Robert McHugh speaks to Jane Bridge, hotel manager of Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin, ‘the perfect base to explore the city.’
The Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin recently won a Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best Award for 2024. This accolade places Hyatt Centric Dublin among the top 1% of hotels globally.
The hotel is part of the Hodson Bay Group and opened its doors in 2019. It has fast become one of Dublin’s leading hotels, winning an array of awards both nationally and internationally.
Jane Bridge, hotel manager of Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin, has played a large role in this success and has been with the hotel since it opened. In an exclusive interview with Hospitality Ireland, Bridge discusses her passion for her job and what she hopes to achieve in the future.
What was your first job in the hospitality industry, and how did that experience shape your passion and commitment to the field?
Working part-time as a student in a pub in my home town of Derry. Clarendon’s Bar, which is now unfortunately closed, was a family run business where the grandfather came in every night. He knew all of his regular customers by name and he watched everyone and everything. You had no choice but to learn the ropes quickly or you were getting feedback!
I loved the rush of being busy working on the floor and eventually I was given set shifts pouring drinks in the lounge bar. You got to know a lot of the regulars. It was a bar where things were done properly and to a high standard. I liked that feeling of being able to exceed service levels and customers’ expectations.
Who was your first mentor in hospitality, and how did their guidance influence your growth and development as a hospitality professional?
I studied Hospitality Management in Edinburgh and in my second year I started a work placement for a company called Thistle Hotels. The operations manager, a gentleman called Chris Ling was my mentor for this placement. I continued working there part-time and full-time during holidays and gaining experience in most departments.
Throughout this time, Chis gave me opportunities in roles that in hindsight I probably didn’t have the skillset for, but he knew that I would work hard and there was a great management team throughout the building that were there to support me.
Can you elaborate on the factors that led you to decide on your career direction? Were there any influential individuals or experiences that encouraged you to take the route you have taken?
I was never the most academic person but my university course at Napier in Edinburgh was a good mix of both academic and practical work. There was a restaurant on site that was run by the students and open to the public. We had to run themed days from creating dishes and planning the menu, operational planning of the restaurant, methodology for the chefs, marketing your day and doing P&L accounts.
This really cemented for me that hospitality was something I wanted to do as a career. For the last five years, I have worked with my current MD Declan Curtis. As I moved in to senior management roles he has been encouraging, generous with his time and allowed me to gain in confidence in my own abilities.
My own management team here in the Hyatt inspire me every day – a lot of them have worked with me for a long time and are experts at what they do. I learn from them and try my best to support and encourage them in any way I can.
Throughout your journey, could you walk us through the various roles you have held in your career and the significant lessons you have learned from each experience?
My first role after I graduated was as an assistant food and beverage manager in Inverness. They had a large conference and banqueting space and this was my first exposure to weddings and large banquets.
Within the same company, after 12 months, I was asked to fill in a maternity contract for a revenue manager. I was fairly comfortable at this point with front of house/reception operations but this was my first time looking at rooms budgets, group business, overbooking strategies and group sales.
My next role was back in Ireland in a hotel in Monaghan, the Nuremore Hotel as front of house duty manager. This was a family run hotel with large conference space, a championship golf course and a Michelin Star restaurant on site. It was my first hotel role in a hotel in Ireland and I learnt that you can make a real difference by providing personalised and genuine care for people.
I then moved to Dublin and worked in The Camden Court Hotel on the reservations team. This was a high volume hotel with 247 rooms and this was big learning curve, getting familiar with the Dublin market and building relationships with agents and DMCs.
I then went to the Morrison Hotel in Dublin as front of house manager. At the time, this was a privately run boutique hotel that attracted a huge number of A-list music acts. I spend an amazing five years there and learnt about the importance of building teams and looking after staff members.
I am very proud of the fact that during those years I worked with an amazing group of people that were entirely focused on creating a special experience for guests. With this role, the company moved from being an affiliated hotel to a stand alone property so I managed several systems changeovers.
I then moved on to the Shelbourne Hotel as first assistant front office and then front office manager. The Shelbourne is a very special place and as an Irish person to say that you worked in a building where the constitution of the country was drafted, and that is the home of our National rugby team, is very special. The Shelbourne is a Marriott property so this was my first exposure to an international brand – so training and adhering to brand standards was a big learning curve. Providing five star service and taking every opportunity to create special memories for guests is something that I found I loved doing. Being able to learn about and drive the guest relations aspect of this role was very rewarding.
Next role was a full close down and refurb of a four star property in Dublin, The Morgan Hotel. I was on board from the early stages so was involved with interior designers and contractors. I sourced and scheduled deliveries for inventory of items for bedrooms, did all of the PMS set-up and design, and recruited all staff for reception, nights and accommodation.
My current role as general manager in The Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin was again a pre-opening role with main responsibility for hiring and training a full team. I have been with the Hodson Bay Group and the O’Sullivan family for four years. We are still a relatively young hotel but have established and differentiated ourselves from a competitive four star market with the high levels of care that we offer and the standards of service throughout the hotel. We were rated last year within Hyatt as the cleanest hotel in Europe. We were also ranked in the top 1% of all hotels Worldwide by Tripadvisor users.
Which industry networks have you been a part of that have provided vital support and contributed to your career progression?
IASI (Irish Accommodation Services Institute) have been an amazing resource to both myself and my rooms division manager Dana Tunde Illes. It has been a challenge recruiting for the accommodation department in particular and the training courses that they are offer are excellent. The Irish Hotel Federation is also a wonderful networking forum.
In your experience, what are the most significant challenges you have faced while working in the hospitality industry, and how did you navigate through them?
For me, as I imagine was the case for most hoteliers, COVID was a huge challenge. The Hodson Bay Group really showed their commitment to their employees when they allowed us to keep a full team employed. We only opened at the end of 2019 and were in full lockdown by 2020.
As a group, we took the opportunity to go back on what we were unhappy with since we opened and readdress. We also did a lot of cross training. This meant when the country re-opened we were in a much better place that lots of other hotels. It created a real bond with the team that we have in the Hyatt as we all went through that period together.
Looking ahead, what are your career goals and aspirations, and how do you envision making a lasting impact in the hospitality sector?
I still have a lot to achieve in my current role as I believe there is work to be done in further developing and building my team and so improving the standards here at the Hyatt Centric Dublin.
The Hodson Bay group are also doing lots of work around green initiatives and we are aiming for accreditation from Green Hospitality for all of our properties – Sheraton Athlone, The Hodson Bay and The Galway Bay.
We have also acquired 140 acres of unspoiled meadow and woodland on the shores of Lough Ree in Athlone called Yew Point. There are lots of exciting plans for this and for me personally. Tourism and hospitality focused on health and wellness is something I am very excited to be involved in, so watch this space!!
