John Brennan goes for standout

John Brennan of The Park Hotel, Kenmare, told this year’s SFA Conference that ‘inheritance’ is the problem in 90 per cent of hospitality cases he’d dealt with as a hospitality consultant, where the wrong person had inherited the business.

“Businesses also go stale,” he added, alluding to the ‘green apple’ syndrome when trying to make one’s business stand-out from all the other similar businesses.

“To be the red apple in that sea of green you need to think differently,” he said.

It’s all about how you package the product not the cost/price of it, he told the audience. For example he’d lately moved into selling a luxury tent with down pillows to guests at €150 a night.

“You’re no different if you offer the same product or price as your neighbour.”

It’s important that the consumer consider ‘How has the proprietor marked me out as a consumer?’.
And as for reducing prices, dropped prices become the benchmark, he warned., “Instead, add value in different ways”.