Hotel Sector Breakfast Briefing – Shaping the Future

John Loughran

John Loughran is Owner/Director of Sandymount Hotel at AVIVA Stadium. He is a TCD Honours Business Graduate, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PWC, and has a diploma in Corporate Governance from UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School. He was appointed as director of Combat Poverty Agency from 2006 until it’s dissolution in 2010.

Through the successful acquisition of adjoining properties, the small B&B established by his parents in 1955, is now a luxury 4* hotel on over 2 acres, with 187 bedrooms, accommodating up to 400 guests and managed by his son, Gerard Loughran.  Over 70 years, the business has survived many challenges to remain in the same ownership longer than any other hotel in Dublin. Among many accolades, the hotel is a 3-time winner of WTA (World Travel Awards) “Europe’s Leading Green Hotel”.

Isobel Horan

Isobel is Director at JLL’s Hotels and Hospitality Group and is focused on hotel transactions and advisory services both in Ireland and across Europe.

Isobel joined JLL in 2022, she has over 11 years’ experience within commercial real estate.

She previously led the hospitality team in Cushman & Wakefield in Dublin. During this time, she advised an array of clients across hospitality sales, acquisitions, valuations, operator selection and development advisory.

Since moving to JLL, Isobel’s focus has be geared towards the brokerage side of the business comprising of transactions, leasing and M&A.

Michelle is a seasoned marketing expert with a rich tapestry of three decades' experience in marketing, spanning across both domestic and international landscapes. Her career journey includes over 15 years of dedicated leadership at the helm of Ireland's Blue Book, a marketing association for collection of 65 historic country houses and hotels located throughout the island of Ireland. Prior to taking over managing Ireland’s Blue Book, Michelle worked in the software industry in Dublin and Tokyo.

Georgina Liggins

Georgina is responsible for hotel development in the UK & Ireland for Accor. Georgina’s focus is on both franchise and management agreements, and has carried out projects across budget to luxury brands in the Group. Georgina has worked in hospitality and real estate development, investment and advisory roles for over 10 years and is an RICS Chartered Surveyor by background.

Paul Thomas

In his expanded role, Paul is responsible for development of Marriott’s portfolio in the UK & Ireland and the Nordics, focusing on franchised and managed opportunities. In 2015 Paul joined Marriott’s Europe development team as a Director Development for MARCH brands in the UK & Ireland and was promoted Senior Director Development for all brands in UK & Ireland in 2020. Prior to joining Marriott, Paul worked for KPMG’s Leisure and Tourism Consulting where he undertook feasibility, operational reviews, commercial due diligence and business planning assignments for a range of clients within the public and private sectors, predominantly in the UK.

Sarah Duignan

Originally from Leitrim she qualified as a German and Spanish translator almost 20 years ago before finding her true calling in hotel KPI benchmarking in which she has been a specialist for coming up on 18 years. Sarah is now Director of Client Relationships at STR, a CoStar group company who collate information from properties around the world and provide invaluable data for managers who can use this to make strategic benchmarking decisions.

Elaina Fitzgerald Kane

Elaina is a Director of Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel & Spa, a family-owned, four-star hotel at Adare, Co Limerick. The 89-bedroom hotel, which has a team of over 200 people, was established by her parents, Mary and Dick Fitzgerald in 1983. Her mother Mary Fitzgerald like Elaina are former Presidents of the Irish Hotels Federation. She is a graduate of the Shannon School of Hotel Management, NUIG and UCD’s Smurfit Business School. Elaina is also the current Chairperson for the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC).

CEO of Armada, which comprises Armada Hotel, House and Farm.  This business was the first hotel to achieve the internationally recognised BCorp status in Ireland, Joining a global community of businesses who are collectively working to develop a better way of doing business, achieving a high standard of social, environmental performance, transparency and accountability.  John studied Hotel Management in the Shannon College before taking on the family business at age 21.  The Armada employs 230 people in high season and has a year round work force of 190.  John has investments in other tourism interests in Co. Clare also including the Fiddle + Bow collection.

Oonagh Cremins

As owner of the Innovate Room, Oonagh leads a team of highly motivated, expert professionals who work collaboratively with industry across a diverse range of projects at a multi stakeholder level to ideate, innovate, lead, and implement on a range of solution led projects.  A cornerstone of the work at The Innovate Room is to consistently generate, diversify and stabilize income streams so that their clients can enjoy commercial success not just in the short term but well into the future. 

Oonagh is recognized as a thought leader in the tourism and hospitality space and has a reputation for positive contributions to many industry forums. Oonagh’s own specialist area is demand and revenue generation alongside new product development. With strong communication and interpersonal skills Oonagh enjoys facilitating robust discussion among stakeholder groups as part of her consulting work.

Helen O'Leary

Helen O’Leary is a senior consultant with The Innovate Room, with a  background in hotel sales and marketing for global luxury brands spanning two decades, Helen has over the past years brought her experience to a wide variety of tourism and hospitality projects.

Helen is focussed on helping businesses create strategies which deliver competitive advantage and improved commercial performance through the development of customer centricity, product innovation and exceptional communication approaches which provide cut through and results.

Mairea is the Executive Director of Corporate Development at Cliste Hospitality. Mairea first worked in industry with Hilton and Aramark and then moved into consulting with PKF in the US where she worked on hotel and conference centre projects across the East Coast. Mairea has also worked with Crowe Ireland, where she was the leading advisor to the sector, which included asset management, capital investment budgeting and financial analysis. Mairea holds a B.Sc. from Trinity and an MBA from TUD.

Jenny De Saulles

Jenny is the Director of Sector Development Fáilte Ireland, a role which she has held for the last four years, before this Jenny had held the role of Head of Operations for almost 13 years. Jenny’s team in Fáilte Ireland have been at the forefront of providing support to industry, developing and delivering all training and mentoring supports including the COVID 19 hub as well as liaising with government to issue guidelines and provide advice on opening businesses. More recently her team has also been coordinating ESG initiatives.