Griffin Group has three properties: two 4-star; Hotel Kilkenny & The Ferrycarrig, as well as the 5-star Monart Destination Spa. Michael Griffin and his brother run the company and are third-generation hoteliers after their grandparents started the business in the late 1950’s with a small guesthouse.

They have recently set up and started using Vamoos for all 3 of their hotels in order to reopen their doors post-COVID-19. We spoke to Michael about how it’s allowed them to quickly and easily set up and use their contactless guest app.

How has reopening been for you?

“Very well. We had been working on a reopening plan since late March and had been reviewing steps/measures taken in other jurisdictions such as Denmark, Germany, Singapore and Korea. When the Irish government began to provide a roadmap to reopening we were already very well positioned in our thinking, resources, and training requirements. There are always things to learn or the possibility of the unexpected, but so far we are very happy with the safety measures and the positive feedback from our guests and staff on re-opening.”

How are you and/or have you been adjusting to COVID-19?

“We are heavily invested in correct distancing; bookings required for mealtimes, team members trained in and utilising correct PPE, maintaining tracing data for public health, best in class sanitisation and sanitisation products, and consistent training, supervision and communication of our protocols to all stakeholders. So far we have received consistent praise from our guests on their safety and endorsement from our team that they feel confident in providing our services to guests. We have had a few guests (2) who were very dissatisfied that they could not drink all day in the bar, but this is a national policy and outside of our direct control.”

How did you hear about Vamoos?

“I literally did a web search for something along the lines of “hotel guest messaging app”… I came across multiple solutions.”

Why did you choose Vamoos?

“I was impressed with the speed of the response to my initial enquiry and the Demo which happened the very next day was highly impressive. I knew that if a tangible/workable demo could be constructed that quick, that once I could get my hands on the software we could really turn it around quickly. The demo also highlighted an intuitive back end CMS and the learning curve was very flat. I was highly impressed with the “Things to Do” feature that also answered a constant demand for our 4-star guests.”