Cork International Airport Hotel

Busy Busy Friday

2010-07-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

Woah....!! What a day we had here yesterday! First off we had an up and coming Cork band in the hotel filming their video for their new single. They were filming in our lobby area, our bedrooms and our restaurant. We had camera men, lights, back drops and then of course the very important take 1, take 2, take 100!! Looking forward to seeing the finished video....maybe (fingers crossed) i'l be able to spy myself in the background at some stage after all the "accidental" strolls I took past the cameras ;)

After the band left it was lunch time and time to feed all our hungry Friday Lunch goers. You would be surprised how busier our bar is for lunch on Fridays.... I think the business park feel the need to treat themselves after such a long week at work!! Ye are dead right guys!!

Next up was all hands on deck down in our ballroom in preparation for the South Side and District Sports Awards. These awards are held here in the hotel on a regular basis - we are the main sponsors. Our ballroom was set for 100 guests, crisp white linen, fresh lily flowers centrepieces and plenty of nighlights.....there was a great turn out with only 2 or 3 seats left on the night. The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Cork , family members, friends and many sporting ledgends were present to congratulate the two well deserving award winners....Mr. Michael Shields (St. Finbars) and Mr. Frank Cogan (Cork Constitution RFC) were awarded for their outstanding performances in their sporting fields. There were some lovely speeches made by the Lord Mayor, Aaron Mansworth (our general manager) Mr. Sean O' Sullivan and then of course by the award winners Micheal and Frank. The menu on the evening was a choice of Vegetable Soup or Melon with Parma Ham to start, Chicken wrapped in bacon or Baked Cod for mains and then everyones favourite Baileys Cheesecake for dessert. It's fair to say there were very few leftovers! I hope everyone enjoyed it and well done again to Michael and Frank - We wish you all the very best with the rest of your sproting careers.

All in all it was an interesting and exciting day here yesterday at the Cork International Airport Hotel. One wonders what today will bring :)

2nd Half of "A Day in the Life....."

2010-07-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

12.30 – Lunchtime
Everyones’ tummies are rumbling at this stage and from 12.30 our Obar gets busy for lunch. We serve Carvery from 12.30 – 2.30pm everyday and we have our bar lunch menu also, one can treat themselves to a home-made burger or fish and chips or you can be very healthy and opt for our “no carb sandwich” – it depends on your mood! Our “Club Sandwich” is by far the most popular item on our menu – we sell over 400 of these a month! I try to speak nicely with my chef and sometimes he treats me to one!! As duty manager I must make sure that all staff know exactly which station they are working on. I need to make sure that the food is coming from the kitchen as soon as possible and also that all our guests are happy. Alot of the people that have lunch in the bar during the week are rushing back to work so they do not have much time - so we must be prepared in advance for all levels of business. Along with the bar we may also have private lunches booked into the restaurant or Cafe Tucano so I will also make sure that these groups have everything they need.
14.30 – Post Lunch Lull
By 14.30 the bar quietens down and most delegates are gone back in to their meeting rooms. This gives me a quick chance to stop my own tummy from rumbling. .....I grab a bite to eat in our very cool and trendy staff canteen – we are lucky here at the CIAH – our staff facilities are very good.
15.00 – Preparation for the evening
Between 15.00 and 16.00 I get things ready for any evening functions. Function rooms may need to be set for tour group dinners, meeting rooms may need to be refreshed and reset, menus need to be printed – the daily evening specials for the Obar and the early bird menu for the restaurant.
16.00 Handover Time :-)
By 16.00 if I have successfully managed my time I will be ready to handover to the late duty manager. I must go through my day with them and handover anything that will be going on that evening. It is so important to record everything that I have dealt with so that we are not doubling up or equally missing anything. At this stage my feet are getting tired and its a sign that sadly its home time .....as the saying goes.....find a job that you love and you will never work a day in your life.....

A Day in the Life !!

2010-07-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all ! As part of our "Meet the staff" section I have asked some of our team to blog about a typical day at work for them. As you can imagine they were only too delighted to let us know how hard they work !!!

So first up is Sandra Murphy, one of our fantastic Duty Managers......as you can imagine her day is extremley busy so will publish the first half today and the 2nd half of the day tomorrow.....(phew am tired even reading it !!)

7.30am – Shift begins
First stop is Reception where I need to get a handover from the night team. They will inform me of any issues that may have arisen during the night.
I then check occupancy levels so I know how many are due to check out that morning and check in that evening – if our occupancy levels are high (which they always are here at the CIAH!) I will need to help at Reception throughout the morning.
I then need to check our Function Diary to see what bookings we have for the day. Meetings, Conferences, Lunches, Dinners, Proposals, Kids Birthday Parties etc. I must then complete my security walk – this involves walking the whole hotel – every nook and every cranny must be checked once during each shift – you’d be surprised at what you might find!!Then I’m set to face the rest of the hotel!!

8am – 10am – Breakfast (not for me mind you!!) and morning meetings
Our Restaurant Strata opens at 7am every morning so from 7.30am it gets very busy. Here I meet and seat guests and make sure that everyone is ok for everything. I also touch base with the Conference and Banqueting Department – I may need to assist with tea and coffee breaks etc. throughout the morning. This usually takes me up to 10am and ready for our 10am morning meeting.
10am – Management 10 o’ clock Meeting
This group huddle takes place in our Sales office every morning religiously at 10am. Each head of department attends this meeting so that we can all communicate what we have going on for the day. The duty manager heads this meeting and runs through occupancy levels and general issues. Each HOD then gives a brief run down of anything they want to pass on to others.
After this it’s time for a well deserved cup of tea :-)
10.30 – 12.30 – Productivity Time
During this time I try to get as much work done as possible. I always have different projects to work on, be it sales, food and beverage, meeting and greeting guests, doing showarounds, printing menus, updating our facebook page and of course then being on hand to help each department as needs be – multi-tasking some people like to call it!...(2nd half coming soon !)

Meet the Staff : first up our GM Aaron Mansworth

2010-06-15T04:36:00.001-07:00

Well I did promise that you would be getting the oppurtunity to get to know our staff a bit better so with that in mind I have asked various staff members to fill out a small questionnaire and pose for a photo! First up:

Name: Aaron Mansworth

Department: General Manager

Favourite Place in Cork: Cobh

Fav. thing to do: Watching Cobh Ramblers

Fav. item on the CIAH Bar / Restaurant Menu: Chicken Club Sandwich

Best thing about working in the Hotel: The fantastic team of people I get to work with every day.

The person I would most like to meet: Nelson Mandela.

Keep posted for a "Typical Day in the life of........." coming soon !

What a Day !

2010-06-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Just back from the Street Perfomance festival in the Mardyke & Fitzgergald's Park......sunny weather, ice-cream, picnic and free entertainment.....what more could you want. Excellent perfomances....watch out for the very popular USA Break-dancers and the extremely funny Lords of Strut ! Amazing children's area.....well done to all involved !
So if you're wondering how to spend tomorrow, its happening all over again from 12noon to 8pm on Sunday so pack the picnic blanket, plenty of water and get ready to be entertained !!!

Phew !

2010-06-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Pheww.... what a Bank hol weekend ! Firstly well done to both the boys and girls teams from CIAH who completed the Cork City Marathon in aid of Cystic Fibrosis on Monday....yes the boys did win....(just barley) ! Well done guys, especially since the weather was definetly not the greatest......
Full hotel over the weekend , great atmosphere around the place, birthdays, BBQ's, tours..you name it we had it. Hope everyone managed to enjoy some of the sunshine.
So World Cup starts soon and we'll be adding some cool promotions and offers to our Facebook page so keep on the look out.
I'll also be adding a new feature to our blog and Facebook page each month - "Meet the Staff" and first up will be our General Manager Aaron Mansworth. This is your oppurtunity to meet and get to know the staff of the CIAH and of course pose some questions if you'd like....... we'll also be posting a picture of each person (not sure if they know that yet ?? !!) , so you'll be able to put a face to the name....now must go look for the camera....and the GM.............

So much to do...so little time.....

2010-06-01T01:16:00.000-07:00

Wow - 1st of June already and the sun is shining in Cork...a sign of things to come maybe...(fingers crossed!) Busy month ahead for us here in the hotel..tours, BBQ's, weddings, speed dating nights, birthday parties and as well as that our staff are entering 2 teams in the Cork City Marathon taking place Bank Hol Monday....girls vs boys - with our General Manager Aaron Mansworth heading the boys team. I'll be cheering from the sidelines - c'mon the girls !!

As well as being a busy month in the hotel - the Cork Midsummer Festival kicks off next week, beginning a whole Summer of concerts, activities and family fun around the city and county. I love this time of year around Cork, the only trouble is trying to decide what to attend.....I have it narrowed down to: Christy Moore, Mamma Mia and Tony Bennett - Live at the Marquee, Mick Flannery performing in the Pavillion as part of the festival.
Not forgetting the freebies....I'll definetly be attending the Street Perfomance World Championship in Fitzgerald Park on the 12th -13th June - so much to do and see, check out the link for a cool interactive map. Phew, well that pretty ties up my June !! Will let you know how it all goes..........oh almost forgot, the hotel will be going World Cup mad in the next few weeks so keep on the look out for special promos and giveaways - will also be adding more Facebook fan offers soon so become a fan today.

Got that Friday feeling !

2010-05-28T04:41:00.001-07:00

Hello all, can you really believe its the 28th May - I have to say that is the quickest month I have ever put down! It only seems like yesterday we were completing monthly report for April...now in a few days we'll be looking back at May ! And what a month it was ! Ash clouds, stranded honeymooners, sunny weather, airport closures....all made for a very interesting and busy month (maybe thats why it went so quickly).
Well still most of Friday to get through......busy lunch ahead with over 100 delegates in house and a wedding tonight (bride and groom very happy with the weather !!) . Our Park & Fly packages are selling extremely well for the summer so car park is extremley busy. We have Beara Preserves here at lunch time displaying their delicious jams, chutneys and marmalades.....(have of course sampled a few and they are extremley tasty :-) . Also welcoming a bus load of German tourists over the weekend..so busy, busy.
Keep posted for our World Cup Specials coming soon and how you can share your travel tips with us!
Have a great weekend !

Busy Day

2010-05-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

Only getting a chance to blog now, :-( ...typical midweek..busy, busy, busy. Weekly sales meeting today so loads of activities done...and more to do. End of May and we have our Christmas brochures almost ready to go - look out for a very different option for our parties this year...will be adding the brochure to the website as soon as its done !
A bit sooner than that though we have finalized our BBQ menus so anyone out there looking to host a company or family BBQ on our private decking contact Sandra in Meeting & Events.
For all our Facebook fans we have an amazing new competition posted....quite difficult, but the prize is a 2 Night Break in a 4 star hotel in Dublin...and for a hint...those close observers may find the answers on our website. Happy hunting! :-)

What a Weekend !

2010-05-24T00:56:00.001-07:00

Good morning to all and Happy Monday ! Yes the good weather certainly improves the mood doesn't it. Unless you were caught in traffic tail backs heading away from Garryvoe & Ballycotton over the weekend :-(.
Activities of our staff over the weekend included beer gardens, Sandycove beach in West Cork, picnics in Farren Woods and general sun worshipping, this is of course not forgetting the staff that were unfortunate enough to be working :-( . But hopefully the sighting of Ireland soccer star Kevin Doyle in the hotel improved the mood.
Another busy week ahead, tour season has officailly kicked off and we will be welcoming French & German tours to the hotel, fingers crossed the weather will be good for them.
So better get on with some work and try and get out on time to enjoy the evening sun :-)

Nearly the weekend !!!

2010-03-25T03:39:00.000-07:00

We would love to know what you're plans are for the weekend ???

Win a Weekend Away

2010-03-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

We would love to know what you think about us !! So fill in the below survey and be in with a chance to win a week-end break away !! ....and be honest !!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C8CVXZZ

Podcasts.ie

2010-03-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

CIAH would like to welcome Joe & Sinead here from Podcasts.ie. They are in the hotel recording Irish authors and poets , check out their very cool website, www.podcasts.ie and don't pretend you don't remember all those old Irish myths and legends !!!!

Pictures !!

2010-03-18T02:48:00.001-07:00

A very dull and rainy day in Cork today. :-(
Why not check out the hotel's Facebook page, we've recently uploaded photos of the American Drifters, who played here on Tueday night ..... a great night was had by all !

Busy Weekend and Week Ahead !!

2010-03-15T01:21:00.000-07:00

Well done to all the Hockey teams who stayed with us over the weekend !! Hope ye had a great time and the muscles aren't too sore this morning !!
We loved having ye here !!!

Well done also to the Southside Sport's Award receipent for 2009 Nollaig Cleary. Damien Richardson was here on Friday evening at a special Award's Dinner to present Nollaig with the prize. ( Heard that our GM's speech went down a treat !! - well done Aaron !!)

Only a few tickets left for the American Drifters, playing here on Tuesday night - 16th March.
After a sell out show in the Opera House last year, they are sure to attract a big crowd....so don't leave it too late. Call the hotel today !!!! .....and start practising them dance moves !!!!

Unmissable Offer for our Facebook Fans

2010-03-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

Keep posted, we have an unbelievable offer exclusive to our Facebook Fans coming soon.........believe me you don't want to miss out on this, so become a fan today......

Best Thing About Cork is...............

2010-03-01T07:40:00.001-08:00

Cork International Hotel would like to know what you think the best thing about Cork is ..............

Cork International Hotel Wedding Fair

2010-02-22T02:58:00.000-08:00

Our Wedding Fair yesterday was a great success. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did.

Many thanks to all our vendors;

- Lily Rose Bridal Wear - check out some of the pictures we have up on facebook of the wedding dresses available.
- Fiona Kennedy - What an amazing voice!
- Princess rooms for their lovely bridal wear
- National Event Hire and their amazing table decor
- Top Class Limos to ensure you arrive at your destination in style

If anyone has any questions regarding our wedding packages and date availability, be sure to contact us. We would be delighted to meet you all again and run through things with you

Cork International Hotel

2010-02-18T07:08:00.000-08:00

Join us this Sunday, 21st February for our Wedding Fair,12-2pm.

Our Wedding Showcase offers both couples and families alike a unique opportunity to view our wedding facilities and our luxurious accomodation and also the chance to meet our dedicated wedding co-ordinators and sales team.

Special Offers and Prizes on the Day

Welcome to The Cork International Airport Hotel

2009-12-21T06:59:00.001-08:00

The Cork International Airport Hotel is located next to the airport, just a 3 minute walk (or use our FREE shuttle bus if you like) to the hotel and a short 15 minute drive to Cork City centre. If you are driving to Cork or availing of one of our Stay, Park & Fly Packages, we offer FREE car parking for all our guests.