'It's About Survival'....

An interview with Irish Hotels Federation President Elaina Fitzgerald Kane

When the COVID-19 crisis struck there was a sense of déjà vu for Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) President Elaina Fitzgerald Kane.

Having just taken over the leadership reigns, she found herself in the middle of catastrophe - just as her mother Mary Fitzgerald, the very first female IHF president, had 20 years earlier when she steered the industry through the fallout from the foot and mouth outbreak and the 9/11 attacks.

“We held our AGM in Galway at the end of February, and on that Wednesday in my very first day in the job, we had our first COVID stakeholders meeting with government,” she says. “In a way we were so far removed from it back then, no one could have foreseen what was going to happen over the course of the next few weeks.”

Uncertainty and major event cancellations such as the Ireland v Italy Six Nations rugby game and St Patrick’s Day festivities followed. “That’s our shop window for the world. When something like that happens, it’s unparalleled and will have huge repercussions, but the right decision,” she says. Fitzgerald Kane is also sales director of the Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel & Spa, her family’s four-star hotel at Adare, Co. Limerick.

The 89-bedroom hotel, which preCOVID employed 230 people, was established by her parents, Mary and Dick in 1983.

Originally market gardeners, they initially opened a B&B in 1977 to supplement their farming income. Over the years hospitality became the mainstay and it has now gone full circle with all the current hotel’s 40 acres being organic and the business receiving accreditation from Good Food Ireland last year. Working alongside her three brothers - David, Conor and Richard - Fitzgerald Kane specialises in strategy and marketing, two areas that have served her well in her IHF tenure to date.

She is also a graduate of the Shannon School of Hotel Management, UCG and UCD’s Smurfit Business School.

In March the family made the painful decision to voluntarily close their property – joining around 90 per cent of hotels across the country.

“It all felt a little surreal,” she says. “You were so conscious of doing the right thing that we made the decision to close the hotel, outside of Christmas Day, for the first time in 36 years.” Every one of the 105 days that the hotel remained closed cost €2,000 in losses.

Given the nature of tourism, Fitzgerald Kane explains, it was the worst possible time for closures.

Most refurbishments take place in January and February and need to be paid for in March, which is also the worst cash flow month. “It made our industry that little bit more vulnerable to a degree,” she adds. Since then, the focus has been on finding ways to work with government to support the industry and its workers.

Initiatives such as the Mid-West Response Group have provided help and upskilling for those who were furloughed.

The Fáilte Ireland COVID-19 Safety Charter has also delivered a sense of safety confidence.

Irish Hotel Federation President Elaina Fitzgerald Kane

While foundations continue to be laid for fully reopening the industry, there are still some worrying statistics. Just 30 per cent of rooms have been occupied in Irish hotels in July and August.

Many hotels have also chosen a slower, more cautious approach to reopening due to the challenges of having a zero-business base.

“It’s like starting all over again,” says Fitzgerald Kane. “But it’s been amazing to see people coming back, even local people from 10 miles away wanting to support the industry, saying ‘we’re here to show confidence’.”

Next comes continued dialogue with the new Irish Government, advocating for subsidy wage schemes and changes to the current testing regime.

There are currently 260,000 people involved in tourism across Ireland, with around 180,000 jobs now at risk. Fitzgerald Kane says 71 per cent of tourism revenue will be lost this year. She adds that in 2019 the industry brought in €2 billion to the Exchequer while this year tourism is estimated to be just €2 billion in total.

Part of her role on the tourism recovery task force will be to provide a series of recommendations to government in terms of rebuilding the industry up to 2023. “It’s about survival and bringing as many people back to work as we can,” she says.

“We will be working with government and health authorities to make sure we play our part in improving public health - a number one priority for us and our guests. “Equally that we are supported to help the economic health of the country, which is going to be a very long-range thing.

“In the aftermath of the last recession, tourism created 90,000 new jobs so we know it has a great ability to bring people back to work and bring communities alive.”

As for the future, Fitzgerald Kane believes staycationing is very much where it’s at right now with huge opportunities for people to rediscover places or go on new adventures. “It’s great to see people out and about and see the creativity that’s coming from our hotel and tourism communities. “It’s a new normal and we’re all adjusting to make what we do better and safer.”

Interview: Siobhán Breatnach