One step ahead of the curve in hospitality

As Group Finance Director with Galgorm Collection, Tiarnán O’Neill has learned the value of constant reinvention and reinvestment in the competitive hospitality market

In his role as Group Finance Director with Galgorm Collection, Tyrone-born Tiarnán O’Neill plays a leading role in the strategic direction of one of Northern Ireland’s most successful locally owned hospitality groups.

Established in 1991 by brothers Nicholas and Paul Hill with the opening of Galgorm, the group has since expanded with the acquisition of two further hotel properties – The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat in Templepatrick and The Old Inn in Crawfordsburn – as well as Fratelli Restaurant and Parisien in Belfast.

Even so, Galgorm, now a 380-acre spa and golf resort, remains the flagship property in the group.

“We are very fortunate to have a loyal customer base that know Galgorm to be firmly focused on investment and innovation in their product offering. Our owners have invested heavily to establish Galgorm as an award-wining international and world-class tourism destination,” says O’Neill.

“When they acquired the original Galgorm site on the River Maine back in 1991, it was a country house with 20 bedrooms. Over the last number of years, we have grown into an award-winning and world-class collection of hotels and restaurants, which will generate revenue circa £50 million this year.”

Constant reinvestment

Even as the dust settles on two recent acquisitions – The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat in Templepatrick, bought in 2019, and the historic Old Inn in Crawfordsburn, acquired in 2021 – The Galgorm Collection continues to look to the future with ambitious plans for the next five years.  

“We’ve invested £20 million in The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat since the property was acquired and now it offers stylish accommodation, a luxury outdoor spa and lakeside walk, an onsite bar and restaurant and an events space for weddings and conferences,” says O’Neill.  

“We were honoured to be recognised by the AA at their 2023 awards, with The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat being crowned Northern Ireland Hotel of the Year.  This is a fantastic endorsement of all the hard work that has gone into the extensive redevelopment.”

The Galgorm Collection now plans to commence work on an additional 17 guestrooms at The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat at a cost of £2.5 million, following the opening of an exclusive £2.5 million resident-only outdoor Treetop Spa at The Old Inn.

All 32 guestrooms at The Old Inn are also being upgraded as part of plans to revitalise and upgrade the historic destination.  

“We’re confident that The Old Inn’s new-look offering will deliver a new chapter of growth for us and for Northern Ireland,” says O’Neill.

Since 2010, £60 million has been invested into Galgorm and the first phase of a £30 million project to further expand and enhance the resort and spa facilities by 2027 has just been completed.  

“Our guests’ appetite for new experiences, and our own desire to build on our reputation, means that the investment has got to continue,” says O’Neill.

Early career

Before joining Galgorm Collection, O’Neill had begun his career training as an Accounting Technician with PwC in Dungannon, his hometown.

“After getting my A Levels, I actually went to Queen’s University Belfast first to study for a degree in economics and management,” he says.

“I’d gone to the local grammar school and, if you got the grades there, you were expected to go to university, but it just didn’t suit me.”

Instead, O’Neill decided to become an Accounting Technician, beginning his training with PwC and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2012.

“I just became a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland last December and it was a proud moment for me, but I’m also very grateful that I started as an Accounting Technician, because I think that gave me some really valuable early-stage commercial experience,” he says.

“Right at the very start of my time with PwC, I was looking after the accounts of sole traders, small partnerships, SMEs and a lot of farmers – it was non-audit accounting work, which gave me a firm grounding in debits and credits and the basics generally. 

“My start was different to a lot of trainee Chartered Accountants who get sent into audit early on and don’t necessarily get experience in preparing a set of accounts. That’s stood me in good stead in the years since.”

In all, O’Neill spent close to a decade with PwC. “After starting off as a technician, I then spent some time in personal tax before settling into the firm’s audit practice,” he says.

 “Before I left, I was working with some quite big clients that were among the top 100 companies in Northern Ireland, local success stories in manufacturing, financial services, life science and biomedical – it was fantastic to get experience in such varied industries.  

“Once qualified, I got to spend two to three months per year traveling to work in the likes of London, Edinburgh and Jersey in the Channel Islands, and New York.”

A fresh challenge

In 2017, O’Neill decided to leave behind the world of practice to take on a fresh challenge.

“I wasn’t actively looking for a new opportunity, but I got a call one day asking if I would be interested in taking on the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer of the Diocese of Down and Connor,” he says.

In this role, O’Neill was responsible for the financial management of the second largest diocese on the island of Ireland, after Dublin.

“The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland had come into being, which brought new regulations and the requirement that some organisations, which had been run as charities up until then, be formally recognised as such,” he explains.

“Working with the Diocese of Down and Connor, I went from being an audit manager to, overnight, being responsible for a £100 million-plus balance sheet, income of about £30 million and a 330-strong team.”

The role involved streamlining operations and was “hugely enjoyable”, O’Neill says now. “It was about bringing the organisation back to its core, which meant divesting excess assets and services.

O’Neill reported to a highly experienced Board of Trustees with high-profile members drawn from the legal, financial and other respected professions in Northern Ireland.

“It was a tough board to be accountable to, but all of the members were very successful professionals in their own right. They were willing to give me their time, point me in the right direction and I learned a lot from all of them,” he says.

Aged just 30 at the time he took on the role, O’Neill learned some valuable lessons in management and communication.

“I found myself managing people who were quite a lot older than me in some cases. What I learned is that you have to find out what makes people tick and flex your style accordingly, so you can bring people with you rather than creating conflict.”

The COVID-19 pandemic

By mid-2019, O’Neill was once again ready for a new challenge, but just six months after joining Galgorm Collection, the pandemic took hold and Northern Ireland was plunged into the first of a series of lockdowns in March 2020.

“We went from being a cash-rich business with a constant churn of coming in every day, to suddenly having nothing coming in overnight. We were lucky we had enough reserves to get us through,” he says.

Galgorm Collection also implemented an employee assistance programme to support its nearly 1,000-strong team.

“Ultimately, the pandemic made us more resilient, and we are extremely proud that we had no COVID-related redundancies throughout the entire pandemic,” says O’Neill.
“We kept in contact with all of the team members. We had some employees who were used to working 40 to 60 hours a week in a very busy setting. 

“All of a sudden, they were pulled out of this bustling work environment. We wanted to help them with the stresses of finding themselves isolated and locked down at home.
The right balance

The management team at Galgorm Collection adheres to a stringent corporate governance model to ensure that the right decisions are made, and the correct procedures followed at all times.

“Any investment over a certain level has to be approved by the board, which meets bi-monthly. As long as the numbers stack up, we aim to make it work. We are not a highly leveraged business. 

“The view is that, while we continue to invest and constantly enhance and add to our product offering, we also keep paying down any borrowings we have and stay lean, so we are in a position to grasp any opportunities that come along.”

Galgorm Collection is always on the lookout for acquisitions that might fit, O’Neill says: “If it makes sense for us, we won’t turn down the right opportunity.”