Citywest Hotel lost €1m on concerts, tribunal told
Linda Lockhart, the financial controller of Citywest Hotel in Saggart, Co Dublin, told a hearing of the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Dublin yesterday poor seating arrangements had contributed to the estimated losses of about €1m.
The hotel’s former head of entertainment, Shane McGrath, is taking a case for unfair dismissal against Citywest, claiming he was wrongfully sacked last January after 12 months.
The inquiry heard that Mr McGrath was hired by HSS — the company owned by businessman Jim Mansfield, which runs Citywest — as an event manager to develop the hotel as a venue for concerts.
In evidence on behalf of HSS, Ms Lockhart said seating bought by Mr McGrath, which was used for the hotel’s first major event, Lord of the Dance, was assembled completely incorrectly.
She claimed seats were blocking fire exits and the entrance to the main arena on the gala opening, which was attended by the show’s creator Michael Flatley.
There was also problems with ticketing and seat numbers, she said.
Citywest had to offer refunds to some people who had complained about missing the start of the show and others whose view was blocked by pillars at the venue.
Ms Lockhart said people could not believe how “inept and unprofessional” the organisation had been.
However, she admitted that Citywest had made an €80,000 profit on Lord of the Dance.
Ms Lockhart also agreed that a Bonnie Tyler concert sold out and returned a profit of €27,500. But she said there were still problems with the seating and further refunds had to be made to customers.
Giving evidence on behalf of Mr McGrath, Citywest’s former group marketing manager, Eamonn Quinn, said he believed it was “madness” to extend Lord of the Dance beyond its original scheduled run of two weeks. However, he claimed Mr Mansfield had personally insisted on it.
Mr Quinn said Mr Mansfield’s management style was “very hands-on” to the extent that he could interfere with people’s jobs.
“There’s a constant feeling that if you don’t perform, you will be out,” he remarked.
Mr McGrath said he had proposed that the Citywest venue should only provide seating for 1,800 but that the hotel’s management had looked for 2,500.
He claimed Mr Mansfield had ordered 2,185 cheaper seats of a type he had not recommended.
Mr McGrath described Mr Mansfield as a very talented entrepreneur who aspired to have a corporate business and hired people to help him achieve that.
However, when it came to the crunch, the businessman could not remove himself and would not “let people get on with their job”.
Mr McGrath, who earned a salary of €50,000 per annum plus €27,000 in commission, said he had advised Mr Mansfield it would be a mistake to extend the run of Lord of the Dance.
The tribunal will give its ruling in the case on a later date.
