IASI Honours Top Professionals

Over 300 guests and award nominees gathered in The Slieve Russel Hotel for the 23rd IASI National Conference and Award Presentation.

The eight finalists in the Accommodation Assistant of the Year Award were welcomed on stage during the Gala Dinner, and President Marian Murnane presented awards to Carmel O’Donnell from Dromoland Castle, Roxana-Alina Ciorogariu from The Lodge at Ashford Castle and Katia Amorim dos Santos who works at The South Court Hotel.

Judged by Mary Hall from Hallmark Training and Micheline Corr from The Firm, this is the second year of the competition. Interviews took place in November, and the number of Accommodation Assistant applicants continues to rise annually.

This year's recipient of the Presidential Award was Alan Blaney, former general manager of Bunzl Rafferty.

Following a highly competitive Accommodation Services Management competition, Supreme Awards were presented to:

• Schools and colleges: Santa Sabina Dominican College
• Hospitals: Blackrock Health Galway Clinic & National Forensic Mental Health Service Portrane
• Nursing homes: Tymon North Community Care Centre
• Three star hotel: Ballyroe Heights Hotel 
• Four star hotel: Hyatt Centric Dublin (Harveys Point and The Lodge at Ashford were also supreme finalists)
• Five star hotel: Adare Manor (Dromoland Castle and Ashford Castle were also supreme finalists)

Guest speakers at the conference included Micheline Corr of The Firm who spoke about “Job Search Strategy” and Niamh O’Malley, Network Manager, Restaurant and Hospitality Skillnet, who spoke about “Attracting and Retaining Talent”.