Warm reception from Pat McDonagh on THA Hotel of the Year 2024 announcement

LIMERICK people don’t have to travel far to check out the winner of Hotel of the Year from the Travel and Hospitality Awards 2024 (THA).

Castletroy Park Hotel is the recipient of the accolade which is given out based on the reviews of customers.

Caherline’s Cyril Laffan, general manager, said it is “all down to our wonderful team” and “we are delighted to receive the award”.

Pat McDonagh, fresh from a successful weekend at Electric Picnic where Supermac’s had a presence for the first time, said it was a wonderful award to receive.

The Só Hotels owner, which includes the Castletroy Park Hotel, said what made the honour special is that it is based on the reviews of customers.

“It is all down to our superb staff, headed up by general manager Cyril Laffan. And I want to publicly thank our staff for all their hard work,” said Mr McDonagh.

He said the hospitality industry isn’t the most attractive to work in with early mornings, late nights and weekend shifts.

“I don’t think they are thanked enough for all that they do and this award from Travel and Hospitality is in recognition of their excellence in the Castletroy Park Hotel,” said Mr McDonagh.

The entrepreneur was asked about calls from tourism and hospitality groups on the Government to reinstate the 9% rate of VAT for hospitality food service businesses.

“It's a difficult enough time for hospitality because there's a lot of extra costs that have come into play since Covid. 

“Normally, you have either food price increases or energy increases at different times - now the whole lot has come together and the reintroduction of the vat has added to that. 

“It's a challenging time for a lot of hospitality, catering industries,” said Mr McDonagh.

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The increased 13.5% VAT rate came into effect in September 2023.

The Galway man said if the Government introduced the vat at two stages, two per cent now and two and a half percent in a year or twos time that would have alleviated a certain amount of the costs and pressures on the hospitality industry. 

“It is a challenging time for anyone in the hospitality industry, or indeed in retail because Covid has changed a lot of lifestyles across the country, and even habits have changed.

“You go down the main street of any city and there's quite a few shops closed unfortunately. 

“That's probably due to various different reasons but online shopping has become much more popular and that lessens the amount of football on the streets. Then you have extra costs on top of that.  

“And let's be honest about it, there is a bit of a change in spending power out there. Whether it is a semi-recession that's coming or whatever but there is tightening of belts going on. 

“There isn't the same disposable income and that's really due to the cost of living. The cost of living in all households has increased and so therefore the disposable income is less to play with. What the government does or doesn't do, that's a matter for them,” said Mr McDonagh.