Professor Judy Siguaw, Cornell University School of Hotel Administration

Irish hotels and guesthouses are losing revenue and brand loyalty by using travel intermediaries to advertise their accommodation, a leading US hotels industry expert has warned. Judy Siguaw, Professor at Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in the US, told 400 hoteliers attending the Irish Hotel Federation’s (IHF) conference that they were “on the losing end“ when they used online travel intermediaries.

Up to 75% of non-chain hotel bookings are made through three website intermediaries, Expedia, hotels.com and Travelocity, who offer low net rates from hotels with mark-ups of 30 per cent. However, Siguaw advised that if hoteliers can afford to provide discounted bookings through these services, they should be passing reductions directly to the consumer through their own branded websites.

At least 53% of online bookings should be coming from the hotel own branded websites, which must be developed and updated. The lowest available room price should always feature on hotels’ own branded website to build customer loyalty, she advised.

Intermediaries are making massive profits from hoteliers’ failure to invest in their own websites, Siquaw told the conference in Killarney’s Great Southern Hotel Killarney.

Revenue for Expedia increased by 60% from 2000 to 2002, and for hotels.com by 70.4% from 2001 to 2002.

In the US, hotels began channelling rooms through discount travel websites after the events of September 11 when room occupancy suffered a blow. But this backfired on hotels as they are now losing revenue and consumer loyalty because of intermediaries.

“The hotels handed away their channel power and trained consumers not to go to branded websites but to the intermediary. Once you train the consumer to go one place, its very hard to get them to come back to you,“ she said.

Online hotel bookings will be valued at $14.8 billion in the US by 2007, but online intermediaries will capture half of these bookings and hotel chains the other half, unless this trend is arrested.

Irish hotels were following a similar strategy of handing over their channel power to intermediaries which push hotels for discount deals and then mark up by about 30 per cent. Instead, independent hotels of similar character or geography should form a larger co-operative to share website investment costs, she said.

Outgoing president of the Irish Hotels Federation, Jim Murphy told the conference: “Ireland cannot afford to fall behind its European and global counterparts because of a fear or reticence to embrace new technologies.” US trends also show the influence of travel agents has declined by 50% over the last eight years, and consumers are also moving away from call centres and property reservations systems to the internet.

In 1999, US travel agents bookings per room through the General Electronic Systems (GDS) such as Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan and Amadeus were 20 times larger than the internet, but by 2002 this had dropped to just two times larger.

Irish tourism will rely even more on foreign workers than it does now over the coming years, according to the chairman of Fáilte Ireland, Gillian Bowler. Fáilte Ireland has launched a national human resources plan for the industry to address critical labour shortages in the hospitality industry. This was prompted by a Business and Employment Survey in 2003, which found that half of all hotels reported vacant positions, and labour shortages are not expected to ease for the industry.

“Hoteliers must ensure that everyone they employ has the right skills, including the ability to speak English. If they don’t have the right skills, then you must accept the responsibility for training them,“ Bowler told hoteliers attending the Irish Hotels Federation Conference in Killarney. Hospitality skills must also include the ability to offer visitors “the traditional Irish welcome, which is the centrepiece of our branding as a holiday destination“.

“As leaders of those troops, I would appeal to you to make sure that everyone of them - no matter where they come from, no matter what their job is - knows they are all in the welcome business. If we ever lose that simplicity, that humanity or that naturalness, then we can literally shut down our tills and go home,” said Bowler.

The demographic trend is for a steady fall-off over the next decade in the number of school leavers coming on to the labour market, and tourism is becoming less attractive as a career choice, according to Bowler, the founder of Budget Travel. “Indeed a particularly disturbing indicator is the number of trained graduates, despite having spent some years becoming qualified, who are choosing not to spend a lifetime in the business but to seek their future in other directions,“ she said.

Meanwhile, preliminary research by Fáilte Ireland into the insurance industry shows a massive disparity between premia payments and claims.

Figures so far compiled by the state tourism agency show that for EUR3 million paid in premia is matched by only half a million in claims. “In other words, the premia are six times the level of claims - a totally indefensible charging basis to operate,“ Bowler told the conference. “If the totality of your figures show anything like the discrepancy revealed by those early returns, we will have an open and shut case to negotiate significantly reduced premia,“ she said.

Meanwhile, the state agency is to launch a new tourism package to encourage and support website development, e-marketing and customer relationship marketing.

Gillian Bowler, Chairman, Fáilte Ireland.

A major new initiative, ‘Meet Limerick – Shannon’, Conference and Sports Bureau has been launched by business interests in the Limerick and Clare area, in order to win more conference, meetings, incentive and sports tourism business for the area. The new private/public sector cooperative marketing initiative is being widely supported by a broad base of interests.

‘Meet Limerick – Shannon’ will have a specific sales focus, staffed by a dedicated professional team who will seek to win business by facilitating and supporting conference organisers. Visit www.meetlimerickshannon.com for further information.

Pictured (l-r) is Paul Fitzpatrick, Chairman and John Fahey, Chief Executive of ‘Meet Limerick-Shannon‘

The Westbury Hotel, one of Dublin’s best-loved 5 star establishments has celebrated 20 years in business. The hotel first opened its doors on 26th March 1984 and as part of its celebrations, it is promoting a special anniversary offer of ’20 rooms a night at just EUR200 a room’, based on 2 people sharing. The offer is available until the end of August 2004. General Manager Paraic Doyle has been with the hotel since those early days and comments, “While much of Irish life around the hotel has changed, I am extremely proud of our consistency over the last 20 years in providing guests to the hotel with impeccable service and charm.“

The Westbury has also recently completed a refurbishment programme including a complete makeover of its Presidential Suite, which now houses a sauna, gym and bar, as well as luxurious living and sleeping quarters.

The popular Terrace Lounge, a firm favourite for leisurely afternoon tea.

Four hotels have been listed in the Top 50 places to work in Ireland. The Hilton Hotel, Clontarf Castle Hotel, Four Seasons Dublin and Radisson SAS Group were chosen as being some of the best places to work at the 50 Best Companies to Work for in Ireland 2004 Awards recently. The awards, run in association with the Irish Independent, FÁS and the Great Place to Work Institute, recognise companies in which employees are provided with a great work environment. The Hilton Hotel was listed in the top 10 and was also recognised as being the Best Company to work for with 50-250 employees.

According to Bob Lee, CEO, Great Place to Work Institute Ireland, “the most important factor in selecting companies for this list is what employees themselves have to say about their workplaces. Nearly 13,000 randomly selected employees from 115 of the 4,000 eligible organisations filled in forms ” Any company or organisation with at least 50 employees was eligible to enter the awards. Using the information received from a confidential employee survey along with a questionnaire completed by the company, the following criteria were then used to choose the winners: trust in management, pride in work and company, staff satisfaction and camaraderie.

Pictured with An Tániste Mary Harney are (l-r) Brian Geoghegan, Chairman, FAS; Vincent Crowley, Chief Executive, Irish Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd.; Clare MacLeod, Human Resource Manager, Hilton Hotel Dublin; David Webster, General Manager, Hilton Hotel Dublin and Bob Lee, CEO, Great Place to Work Institute Ireland.

Killarney’s Earl’s Court House chef, Martina Flavin, emerged victorious at the Oat Millers of Ireland National Porridge Making Cook-off Competition. Ms Flavin’s recipe ‘Date Porridge’ was selected as the winner from 14 county finalists, at an event held at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin. The winning chef was presented with a EUR4,000 holiday voucher by John Flahavan, Chairman, Oat Millers of Ireland.

The judges commented that Martina’s ‘Date Porridge’ recipe was chosen for its unique taste and clever addition of dates, honey and fruit. Organised by the Oat Millers of Ireland in association with the Irish Hotels Federation, the competition was open to the 1,000 members of the 2003 Be Our Guest Guide.

The 13 other finalists were Sheila McKieran, The Keepers Arms; Sarah Loughlin, Clarion Hotel; Jason Hayde, Clontarf Castle; Anna McGuane, Moy House; Anthelma Slattery, Station House Hotel; Liam Power, Springhill Court Hotel; Paul Horohoe, Wineport Lodge; Breda Lucey, Gougane Barra; Brian McNeill, Hotel Westport; Eunice Power, Powersfield House; Jonathan Keane, Maol Reidh Lodge; Fiona Murphy, Gormanstown Manor and Joseph Watson, Heritage Hotel.

Pictured is (l-r) TV3’s Ireland AM chef Catherine Leyden with winner Martina Flavin.

The Quality Hotel Group has linked up with Samba Soccer to offer holiday packages at nine Quality Hotels in Ireland. Samba Soccer involves children participating in a non-competitive environment, enjoying soccer and other activities, learning new skills, and making new friends during a week of healthy exercise. The camp, which combines coaching from Brazilian and Irish coaches, is open to boys and girls age 5-13, running five days a week 9.30am – 2.30pm.

The holiday package with the Quality Hotel Group includes five nights accommodation, full Irish breakfast, soccer camp and kit. The nine hotels offering the package are located in Wexford, Waterford, Cork City, Clonakilty, Youghal, Killarney, Galway, Letterkenny and Carrickfergus and each are located close to one of the 125 camps.

Announcing the link between Samba Soccer and Quality Hotels Ireland are (l-r) Aldonei De Avila Souza, Samba Soccer; Adrian Sherry, Sales and Marketing Manager, Quality Hotels Ireland and Wagner Rodrigues Campus, Samba Soccer.

Andrew O’Neill has been appointed General Manager of the Morrison Hotel Dublin. Mr O’Neill joins from the Clarion Hotel IFSC, where he spent the past three years and worked as part of the preopening team. Prior to that he spent 12 years with Forte Hotels Ireland and UK.

Antony Treston has been appointed General Manager of the Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny, managing a team of 135 employees and overseeing the development of the Mount Juliet Conrad property. Mr Treston was promoted from the Conrad Centennial Singapore where he held the position of Resident Manager, since 2002. He joined the Conrad Centennial Singapore in 1996, initially recruited as Executive Assistant Manager – Rooms.

Suzanne Trehy has been appointed Sales Manager at the Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel, Co. Limerick. Ms Trehy previously worked as Regional Sales Manager for EBSCO, providers of online information to academic, corporate and medical libraries. She graduated from the University of Limerick in 1996 with a 1st class Masters in International Studies.

Innsight met up with newly-elected IHF President Richard Bourke to find out his views on the key issues currently facing the industry and his priorities for his two-year term.

IHF President, Mr Bourke, is angry at the attitude of some state bodies’ staff and the upward increase in the level of industrial unrest the country is experiencing. In particular, he is critical of both Aer Rianta, CIE and now An Post staff who, he suggests, seem to have no regard for the damage their negative actions cause to the country’s citizens, Irish businesses and overseas visitors to our country.

He maintains that the threatened disruption by the transport unions around St. Patrick’s Day and the actual disruption being caused by the postal dispute is bringing about a lowering of confidence in Ireland as a place to holiday or do business.

Mr Bourke believes that the Aer Rianta staff’s continued threat of industrial action marred one of Ireland’s most high profile celebrations, St Patrick’s Day, and also instilled concern in relation to the potential for the further delaying of developments at Dublin airport. The key issue is the second terminal that would hopefully generate a lot more activity by low-cost carriers. He believes that provision of the second terminal is absolutely critical if Ireland is to properly address its “infrastructural deficit”.

From the point of view of the hotel industry, three of the key elements comprising this deficit remain the Conference Centre, the second terminal and a new national stadium.

Mr Bourke is quite confident that the stadium issue is now sorted with the planned re-development of Lansdowne Road, and this is something of which he has an intimate knowledge because of his day job as General Manager of Jurys in Ballsbridge. Likewise, he is quite happy that the Conference Centre is close to getting the final go- ahead after 17 years of painful discussion and examination.

Mr Bourke applauds Minister for Tourism, John O’Donoghue, for the way in which he has helped to move both developments along. “We have had the strategy report and the implementation group is in place and we believe that the provision of the Conference Centre is a central plank in the forecast to double tourist numbers by 2012,” he suggested. “I expect the Conference Centre will be in place by the end of 2007,” he adds.

By his own admission though, this makes the provision of a second terminal at Dublin Airport absolutely vital. “There’s no reason why that should not happen. It has to happen – we don’t have a choice,” he argued.

This is why any threatened action by Aer Rianta staff in particular campaigning against the proposed splitting up of the three airports (Dublin, Cork and Shannon) causes him such angst. “It’s very difficult when you have a situation where you have a group of workers who have guaranteed employment,” suggested Mr Bourke. “They are just not prepared to look at change and are not cognisant of their colleagues in the private sector who do not enjoy the luxury of guaranteed jobs.” Mr Bourke says he is doubly concerned that “it is not just a matter of an industrial relations issue, the whole thing seems to be quite political”.

He says that a programme of support for the regional airports, and the planning of new business for Shannon when the U.S. bi-lateral goes, are essential and are much more likely to happen to an independent Shannon Airport. As he settles in for a two-year stint as Federation President, Mr Bourke believes there are quite a few challenges facing the industry, most of which are outside of its direct control. Hoteliers have, he suggests, been seen to respond to the tougher operating conditions through the introduction of excellent value holiday break packages, and the “Value Menu” initiative in conjunction with the Restaurants Association of Ireland. Increases in hotel accommodation prices are currently running at less than inflation which is unique for a service industry with a very high labour cost content.

Competitiveness is a big issue and he says that while the industry is always seeking ways to be more competitive, the Government holds the key. Given that the hotel industry provides 40% of the 150,000 jobs in tourism, he firmly believes this is a sector that Government should be prepared to nurture. And one of the primary ways to approach this, he believes, is for the Department of Finance to review tax as it affects the industry.

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