by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Bali Negotiations It was Sunday evening. The concierge confirmed there was a Catholic mass nearby at 6pm but we declined his offer of a hotel taxi having decided to take a chance with one of the many “freelance” drivers that wait patiently in small… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE I was asked to deliver a workshop recently on “How Malaysia can build & sell compelling incentive travel experiences” and took advantage of my time there to explore some new and, indeed, not so new products relevant to the global meetings, incentives, conferences &… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE I’m in Bali at The Laguna, a Starwood / Luxury Collection property. As you can imagine, it’s pretty spectacular. It’s a 27 year old ocean front resort with 287 guest rooms and villas laid out around a luscious tropical garden dominated by a pool… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Bodrum used to be called Halicarnassus, was the birthplace of Herodotus, the father of History and was home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. I learned this from classical scholar and teacher, Pádraic O’Sullivan, under… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Montenegro – first visit I first visited Montenegro back in 2005 on a day trip from Dubrovnik. We crossed the border from Croatia and slowly meandered around Boka to the fairytale-like, walled citadel of Kotor. At the time, apart from its supreme, serene scenic… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE April heat in London T.S. Eliot’s famous line that it’s “the cruelest month” might be the saying most associated with April but My Dad also had a great one: “April – in like a lion, out like a lamb”. I thought of my Dad’s… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua First published in 2013, I’m re-publishing this post to mark the launch of Fáilte Ireland’s exciting new tourism brand for the midlands – Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands The Best Place to Holiday in Ireland Cornafurrish is the townland in Co Offaly where my late father was born 100 years ago… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua I’ve written previously about independent hotels and how they’re in the ascent these days. The pendulum has swung decisively to the left and, all of a sudden, we’re weary of homogeneity, sameness, one-size-fits-all consistency. Now we want diversity, difference, off-the-beaten path authenticity. Conrad Hilton’s vision of a global hotel… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua In Feb 2016 Dory came into our lives and all hell broke loose. I started to post occasional updates on Facebook on the vicissitudes of my relationship with this frisky, friendly, frustrating Golden Retriever pup and, over time, received more likes and comments on these posts than anything else… Read more »
by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua MyCEB This blog has been going since January 2011 but prior to that I wrote occasional pieces for MICE industry magazines. The first of these was a piece on Malaysia Business Events written, I think, about 2007 after @SuperGreybeard and I attended an MCI Board meeting hosted at Traders… Read more »