Ever want to become a Hotel General Manager...

Hi All,

My name is Paddy Hogan, I am a Trainee Manager here at the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel and have been for the last 12 months. It was while working here I discovered what career path I wanted to take, so here's how it all started...

On 26th September 2007 I entered the grand entrance of the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel as an innocent 18 year old at the time with an ambition to become an Art Teacher and stay only until the end of the summer 2008. My first role was as a Food & Beverage Attendant, needless to say in the hotel industry nothing is ever easy and on my first night we had a wedding of over 250 guests...I thought at the time that “this is the hardest I've ever worked” but since then I've looked back at that first night and realised how easy it was.

In May 2008 I was awarded Employee of the Month, this was a fantastic acheivement and encouraged me to pursue a career in Hotel Management. Later that year I was also awarded Employee of the Year with a prize that would entice anyone to work hard to exceed all expectations.

During my time in the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel the hotel has awarded me for my hard work by enrolling me on relevant hotel hospitality courses for example, Occupational First Aid, Hospitality Management, Customer Service Skills, Defibrillator Training and a Health and Safety Representative Course which have all developed my skills further and allowed me to review areas of the hotel for new initiatives to be implemented through the help and guidance of the Department Heads and the Hotel General Manager. As a result I am now the hotel’s Health and Safety Representative.

What I enjoy most about my role is the variety, I am gaining experience in each department of the hotel and every day learning new and interesting aspects of the role of Hotel General Manager for which I am aspiring to. Each day I may face a new challenge but each challenge drives me to develop my skills further and to exceed my personal goals. There is nothing more rewarding to me than to receive thanks or a compliment on the job you have done. I greatly appreciate it when a guest thanks me for a task I have carried out for them or just simply because they have enjoyed their stay. I also appreciate negative feedback as it helps us improve our product, service and standards, as we can always build on what we have.

On the funny side my manager has a gift at catching me doing nothing, a prime example of this is one day I was after cleaning the bar from top to bottom and for a brief moment I decided to take a 'Time Out' and who walks through the door only “my manager”, I've never jumped to attention so quickly in all my life and since that experience I have enhanced my 'Time Out' skills and learned to always have a duster to hand!

From the Hotel Bar I moved to the Hotels three restaurants, Spago's Italian Restaurant, Kelly's Foundry Grill House and currently in the Fitzmaurice Fine Dining Restaurant. Each restaurant has its own atmosphere, but out of them all I have found the Fitzmaurice Fine Dining Restaurant to be my favourite overall, the Fitzmaurice team work very well together and they accepted me as a manager without any difficulty without any resistance and they have guided me along the way. I also have the benefit of learning another language as they have been teaching me Polish also which has been great fun!

Log on next week to find out where I'm going next and what challenges I'll face in the up coming days...