Blue Book: Staying the distance

When she took over at the Blue Book, Michelle Maguire was charged with attracting high-end travellers to Ireland. The recession had hit, and it was a case of fight or flight

Michelle Maguire, chief executive of Ireland’s Blue Book, pictured in one of its member properties, the Merrion Hotel in Dublin Picture: Bryan Meade

If timing is everything in business, then by rights, Michelle Maguire’s stint as head of Ireland’s Blue Book should have been a short one.

Maguire took over running the organisation, which markets a selection of luxury hotels and restaurants across the country, in October 2008.

“The world was falling apart, and there I was in a new job that involved targeting high-end travellers,” she said. “It was a bit of a shock, to ...