How I make it work: Eveanna Ryan
Eveanna oversees 12 brands, including The Connacht Hotel, Galway Bay Golf Resort, and Hyde. She lives in Limerick with her partner and a puppy called Scout.
I start the day with a ginger and turmeric shot and black coffee. I try to use my commute in the morning to listen to podcasts and do some personal development. I like people like Adam Grant, Brené Brown, and Esther Perel. I love Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.
We often think we need to come away from every meeting with tasks. A lot of my day is meetings, but I’m trying to move into a space where I try to add value in the meeting, and if I walk away with a task it’s a high-level task and I’m honest about the timelines of when it’s going to be completed.
With a title that says ‘innovation’, everybody thinks I’m just bringing in the robots! But it’s more about looking at inefficiencies and seeing what could be changed through process, messaging, or tools or systems to make life easier.
I’m excited about what AI can do for hospitality but I don’t see us moving away from that human connection. It will be about being able to personalise things or building internal chatbots to help with those simple questions.
Trying to carve out time to be creative is one of the challenges of the role. There are always tasks to be done, but managing workflows and ensuring there is time to look at what worked and what didn’t is so important.
I try to schedule meetings around lunch. I am trying as much as possible to eat plant-based and we are so fortunate to have a dedicated chef who cooks staff meals daily.
I am the poster child for taking the job you're not qualified for and figuring it out! I’d be sitting in meetings noting things down to Google after. But I always had this hunger and drive to get to the next level.
Tourism is our biggest indigenous employer, but it's undervalued in what it brings. These large companies that are coming to Galway aren’t coming because of our infrastructure, we know that. They’re coming because of the vibe that our festivals, tourism, hotels, bars, and restaurants give them.
On the commute home, I let myself stop and close the day. I call my siblings, listen to fun podcasts like Vogue Williams & Joanne McNally's My Therapist Ghosted Me, and don’t put myself under pressure for that hour and a half.
Psss... Eveanna’s Galway Tip
I love a Hyde Disco Brunch – they host themed lunches regularly, and one of my favourites last year was the Harry Styles-themed one; on the day, we served delicious 'Watermelon Sugar Hyde' cocktails.
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