From the existential threat of the pandemic to the current cost-of-living crisis, no one will say the decade so far has been kind to the hospitality industry. It is testament to its resilience, then, that optimism is once again the order of the day, in the hotel sector at least. Ireland’s tourism industry is eyeing growth of 50% by the end of the decade, and Crowe estimates Irish hotel transactions will be worth €750m this year, double the 2023 figure.
As COO and CFO of Choice Hotel Group, which owns and operates a number of four- and five-star hotels in Ireland including The G Hotel in Galway and Shoreline Hotel in Dublin, few have a clearer view of the challenges and opportunities ahead than Tim Whyte FCCA. Bitten by the hospitality bug from his first student job in a hotel bar, Whyte says ‘what I loved from the start was the sense of camaraderie and fun. You can’t work in a silo in this business. It’s a great breeding ground for people who are socially intelligent.’
‘If you give customers what they really want, they will pay more for it and come back for the experience again’
In a career that has brought him from managing Irish bars in Eastern Europe to the corporate restructuring and re-energising of luxury hotel brands in Ireland and Europe, Whyte says there is no great secret to success in the industry. ‘It’s about focusing on what the customer wants,’ he says. ‘If you give them what they really want, they will pay more for it and come back for the experience again because, more often than not, they are not getting it anywhere else.’
Understand the basics
Achieving this, while also turning a profit, is the fine art Whyte has mastered, after recognising early on the importance of having the right financial skillsets.
‘Back in 1995, having just graduated from UCD, I got a job managing an Irish bar in Latvia. I subsequently worked in the UK and Malta. However it was when I was in Hong Kong and given responsibility for food and beverage costs, I thought “no problem”. At the end of the month, our accountant told me the beverage costs were out; I had forgotten an accrual from the previous month.’ The experience hit home. ‘People are in hospitality because they love working with people but I realised you have to understand the financial basics if your efforts are to mean something.’ A career move to London would soon follow, where he enrolled with ACCA while working as financial controller in a hotel chain.
‘Being part of a wider network that sees issues through a social as well as a finance lens is really important to me’
All these years later, Whyte says, that accounting background still makes him something of a rarity in the industry, and he believes that the ACCA qualification has only grown in value over the years. ‘ACCA isn’t just about finance; it’s about ethics, sustainability and leadership. The CPD programme, and the feeling of being part of a wider network that sees issues through a social as well as a finance lens is really important to me.’
CV
2023
COO and CFO, Choice Hotel Group
2016
Regional director, western Europe, Radisson
2006
Joins Carlson Rezidor (then Radisson SAS) as regional financial controller, Ireland
1999
Becomes a member of ACCA
1998
Financial controller, Red Carnation Hotels
Commercial approach
Working with what was then Crowe Horwath, he led restructuring efforts at the luxury end of the market, operator selection for new hotels, and bank finance for hotel extensions and renovations and soon after joined Radisson, rising to the position of regional director for Europe. The combination of social and financial skills would come into its own for Whyte after the financial crisis, when many hotels suddenly found themselves encumbered with debt and struggling to stay afloat.
‘We had some great hotels in our group, but many weren’t performing,’ he recalls. ‘I brought a more commercial approach to how they were managed and we effectively turned the situation around. A big part of that was empowering management teams at each hotel to make decisions. Given that opportunity, people really rose to the occasion.’
Having joined the Choice Hotel Group in 2023, Whyte’s passion for the industry remains undimmed. ‘We put a huge emphasis on service and on our customers feeling the people around them really care,’ he says. ‘That may sound like what any hotel would say, but it’s my experience that not all are run with this emphasis.’
‘Ireland’s growth is like a teenager outgrowing their clothes at a rapid pace’
However, given the ‘perfect storm’ currently besetting hospitality, is there any reason to believe the coming years will be less turbulent?
‘There’s a collection of issues out there and they are more to do with the restaurant industry than hospitality generally,’ Whyte says. ‘People reach a certain threshold where spending more and going out more is just not an option. Hotels have more scope to correct because they can adjust room prices and there simply aren’t enough in the country.’
Ireland’s hotel industry in numbers
6.8
Percentage revenue growth predicted for 2024
11th
Ranking of Ireland’s hotel industry among EU27 (by revenue)
58,390
Number of people employed by Irish hotels
€4.1bn
Predicted market size in 2024
Source: IBISWorld
Social concern
That issue of supply has, of course, been exacerbated by the housing crisis. A 2023 report by Savills found that 12% of hotel beds in Ireland were in use as emergency accommodation. Whyte acknowledges ‘it’s a really difficult discussion’ and appreciates community concerns. ‘We showed at the start of the Ukrainian crisis that we were ready to support people, but I don’t think people and children in particular should be growing up in short-term hotel accommodation.’
It may be ironic, then, that another public bugbear is the perceived glut of hotel building, particularly in Dublin. Whyte says perspective is needed. ‘We’ve always had a shortfall in terms of meeting public needs and infrastructure in Ireland. It’s a legacy of being a poor country for a long time,’ he says. ‘We are now a wealthy country with strong population growth. It’s like a teenager outgrowing their clothes at a rapid pace. What we really need is to be thinking longer term in all our planning.’
There may be many variables at play in how the sector develops in the coming years, but it is the constants that inspire Whyte in his role.
‘I think Irish hospitality and the warm Irish welcome are as important as ever. We now have a multiethnic workforce today who are just as committed to providing that,’ he says. ‘My role is to give leadership in getting the guest experience right. If you do that, it will be the bedrock of all your future success.’
