Cork 2023: Caring for staff makes a big difference

At a time when the hospitality industry is struggling to attract and retain staff, Trigon Hotels has introduced a suite of new policies, including fertility leave, a pension scheme and a healthcare policy to run alongside its Employee Assistance Programme.

“Our people are our most valuable and important asset and with that in mind, we are continually striving to improve how we care for our team in a meaningful way,” said Aaron Mansworth, managing director of Trigon Hotels.

“Having a supportive workplace is very important to us, and open support and visibility in providing the option to avail of fertility leave to our wider teams will hopefully give our team members the confidence to use the policy and ask for help.

“I really hope the opportunity to take fertility leave will help encourage wider change in workplaces and I am extremely proud of Trigon Hotels in being leaders in the hospitality industry to support our team members when they most need it. As a company, we have launched a new employer brand and a key driver in this was to promote careers within the hospitality industry.”

Trigon Hotels’ Aspire programme, a new series of courses, aims to equip team members with the skills to progress in their job and reach their full potential. Run by Cork College of Further Education and Training (FET) under the Skills to Advance initiative, the courses have been tailored for Trigon team members at all levels, right through to senior management.

“Training and development is really important to us, whether it’s onboarding and induction sessions for our new recruits, our in-house training workshops or our 12-month trainee management programme which was the first of its kind in Ireland,” Mansworth said.

After a busy 12 months, Trigon Hotels continues to invest in its services and facilities, with sustainability a focus. “One of our projects is to install a 600 kW photovoltaic system on the roof of one of our hotels.

“The objective is to provide all of our hot water, heating and cooling needs using air-source heat pumps. The investment is €2 million, which is an expensive outlay, but the long-term financial benefits are in our favour,” said the managing director.

“This system will reduce our genuine carbon emissions by 95 per cent across the year in our first hotel to adopt the technology from this project alone, and we are running other sustainability and real carbon reduction initiatives across all our properties. We have also changed our guest shuttle buses to be fully electric.”

In the Cork International Hotel, a patio at the rear of the hotel, devised with drinks receptions and casual dining in mind, has recently been completed. “In the city centre, we have invested in Harley’s StrEAT, our mobile food offering with food trucks adjacent to the Metropole Hotel.

“These operate Friday to Sunday for the summer. We have a large-scale plan to upgrade and redesign our ground floor including the lobby, reception and restaurant at the Metropole Hotel. We anticipate this work will be done in quarter one of 2024,” said Mansworth.

The backdrop to the investment is encouraging. “We anticipate that international visitor numbers should be back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023. Looking at the domestic tourist market, in 2022, there were 13.3 million domestic trips taken by Irish residents, a 14 per cent increase on the 2019 figure.”

Mansworth, who sits on the board of Visit Cork, is passionate about the success of Cork as a setting for business and tourism.

“Working together is integral to keeping Cork as a primary destination for tourism. Cork had a very strong presence at Bloom 2023 and Holiday Worlds Belfast and Dublin where many hotels and tourism attractions collaborated under the ‘Visit Cork’ umbrella,” he said. “Domestic promotion and digital collaboration is ongoing all year round between the industry stakeholders.

“So far this year, four Tourism Ireland roadshows have taken place in European cities with connectivity to Cork Airport as a support mechanism for the air routes to Milan, Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. Also, many of the international platforms such as World Travel Market (WTM) will continue to take place throughout 2023 to keep Cork as one of the top tourist destinations.

“Work is at an advanced stage in the West Cork Destination Experience Development Plans (DEDP) with industry and Fáilte Ireland. Also, work is well under way in Cork city and east Cork for Ireland’s Ancient East DEDP.”

PureCork continues to grow and be the tourism bible for Cork, supported by both local authorities working together for a more cohesive and inclusive tourism offering, according to Mansworth.

Over the last number of years, both the Metropole Hotel and the Cork International Hotel have been working closely with other businesses within Cork to promote each other collaboratively, he said.

Trigon Hotels work alongside companies like Fota Wildlife Park, Blarney Castle and Gardens, Spike Island, Titanic Experience Cobh, Cork City Gaol and Rebel City Distillers to create guest packages. As a hotel group, it sits on numerous boards, committees and working groups across Cork.

Corporate Social Responsibility is a key element of the company ethos. “We are currently working with the Cope Foundation, Cork, as our charity partner and have completed several projects such as hosting fundraising events like the Cork Car Show, where we raised €10,000 in one afternoon,” he said.

“We created a sensory garden and a vegetable and herb garden in Cope in Montenotte. These gardens were created for therapeutic and mindfulness moments for our teams and also for use by our chefs and mixologists to source fresh produce. We are looking forward to hosting a pop-up dinner event in the garden of Cope later this summer.”

At the Cork International Hotel, Trigon Hotels created the Community Spirit Awards, accolades given monthly in Cork to an individual or group that make a significant impact on their communities.

The recent announcement that a major development will go ahead on the docklands will go ahead is a significant step in the future development of Cork city, according to Mansworth.

“This development will not only be massively financially impactful on completion, but it will also provide accommodation and employment during the build itself. Cork is doing tremendously well, and the future is very bright.”