we used to be off for the winter.”
For John, the best part of his job, alongside his fellow staff and the good food, are the ‘wonderful guests’ he meets. Mike, who is celebrating his 40th year of service at Dromoland, thrives on welcoming the guests too, ensuring everyone is happy and comfortable. Key skills go beyond being a friendly face though – the ability to recognise and remember returning guests is especially important.
“There are a lot of return guests from the US that we love to welcome back each year. Over the years there’s been invites [from guests] for trips to America and a few Christmas cards come through the door every year.” Both recall Nelson Mandela’s stay as a career highlight. “What stood out was his character and his experience. He was a very friendly gentleman,” Mike recalls. “A real gentleman,” concurs John. “He gave a lot of time to the staff and was very genuine to talk to.”
Despite often working side-by-side at Dromoland Castle the gregarious siblings also farm together in Newmarket on Fergus. “He’s older than me,” Mike points out, “and has been bossing me around ever since I was two.”
Charles Coyle, Emerald Park
On any given day Charles Coyle, General Manager of Emerald Park, can be spotted on the ground, keeping an eye on the theme park his late father Ray Coyle established as Tayto Park in 2010.
“Each manager has a slightly different perspective on things, so when I’m down there I get to make sure that things are still running the way they should be, and the way we want.”
Purveyors of joy, Charles hopes that the 750,000 visitor number they broke last year will be equalled this year at the newly rebranded park. “The most important thing to us here is that people enjoy themselves. So that they’ll come back two or three times a year, or even the following year, but they’ll tell their friends that they had a great time.”
A typical visitor can expect to interact with between 20 and 30 staff on any given day, depending on how many rides they go on. Enjoyment, and safety are the most important things for the team, alongside courtesy and friendliness. “What we really pride ourselves on here is our team going the extra mile for people,” Charles explains, “something that is, I like to think, very quintessentially Irish.”
The Cú Chulainn Coaster is Emerald Park’s big marquee ride and there are some new junior coasters and rides, like Dino Dash and Crazy Bus, proving especially popular. “Not everyone enjoys the rides, of course, and Emerald Park aspires to be everything to everyone. Some want to go and see the falconry show or summer circus or walk through Lemur Woods. Everyone gets joy out of different things.”
With about 130 staff on site on any given day, it’s a labour intensive operation, which Charles believes is a smart investment. “We could run the business, a hell of a lot trimmer, but you wouldn’t be giving people the same value for money and great experience if you did that. Queues would be longer, the place wouldn’t be quite as sparkling clean. Why would you want to do that?”
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