Jim Murphy - PREM Group’s Managing Director » 2008

Colin Nolan a “smooth” hero for charity !

by Anne O’Regan

March 07th 2008 marked ‘Daffodil Day’ which is a fund raising day in aid of the ‘Irish Cancer Society’.In past years our company and employees have participated in fund raising events which included selling of daffodil pins and flowers and even a trip ‘back to the floor’ for our Managing Director, Jim Murphy. This involved Jim getting back in uniform and working a breakfast shift at our Days Hotel Galway. Great funds raised by his efforts and lots of very satisfied customers!This year, we decided to do something a little different. - As well as the usual sales of pins & flowers, one of our accounts team volunteered (was convinced!!) to have his leg hair waxed, if we managed to raise €1,000. I guess when you hear that the person is a guy (Colin Nolan) that will make you raise your eye brows a little more!! With this incentive dangling before us like a carrot, we eagerly set about reaching our target. Everyone was so generous and got busy rattling tins for spare cents, raffling an Easter hamper and selling daffodil pins & flowers. Even the beautician (Toni from Tonic Hair & Beauty) was kind enough to donate her services and time, without charge.As the day dawned, Colin received the news that, not only had we reached our target, we had exceeded it! Thanks to everyone who donated and helped to raise €1,225.00 for the Irish Cancer Society. – Particular thanks to Colin who not only donated some cash, but his leg hair as well!! Colin was very brave and didn’t shed a tear. In fact, the only tears shed, were tears of laughter, from Colin’s colleagues!

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Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 28. March 2008 at 16:51 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

The Hotel of the Future by Courtyard

The University of Delaware recently teamed up with Courtyard by Marriott to develop a room concept for the hotel of the future . The following video is the result . A lot of the ideas are technology based as you would expect ,yet some make a lot of sense such as the water efficient shower . I wonder how long the alarm clock would last before it is slipped into someones suitcase . There is no talk of the most important item in any hotel bedroom and that is the bed . I recently stayed in a new 5 star hotel in Ireland and I have to say that it was the worst bed I have ever slept in . Surely when a hotel is being designed a top class bed should be standard regardless whether it is a budget or 5 star hotel . When we are designing the hotel room of the future we should at least get the bed right . Click on the following link to see the video of the hotel room of the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-LWSkZkjr8

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 20. March 2008 at 17:25 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

Better Accesss between the US and Ireland from April

Good access is the key to growth from any market, and it has long been held that a step change in visitor numbers from the US would only be achieved with the advent of Open Skies.

That era arrives fully on March 31st. Of course it would have been better if the introduction coincided with a healthy US economy, a strong dollar and moderate oil prices. But that is not to be in the first full year of Open Skies, nonetheless the access possibilities from the US have never been better.

Aer Lingus were the first airline to exploit the Open Skies era with new non-stop services from San Francisco, Washington DC and Orlando. This is in addition to their existing non-stop services from Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. When you add in Continental’s service from Newark, US Air from Philadelphia and Delta from Atlanta, it means that Ireland is in the happy position of having non-stop service from 10 US gateways, by far the most services ever.

But it gets even better than that, with the Aer Lingus confirmation of its partnership with Jet Blue Airways. This now allows US customers to book a single low fare reservation to Ireland from more than 40 US destinations connecting through Jet Blue’s home base at JFK, New York to Aer Lingus services to Shannon and Dublin.

This opens up a host of major metropolitan areas in the US to an easy to use booking process on Jet Blue’s website which transfers travellers seamlessly to Aer Lingus to complete the booking. These “new” cities include Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Richmond, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, New Orleans, Heuston, Austin, Tucson, Phoenix, Denver, San Diego, Seattle and many more.

Jet Blue Airways is a New York based low-cost carrier founded in 1999 by David Neeleman and a number of former colleagues from Southwest Airlines. It now serves 53 cities with 550 daily flights, and one of its noteworthy objectives is to “bring humanity back to air travel”. Although JFK is its home base, Jet Blue also serves New York’s 2 other main airports, Newark and La Guardia.

It’s a good partnership for Aer Lingus and for Irish tourism. Of course it offers Irish travellers too easier connections to many US cities and Caribbean destinations. It will be possible to book online through the Aer Lingus website from April 3rd.

March 11th 2008

Irish Tourist Industry Confederation

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 11. March 2008 at 17:36 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland | 0 Comments

“Beyond the Moon” and PREM Group

newsletter-prem-group-270807.pdf

Every day is a struggle for children diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. For them, it is usually more difficult to experience the joy that should be part of their daily life. Therefore, the objective of BEYOND THE MOON is to give some days filled with laughter and joyful experiences to as many of these children as possible, together with their families. Our MOON brightens up the dark and painful days of those children and will shine forever. For more info, visit our website www.beyondthemoon.org In spite of its international outreach, BEYOND THE MOON can perfectly act as a local charity in every community or country, and thus make everyone’s support very tangible. Collected funds are used to offer these children and their families an all-in carefree vacation to a child-friendly destination, far away from the hospitals and the daily treatments. A sponsor can personally refer a sick child that he/she knows from his/her community or BEYOND THE MOON can nominate a sick child and family on behalf of the sponsor. That makes the sponsors support very tangible, transparent and gratifying. How our partnership got started Our cooperation with PREM Group started in November 2005 with a pledge of €4,000 on behalf of the staff at the corporate office, to offer the family Mantle (the first Irish family!) a holiday of a lifetime at Disneyland ® Resort Paris. The staff decided to forfeit their annual Christmas party funding and instead donated it to BEYOND THE MOON. Soon thereafter, the hotels in Ireland and the United Kingdom partnered with our association and embraced our mission through our “Change for Children” programme. Next, as a result of the business expansion to Europe, also hotels in Belgium and the Premier Apartments in Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the BEYOND THE MOON family and displayed a “Change for Children” collection box a the reception with donation envelopes in each bedroom. PREM Group have, to date, sent 4 families on a BEYOND THE MOON vacation experience and we have raised sufficient funds for two more families to be nominated shortly. The following newsletter details some of the fundraising activities carried out by the PREM Group team as well as testimonials from some of the families.

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 10. March 2008 at 13:07 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

Three Corporate lessons to learn from !!

Corporate Lesson 1
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to
lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes
out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish.”
“Me first! Me first!” says the administration clerk.
“I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in
the world.” Poof! She’s gone.
“Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep.
“I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal
masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.”
Poof! He’s gone.“OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager.

The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Corporate Lesson 2

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.
A rabbit asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?”
The crow answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground
below the crow, and rested.
A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be
sitting very high up.

Corporate Lesson 3 A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to
the top of that tree,” the turkey sighed, but I haven’t got the energy.”“Well, why don’t you nibble on my droppings?” replied the bull.”
They’re packed with nutrients.”
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough
strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree.He was soon spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Moral of the story: Bullsh*t might get you to the top, but it won’t
keep you there.

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 6. March 2008 at 15:39 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

Gordon Ramsey at Claridges

I recently had the pleasure of been invited to dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant at Claridges in London . I must admit that I am a bit of a fan . I really enjoyed his no nonsense approach when helping out restaurants in his Kitchen nightmares series . More recently I have enjoyed getting into The F Word and having recently got SKY+ at home I can record all these programmes and watch them at my leisure .

When I started out in the hotel business I was very fortunate to spend some time in Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland when it was a British Transport Hotel and 5 star service was provided ,regardless of cost . I worked in the main restaurant and service was in the classical French style .This was hierarchy style of service I thought that had all but disappeared in restaurants over the last two decades . It was a very pleasant surprise to see this traditional level of service live on at Gordon Ramseys given the labour intensity that is required .While the service and atmosphere were great is was the food that excelled .We all went for the seven course tasting menu at £75 per person .It was great to see and to be able to sample some of the dishes featured on the chefs TV shows . I enjoyed trying the pea soup and poached quail egg ,mind you it looked better on TV .The beef wellington main course was the ‘tour de force’ ,a traditional dish cooked to perfection . A lot of tasting menus in restaurants can often leave you feeling hungry ,but not in this case portions were generous . I have no doubt that Chef Ramsey was nowhere near the restaurant but his influence was everywhere and his professional team did him justice . All we were missing was some expletives coming from the kitchen ,but perhaps that is the image ,strikes me Gordon Ramsey is a shrewd business man and if he continues to deliver the quality we enjoyed in Claridges ,he can only go from strength to strength .If you are in London ,put this on the list of restaurants to visit ,even better if you can get someone else to invite you . Thanks Alexis !!

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on 1. March 2008 at 17:22 pm | Filed in General | 0 Comments

“The important people in a General Manager’s life”

I came across this article recently and while it may come across a bit cheesy and a bit ‘American’ I still think that Ms Abernathy has hit on the the essence of what Hotel Management is all about and I am sure she will not mind if I share her thoughts on my blog. I wonder at times if ,as managers ,we are losing touch with our customers ,spending to much time in our offices producing and analysing reports .What do you think ?

”
By Gina Abernathy

I began my hotel career as a front desk clerk. I subsequently worked as a reservations manager, a director of sales, and then as a multiple property sales manager. While working my way up the ladder, I noted the closed doors and watch-dog secretaries of many general managers. Those managers rarely took tours of their properties, never said good morning to guests, and had their secretaries screen all calls. I vowed that someday I would be a very different kind of general manager-the kind that I never had.

I mentioned my determination during my interview for a general management position with Hamister Hospitality. When asked for clarification, I responded: “I want to be the kind of general manager that puts all people-customers, co-workers, vendors, community members-first.” I got the job. Here is how I transformed my ideals into action:

Team Spirit Originates from the General Manager

I believe that the demonstration of team spirit and a willingness to get your hands dirty must be high priorities. There is no more meaningful way to prove that you and your staff are on the same team. If we are short-staffed, I clean rooms with my housekeeping staff. On one occasion, I had my own cart until 7pm; my little boy played with his toys in the rooms I was cleaning. The act earned the respect of my staff and it showed that I did not feel that I was above them or their work.

My co-workers know that if a difficult issue or customer problem arises, they can call me anytime, day or night. I never show annoyance when these calls occur: if I do not maintain a helpful attitude, my staff will not feel that they can rely on me the next time they find themselves in a tight situation.

Embrace the People Coming into your Office and into your Life

An open door policy should not be a just another corporate buzzword: it must be a ubiquitous and constant practice. The positive energy of an open door should attract people into our offices. Co-workers, guests, and vendors should feel free to stop in without an appointment.

Showing that We Value Others through Personal and Prompt Communications

I believe in answering every phone call and returning every message. I use email when I feel that my correspondent prefers this method of communication, but I pick up the phone whenever I feel that a more touch would be more effective.

I was so blessed one day after responding to an email from a guest. After I had emailed him an answer to his question, he responded: “Thank you so much for your reply. I am impressed that you, as a General Manager, answer questions like mine by yourself, meaning that you receive the inquiries from your website personally. Most managers delegate this, and become so ‘distant’. This is probably why you got the Platinum Award! Congratulations and way to go.”

Everyone’s time is valuable. I make it a point to have a two to four hour response time. This truly shows people that they are my priority.

Listening is so different from hearing. I remind myself to stop typing or reading when someone is trying to talk with me. I focus my eyes, put everything else aside, and, for that moment, I pretend that the person with whom I am speaking is the most important individual in the whole world.

The Importance of Gratitude and Celebration

Saying thank you is one of the best ways to show people that they matter. We do not hear or speak these words as often as we should. My sales manager and I send hand-written notes to our clients and vendors. On one occasion I sent a letter to the owner of a food vending company. One of his representatives went above and beyond in his job and I thought the owner should know about it. The representative received praise from his boss and our relationship was strengthened as a result.

Saying thank you to co-workers is equally important. I give literal pats on the back and tell people that they are doing a good job as often as possible. When co-workers receive a good customer comment, I reward them with a special certificate. We hold a Thanksgiving potluck dinner each year, give small gifts at holidays, and celebrate birthdays. I bake for my staff regularly and bring them treats. Such gestures are constant reminders that I truly care for them.

People are our Purpose

During my years in the service industry, I have become keenly aware of how vital people are to me both personally and professionally. General managers have to balance many priorities: driving revenue; controlling expenses, labor, AR/AP, and inventory; ensuring profitability and a return to the investors, and so on. We should never forget, however, that people are most important. We depend on them. They are not an interruption of our work; they are the purpose of it. Without co-workers, guests, and business partners, we would have no business to run.
About the author

Gina Abernathy is a Hamister Hospitality General Manager. For more information on Hamister Hospitality, visit www.hamisterhospitality.com. Feedback and comments can be sent to Gina at news@hamistergroup.com“

Author: Jim Murphy | Posted on at 16:45 pm | Filed in General, Prem Group Ireland, Prem Group UK, Prem Group in Europe | 0 Comments

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