February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
There’s certainly no evidence of a downturn at HK Hotels, of which the Dublin native Corcoran is vice president of operations. They’re always full.
His working day begins at 8 a.m. with breakfast in one of the four small luxury hotels founded by Henry Kallan, who left the former Czechoslovakia as a young man 40 years ago. It ends no earlier than 7 p.m.
Corcoran oversees the work at the four locations and also at the high-end Montenapo Restaurant, which the company opened recently in the New York Times building.
The Library, the Casablanca, the Giraffe and the Elysee are placed 2nd, 4th, 7th and 16th, out of 416 New York hotels ranked on the popular TripAdvisor web site. This success is based on word of mouth, because the “service is so great,” said the vice president.
“We make a point of talking to everybody,” he said recently at the Casablanca Hotel.
Corcoran, who also makes a point of knowing all 230 members of staff, is celebrating his 20th anniversary in the United States this summer.
He was one of 24 people — 12 from the Republic and 12 from Northern Ireland – selected, out of 400 interviewed by the Irish state agency Cert, for hotel positions on the East Coast. Corcoran was an ideal candidate: he had a four-year degree in hotel management and a year working full-time in the Killiney Castle Hotel, one of Dublin’s top hotels. Having long dreamt of living and working in the United States, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
He was given a position at the front desk at the Ritz Carlton in Boston. “A phenomenal hotel,” he said.
Corcoran got the “hotel bug” as a preteen, he recalled, in another foreign city. It was when the family lived in London’s Goring Hotel during a three-month assignment his accountant father had in the city.
A hotels wakes up at 7 a.m., Corcoran discovered.
“You see the doorman polishing the brass on the front door,” he said. “You smell fresh pastries and coffee grounds.
“And people are just friendly and it’s just a buzz every day. And then you go through the whole cycle of the day, and the evening is a different buzz,” Corcoran added.
The Dubliner moved quickly up the Ritz Carlton management ladder. He was working in Cleveland when he was recruited to manage the Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel. Then in 1995, Corcoran and his wife Valerie, who also worked in the industry, decided to move out of the city.
The couple and their sons, Shane, 15, and Liam, 13, now live in Dutchess County, a two-hour commute from Manhattan. Corcoran stays in the city during the week and travels home on Friday night.
He was general manager for a number of years at Troutbeck Estate and Resort, before moving to the same position at Residence Inn, a 128-suite upscale extended-stay property owned by Marriot International in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
But Corcoran always hankered after a return to the city. He met Kallan, who indicated there might be opening as a manager of one of his hotels. The Dubliner was pleasantly surprised when the founder, whom he described as “inspirational,” appointed him vice president with a responsibility for all the company’s businesses.
The IBO, one of the most durable of New York Irish groups, has shown confidence in him, too. He oversees its busy schedule, which includes a networking breakfast next Tuesday morning at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel and its annual summer networking party on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at Bourbon Street, on West 46th Street.
Asked what advice he passes on to young business people starting out, he said: “You have to have energy and enthusiasm and be really positive all the time. Especially years like this — when the going gets tough, you have to dig in and really analyze your operation.
“I’m available 24/7. If there’s a problem, I’ll just call my wife and say: ‘Sorry, honey, I’m not coming home tonight,'” he said. “She knows the business.”
Corcoran, who aspires to owning his own Manhattan hotel at some point, said of the high-end hospitality trade: “You’re constantly learning.”
He’s not sure that would be the case if he stuck with his initial career choice. After high school at Blackrock College, he began training in his father’s profession. A year later, he decided that accountancy wasn’t for him.
Hotel management was a good fit. “I’ve always been good with people,” he said.
In his years in the business, Corcoran has never met anyone like Basil Fawlty, the TV character clearly not cut out for hospitality. But he did meet his creator.
When John Cleese was promoting “A Fish Called Wanda” in Dublin, he stayed at the Killiney Castle Hotel. He asked to be allowed use the swimming pool that was attached to it. The manager said it wasn’t possible as it part of a private club.
When he persisted, the manager finally said: “I’ll let you have it, but you have to do your crazy walk through the lobby on Saturday night,” he said, referring to the actor’s exaggerated Nazi-like strut he made famous in an episode of “Fawlty Towers.”
“He did it right through the lobby, and it was a long lobby, passed the restaurant into the bar.
“The whole place erupted laughing,” Corcoran said. “It was a riot.”
It may not always be that exciting in the hotel trade, but for Corcoran, there’s rarely a dull moment.
For more information about HKHotels go to www.hkhotels.com. For more information about the Irish Business Organization and its upcoming events go to www.ibo-ny.com.