A deep dive into the making of a General Manager—from pulling pints in Sneem to leading one of Dublin’s finest boutique hotels.
Born in Düsseldorf while his father was completing his hospitality internship in the Hilton hotel there, Doiran Kavanagh could hardly have had a better introduction into the world of European hospitality.
His parents met in the hotel trade, when his Dublin-born father was working at the Parknasilla Hotel. When Doiran was six, the family moved to his mother’s hometown of Sneem. It was there on the Ring of Kerry that his parents bought D O’Shea’s pub.
“That’s where my career in hospitality started,” says Doiran. “I was pulling pints as soon as my head could reach the taps.”
First Taste of Luxury: From Hungry Knight to Turnberry Resort
A move to a fish-and-chip shop in the village called the Hungry Knight showed him another side of catering before he went to study Hospitality Management in Cathal Brugha Street (now TU Dublin).
“I never dreamt of being a pilot or anything like that,” Doiran recalls. “It was always ‘the industry’ for me.”
The first of his two placements abroad during his degree course was at Turnberry in Scotland. This was the year that the Open Championship was hosted, July 2009. It was his first experience in real 5-star hospitality. “It was an incredible thing to be part of,” recalls Doiran of his fast immersion at the swankier end of five-star luxury.
“At the time, the Royal family of Dubai had bought the hotel transforming it into a Luxury Collection Resort… We had training from Harrods in Knightsbridge who came up and put Rolexes on the staff and trained all of us how to recognise a Louis Vuitton handbags and to really be able to connect with the guests and understand what it was that they had.”
Climbing the Ranks at The Shelbourne and Beyond
It was a highly enjoyable experience that got him firmly hooked on the 5-star end of the business. After he came back to college in September, after an extended summer of six months in Scotland, Doiran had targeted a position in Ireland’s premier five-star ‘old dame’ – the Shelbourne Hotel.
His determination to succeed got him a foot in the door. Starting as a waiter in the Saddle Room, Doiran ended up spending seven years at the Shelbourne Hotel, climbing the ranks as he went. In the middle of it all, he still had to do an internship and decided to do it in Paris, at the Méridien Étoile, Porte Maillot, where he worked at reception for nine months, getting a crash course in fluent French.
With 1025 bedrooms, it was the largest hotel in Europe and a very busy posting with 800- 900 checkouts per day.
His experience at the Shelbourne covered all areas and aspects of the business, opening Doiran’s eyes to other areas that he found he enjoyed, such as housekeeping.
“I absolutely loved working in housekeeping,” says Doiran. “My background was food-and- beverage so it was lovely to see that side of the business. We had a team of over 70 in that department at the time, so managing the purchasing and the payroll, for example, was absolutely fascinating.”
Doiran’s next move was to the MHL Hotel Collection – a group that he would remain with for the remainder of his career to date. He worked at the Westin Hotel in Westmoreland Street, where he experienced being involved in a massive refurbishment & extension.
“I joined as Director of Rooms,” says Doiran, “overseeing front office, concierge and housekeeping.”
After a 4-year stint, Doiran moved again through the ranks – from Director of Operations to Deputy General Manager. When Covid hit, cutbacks and moving staff around saw Doiran move to MHL’s Intercontinental Hotel in Ballsbridge, where he worked as Director of Operations under Nicky Logue for another four years before moving to the Brooks Hotel and becoming its General Manager.
In Ireland, Doiran says, you never feel awkward in a five-star hotel, unlike the experience for many in similar establishments in Paris or New York or London.
“A customer is a customer – it doesn’t matter where they’ve come from,” he says. “Everyone has the right to come in and feel welcome. That’s the business we’re in; hospitality.”
And, having grown up with hospitality and seeing that it works as a career, he probably sees the industry in a far more valid light than a lot of people in Ireland do; people who still see it only as a stop-gap sector and not as a real grown-up career.
“I think that you get out of hospitality as much as you want, or as much as you’re willing to put in. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a General Manager and that I wouldn’t stop at anything less.“
“Have I made sacrifices by not going off and travelling the world for two years? Yes I have. There’s no doubt about it – it’s hard work and long hours but maybe not as tough as it used to be… and to date, I’ve had an amazing career & still managed to travel and see the world while working.”
At the same time, Dorian says, one of the wonderful aspects of the hospitality sector is that you’re not obliged to keep striving towards any particular role. There are so many different areas that you can work in, people often find the niche that suits them and they remain there.
“If you find one area that you love, you can find a career in that one specific area be it HR, Sales or Engineering for example,” says Dorian. “There’s a waiter here in Brooks, for example, who’s been a waiter for 27 years and who doesn’t want to be a F&B Manager or a General Manager. He’s a professional in his area and he’s celebrated for it. But he wants nothing more; he found what he loved and the level of responsibility that suited his personal circumstances.”
Changing Perceptions of Hospitality Careers in Ireland
He believes that opening young people’s eyes to the benefits of the hospitality industry needs to begin at 2nd level.
“When I was in school, we had career guidance counsellors who were fantastic… But there was little consideration given to hospitality as a career. It was seen as something that you would do while you were in college to get pocket money or pay your rent. Nobody pushed it as a career or said that in hospitality, the more you work, the more you get. There can be very lucrative careers in the sector but none of that was mentioned.”
It’s a matter, he believes, of educating the educators on this point.
“People raise families and buy houses and do all those things that other people do from working in the hospitality industry.”
The lack of respect for the industry appears to be endemic, however, and this comes through in the treatment meted out by successive governments who don’t seem to acknowledge it as the country’s largest indigenous industry.
“We’re incredibly well able to sell ourselves as a destination and to welcome all of our visitors and provide an unforgettable experience in a way that many other nations can’t do,” says Doiran. “Yet we don’t promote careers within the biggest employer in the country.”
It is very sad, he says, to see so many small businesses being squeezed out through this lack of care, including really busy and well-known restaurants in Dublin that are still closing on a weekly basis.
“At the kitchen in our family bar/restaurant in Sneem, the cost of quality ingredients has exploded. You then have to buy the plate to put it on, pay for the gas to cook it, for the dressing around it, for the chef to cook it and pay someone to serve it.”
Many places are still selling dishes such as steak at €25, clearly using it as a loss leader in the hope that they will make up their profit in other areas.
It’s a simple example but very few people in the public appreciate the incremental costs that restaurants are facing, on top of which the Government has added a 50% VAT increase.
Meanwhile, the show must go on and for Doiran, he continues to enjoy his career and has absolutely no regrets about any aspect of it.
“I’ve loved and enjoyed every second of it,” says Doiran. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to what the future holds here in Brooks Hotel.”
