Pat O Neill Consultancy can help you. Pat has gained valuable experience and has worked with some of the worlds major Hotels chains including Starwood Hotels & Choice Hotels.
Pat has also advised individual Hotels in Ireland and the U.K most recently D4 Hotels in Dublin.
If after we meet I feel that Pat O Neill Consultancy cannot offer you and improved strategy I will say it. It is all about Return on Investment.
If I think I cannot give you a R.O.I I will advise so. So what have you to lose? Get in contact today.
What Pat O Neill Consultancy Can Do For YOU!
Review your Pricing Strategy.
Drive Bookings and Revenue. Advise on how to best sell your Business on your Website.
Won't be bettered Website Development prices. Take the Mystery out of Google Analytics/Pay for Click/Social Networking/SEO.
Ensure you are getting the best R.O.I for your online strategy. Advise on 3rd party strategy to Maximise Revenue.
The most up to date advice on new products.
Michael McGrath TD with Fastnet Line General Manager Paul O Brian (right) & Fergus McLoughlin Financial advisor
(left)
Another week another visit. On Friday we had Michael McGrath TD onboard. Everyone who has visited us so far have been very impressed with the Julia. The main feedback we are getting is the very spacious public areas & the amount of Restaurants/Bars we have onboard.
It has been a funny week for me personally. We are getting close to going live with our prices. What some people may not know is that behind the prices you see online can be a very complex backend booking engine. These are more commonly known as Extranets.
I have come across many Extranets in my time but each has its own way of doing things. Most of this week was spent tweaking, testing & a bit of screaming (at myself) More testing (screaming) to come next week.
I am also getting up to speed with shipping terms. When I worked in Hotels I could tell you every Bank & School holiday 2 years out. I think I am getting the same way with tides. Rising tides, low tides you name it.
The Coop are considering some great ideas for some of our shop spaces onboard the Julia. Produce of Cork. Onboard Farmers Market. Watch that space. Watch this space.
Interesting facts of the Julia
The Julia has seven bars & restaurants that offer a fantastic selection of fine food & drink as you cruise across the Irish Sea in style.
Do you want the best Hotel deals in Ireland. Deals exclusive to twitter users? If yes then irishbargains is the twitter user you need to follow.
Who are irishbargains? We are people who know people in the Irish Hotels. We are the people who can go direct to hotels and the best deals for twitter.
To get the ball rolling this week we are going to start with Dublin. The Arlington Hotel right next to O’Connell street is one of Dublin’s most well known hotels. It is close to all Dublin’s major attractions.
It has one of the biggest bars in Ireland & has traditional music, dancing & entertainment every night.
The Arlington already has great prices but we have managed to get another 15% of just for twitter users, This is the 1st of many great offers heading your way. Make sure to follow irishbargains on twitter for the best deals.
To get offer go to www.arlington.ie select your dates and put twitter into the promo code box.
As posted by Damian Mulley on www.mulley.net
http://www.mulley.net/2009/11/20/taking-advantage-of-the-floods-in-cork/
1st picture Padraig Fleming & below Tom Barrett below with 1 weeks growth on the right.
This week was a good week to be based onboard the Cork to Swansea Ferry route ship the Julia. I am sure with the weather the way it was many people were wishing their work was onboard a ship.
Cork was a bit flooded this morning but she still looked good in a Venice kind of way. Let’s hope it will be another 20 years before we see rain like that again.
I hoped you tuned into the Business show on RTE radio1 last Saturday morning to hear our CEO Tom Barrett been interviewed. We really enjoyed having John & Alan onboard. Status update on Toms charity moustache see picture above. He is looking more like a seaman each day.
This week I had the chance to have a brief chat with Padraig Fleming. Padraig is one of the founding members of the West Cork Coop movement. In little over a year these people have managed to purchase a ship & it will start service next in March 2010. Yes we can? Yes they did.
Padraig has been involved in tourism for a while now. Along with his wife Mary he is the proprietor of Anchor Bay Cottages in the beautiful West Cork town of Courtmacsherry. Padraig said the whole West Cork & SW Ireland region will benefit from the return of the Cork to Swansea ferry link.
He is looking forward to the 1st sailing in March & to seeing every Parish, Village & Town in the region benefiting financially.
Check out Anchor Bay Cottages at www.irelandholidayhomes.com or email Padraig abcottages@hotmail.com for more info.
Update on our prices. We are still on schedule to have prices online someday next week. Those of you on our email database will be the 1st to receive an email letting you know. We also hope to be doing some deals with other ferry operators to provide a Land bridge to Europe as soon as we get our own prices are online.
We also plan to have a new look website over the next few months.
I would also like to welcome anboard Catherine Murphy who will look after the admin side of things for Fastnet line. If you need info drop an email to info@fastnetline.com & Catherine will get back to you.
Interesting fact about the Julia.
Her last route was from Helsinki in Finland to St Petersburg in Russia. The service was discontinued after promises by the Russian Government to relax visa regulations never happened. Helsinki & St Petersburg’s pain. Cork & Swansea’s gain.
Until next week.
John & Alan from the Business show on the bridge of the Julia Ferry with Fastnet Line CEO Tom Barrett & Ships Master Fergus O Driscoll.
Another interesting week onboard the Julia. Today we had a visit from John Murray of the RTE radio 1 show The Business. John was given a walk around of the Julia by Fastnet Line CEO Tom Barrett.
Tom gave John an update of the progress made getting the Cork Swansea Route back running again. John also tested one the beds in one of our 300 cabins.
At the end of the tour John asked our CEO Tom Barrett to join the Mo-vember moustache challenge. Tom has just 2 weeks to grow the best moustache. This is all in aid of Irish Cancer Society to raise funds for Action Prostate Cancer. A very good cause I am sure you agree.
Want to sponsor Tom? Go to http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebusiness/1307849.html & make your donation. I will start by making a donation of €100. It is the least I can do after setting up Tom.
Did John get to blow the fog horn? Listen in tomorrow on RTE radio at 10am. The show is live from the English market in Cork City.
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of giving a tour of the Julia to Corks top radio presenter Neil Prendeville of 96fm. Neil was very impressed with the facilities onboard the Julia.
We also have had a visit from a number of U.K Journalists who are currently touring the West Cork region.
Fastnet Line are in the final stages of putting together the schedule & prices. These will be online at www.fastnetline.com within the next 2 weeks.
I have had a lot of requests to see images of the interior of the Julia.
We are doing a photo shoot next week and as soon as we get we will have online. We have a lot to show off so we cannot wait to show you.
This week onboard the Julia I got to have a chat with the Ships Master Fergus O’Driscoll. Fergus is a West Corkman.
Since I have stepped my foot into the Ferry business I seem to be coming across a lot of West Cork people in the shipping game.
Maybe this is not such a surprise as the whole Bring Back the Cork Swansea Ferry campaign has its roots very much in West Cork.
The Julia will begin service on the 01st March 2010. Is there much for the Ships Master to do now? Yes.
Fergus has had a few visits from the Cork Fire Brigade this week training on safety procedures. This is a very important part of getting the Julia prepared for business. The same will happen on the Swansea side.
Currently there is major work ongoing on Deck 3 moving flood barriers. This will make the Julia an even safer Ship. This work is been carried out by the company Safeline & Fergus & the Crew.
Fergus is looking forward to getting the Julia service started. He said it is great for the whole Cork region to have a link to the U.K again. Fergus mentions that the Julia is the best suited ship he has being on for overnight sailings.
Anyway a lot more work ahead for the Ships Master & crew before the Julia heads for Dry Dock for here annual survey in Jan 2010.
Other news
This week we signed a contract with a company who will provide our booking engine. Once all the specifications are setup we will be able to have our prices online. We expect this to be in the last week of November so not long to wait now.
We are also are building & designing a new website which should go live before the end of year.
People have asked if we will have an open day onboard the Julia. The answer is yes and we will have all info on this on www.fastnetline.com as soon as we can confirm a date.
