Brothers Mark and Joseph Scott-Lennon bounce down the stairs into the lobby of the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney, both wearing broad grins and offering a welcoming handshake.
They are Irish hospitality royalty, the third generation of the Fitzpatrick family to own and run the well-known 113-bedroom property, even if they don’t have the surname.
The four-star hotel was opened by their grandparents Paddy and Eithne Fitzpatrick in 1971, and then run by their mother, Eithne Fitzpatrick Scott-Lennon, from 2002 until she sold the business in February to her sons, both of whom are in their 30s. Mark has been general manager of the Killiney property for the past 10 years, while Joseph cut his teeth in the industry abroad, including stints in New York, Dubai and the Caribbean.
Their uncle John Fitzpatrick operates two high-profile four-star hotels in prime locations in Manhattan, New York, under the family name.
“Mum wanted to retire and spend more time with Dad,” says Mark of the generational shift. “She’d been through a couple of recessions, Covid and had to weather various other storms. She’s enjoying her retirement. Joseph had come back [in late 2021] having travelled for a number of years and we were all in the business. It just felt like the right time.”
On the announcement of their takeover of the business, the brothers outlined plans for a €10 million investment programme over five years under the umbrella of the newly branded Fitzpatrick Hotel Collection, to include acquisitions.
In August they unveiled their first deal with the purchase of the Woodenbridge Hotel & Lodge near Arklow in Co Wicklow. The property overlooks Woodenbridge Golf Club and Aughrim river, has 69 bedrooms, a large private function room, a separate dining area that holds 50 guests and a bistro bar that can cater for 150 customers.
The price wasn’t disclosed but it was a single-digit million figure, as part of the €10 million investment plan.
Why did they choose Woodenbridge as their first acquisition? “The heritage of it being the oldest hotel in Ireland, family run and it had a good reputation in its community,” says Mark. “It felt right and the proximity to here in terms of shared services, travelling between the two hotels [55 minutes by car] and not wasting too much time.”
Woodenbridge is a three-star property - “something we might look at in the future to bring it to four-star”.
[ New generation takes the reins at Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in KillineyOpens in new window ]
It was financed with funding from Relm, a nonbank lender, and an equity investor who prefers to remain under the radar.
“We will be investing in the aesthetics of it,” says Joe. “There’s planning permission for 40 rooms for the next three years. Whether we execute on that, we’re not sure.
“The town of Arklow is expanding massively. A new waste-water plant means there will be planning for thousands of new houses so the catchment area becomes much larger. There’s also a greenway [from Arklow to Shillegagh] to go through the property that will bring significant tourism.”
At Killiney, there have been some subtle tweaks to the business model. Padel courts (a racket sport with Mexican origins that has become hugely popular in Ireland) have been built on the grounds at a cost of €75,000 per court, while an outdoor terrace has also been added opposite the main entrance. “The padel courts are a nice new addition,” says Mark.
The brothers are aiming for “comfortable elegance” at Killiney Castle, a popular venue in south Co Dublin for weddings and family celebrations, as well as corporate functions. “We pride ourselves as being a home away from home. We don’t see ourselves as being a slick, downtown hotel with not a lot of repeat visitors. It’s a huge special-occasions hotel and we’ve all manner of guests from corporates down to people staying for a couple nights a week. We try and make people feel at home and allow the staff to show their personality.”
Killiney Castle has 165 employees, many of them with long service. Some 3-4 per cent of turnover every year is spent on refreshing the property, parts of which date from 1740. It also has meeting room and function facilities, a 20m swimming pool, sauna, steam room and gym. The fitness centre has 1,500 local members, providing some diversification to the hotel’s traditional income streams.
Annual turnover in Killiney is €9 million-€10 million a year, with profits of €1.2 million-€1.4 million.
So who’s the boss in this sibling partnership?
“Ha ha, it’s a pretty flexible partnership,” says Joe. “We have different strengths. Mark is really strong on financial and I’m probably more operational. With the two properties, we work on those two together and are always on the phone to each other.”
Formally, Mark is managing director of Fitzpatrick Castle while Joe has the same title in Woodenbridge. In reality they work across both sites.
The brothers are tall, trim and neatly dressed. They carry the air of people who have worked in hotel management for years: softly spoken, friendly and patient with tricky guests.
A new government has yet to to be formed following last week’s election but it will have a familiar look, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael set to return. Both made promises to cut costs for SMEs and the hospitality sector in their election manifestos, with Fine Gael pledging to cut the industry’s VAT rate to 11 per cent from the current 13.5 per cent.
A reduction would be welcomed by the brothers. “We are the second- or third-highest rate of VAT for tourism in Europe,” says Mark. “With rising costs, it’s harder to make a profit than in recent years, as it’s coming at you from every angle. It would be a nice pressure release valve.”
If you charge €400 for someone to come stay here, they are immediately pissed off coming in the door. We want the return guest
— Mark
He rattles off some of the fixed costs that have to be paid before a euro is earned from a guest: the minimum wage increase will cost €105,000 in additional payroll costs; its annual rates bill is a similar figure; it pays €160,000 in insurance; spends €450,000 a year on refurbishment; and €180,000 on utilities.
“These are huge costs and it’s why a coffee in the lobby is €4.20. We’d love to do better but it’s difficult.”
Before the VAT rate returned to 13.5 per cent last year from the special rate of 9 per cent, the hotel sector had faced accusations of price gouging from some politicians, particularly at peak times, when dynamic pricing was employed to price rooms for events such as Taylor Swift concerts.
According to the brothers, a standard double room at Fitzpatrick Castle will usually cost about €169 per night, with breakfast. It might drop to €129 on certain quiet nights. Tour groups would generally getter better rates.
“For a standard room, the highest we charge would be about €280,” says Mark. “We made a decision coming out of Covid that we wanted to be in the middle of the market on pricing. If you charge €400 for someone to come stay here, they are immediately pissed off coming in the door. We want the return guest.”
Of course, the Killiney hotel is about 18km from the city centre, so it’s not an obvious place for lodgings if attending a concert in Croke Park, the 3Arena or the Aviva.
That said, Mark notes that the industry isn’t alone in applying dynamic pricing, where peak nights attract a higher cost compared with quieter times of the year. “Hotels get a bad shake, to be honest. There are no articles about what Ryanair is charging for the Rome Six Nations game [on St Patrick’s holiday weekend] in March.”
They would also like to see the Dublin Airport passenger cap scrapped by the new Coalition. “Why are we capping the number of visitors coming to the country? It doesn’t make sense to me,” says Mark.
While the brothers have had a busy year, with largely positive trading, Fitzpatrick Castle made the headlines for all the wrong reasons in May, when it emerged that the Food Safety Authority had issued it with a closure order on April 15th for three kitchens at the venue after rodent droppings, grime and stagnant water were noted by inspectors.
The closure applied for 36 hours and rocked the family.
“It was really horrible,” says Mark. “We’ve talked about all the pride in our grandad, our mum and our uncle. You feel like you’ve massively let that down. It was an oversight; there wasn’t enough record keeping. We have put our hands up and say we were under pressure in the kitchen and didn’t keep the required records.”
“You have to tackle it head on,” says Joe, noting that a “huge amount” of staff training has since taken place, and an external food safety company was hired to conduct kitchen audits.
The brothers say they received a huge volume of supportive messages from people who had used the venue over many years. But there was also a significant financial impact from cancelled bookings. They “conservatively” estimate that it cost the business €250,000 in lost income.
“You can understand that, particularly in the days afterwards,” says Joe. “People who had booked large dinners wanted to support us but if you have five people [in the group] who are unhappy or a committee that’s unhappy, it’s out of their control. You have to take that ... it’s human nature.”
“All you can do is try and restore people’s faith in you and hopefully we have enough credit in the bank with 53 years in business that we are able to lean on that,” says Mark.
Are they confident something like this will never happen again?
“Yes,” says Mark, firmly. “There are learning lessons in going around with the health inspector and seeing the errors that were there. To live through those couple of days and feel the disappointment personally and the embarrassment for our family is something that you don’t forget quickly. It won’t happen again.”
On the outlook, Mark says prospects for next year are “good” although the rate of growth has softened following the strong post-Covid rebound to a “more natural level, which will likely continue”.
“We hope to grow our occupancy next year [from the current 72 per cent level]. All the indicators are positive at the moment,” he says.
We looked at Kilkenny ... we’ll be pretty open-minded. We’d look at management contracts
— Joe
Back to this month and they have the busy Christmas period to navigate, with no room left at the inn for December 25th itself, with mostly Irish people happy for someone else to do the cooking and washing up.
“The bedrooms will be full and we’ll have 160-170 for lunch,” says Mark. “We have a waiting list for Christmas lunch. Last year we had two or three tables that were American families, who decided they wanted to be in Ireland because of their heritage.”
Regular room packages cost €550-€600, including breakfast and lunch. Just lunch is priced at €170 per person. Santa comes for breakfast and there’s a Champagne reception in the lobby before lunch with sandwiches in the evening. “It’s a day when everyone has a smile on their face,” says Joe.
Ultimately, the brothers would like to have five properties in their collection, each with its own individual personality. “Nothing too stuffy. We don’t want five hotels with 100 rooms and a pool that are all the same,” says Joe.
For now, the focus is on the Greater Dublin Area but that might change, Joe adds. “We looked at Kilkenny ... we’ll be pretty open-minded. We’d look at management contracts. We are young and ambitious but not stupid enough to pigeonhole ourselves. It has to excite.
“Our grandad was a great inspiration for us. He had a group with five hotels. We want to emulate that, own multiple properties and leave a mark in Irish hospitality. It will be an exciting journey.”
CVs
Mark Scott Lennon
Job Managing director, Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel
Age 37
Lives Blackrock, Dublin
Something we might expect Did a master’s in hospitality at DIT Cathal Brugha Street from 2011 to 2013.
Something that might surprise: Began working at the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney at age 16, and spent summer months during college at UCD working at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Vancouver and Gurneys Resort & Spa, Montauk, New York.
Joseph Scott Lennon
Job Managing director, Woodenbridge Hotel & Lodge
Age 31
Lives Rathmichael, Dublin
Something we might expect He loves working in hospitality. “There are very few careers where you get the opportunity to impact on someone’s day. It’s a privilege to come across the 350 people who come through here every day and have a genuine opportunity to make their day better through a smile or a greeting. That’s cool.”
Something that might surprise He spent seven months as a rugby coach in 2013-2014 at his alma mater, Blackrock College.
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