Luxury travel means different things to different people. For some it’s about the thread count or the contents of the wine cellar, for others it’s a world-class spa or Cordon Bleu cuisine. For one of Ireland’s finest five-star properties, Ballyfin Demesne, it’s all about the personal touches, as I learned during a short stay back in 2014.

Dangerously low on petrol, my car barely made it up the imposing driveway. I know what you’re thinking – why didn’t I refuel en route? I’ve asked myself the same question many times since. Let’s just say hindsight is a wonderful thing. Instead, I made the decision not to waste a precious second of my impending stay by detouring to a filling station. I braced myself and hoped for the best. The risk paid off. On arrival I made a very brief enquiry about the nearest fuel station, making a mental note to deal with my thirsty gauge on departure. But as the butler brought my bags to the room, he discreetly let me know he’d topped up the tank so I needn’t worry.

While the five-star hotel won’t be advertising petrol top ups anytime soon, it is the personalised service that has attracted countless international visitors to the midlands retreat. The Kardashian Wests honeymooned in the Regency mansion in 2014 and Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife Amal stayed there in 2019 as part of what was reported to be a get together with his Irish cousins. 

The job of hosting A-listers and bad drivers alike, while maintaining that award-winning level of service, falls on the shoulders of Ballyfin’s General Manager, Peter White, a convivial Australian who arrived in spring of last year to take up the coveted post.

A friend of the former GM, Damien Bastiat, White had visited the property as a guest in 2015. “When people would ask me as a worldwide travel professional ‘where’s your favourite hotel in the world?’ I’d say ‘this hotel you’ve probably never heard of called Ballyfin.’”

White’s previous role as Resort Manager of Thailand’s Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary & Holistic Spa ended when the pandemic hit. And while he had initially set his sights on a job in Scotland which later fell through, he has happily adapted to his new home in the midlands. “You didn’t have to ask me twice,” he laughs. “Within a month of interviews it was signed, sealed and delivered and we were moving.”

While White has introduced new wellness packages (launching this autumn) and made some adjustments in terms of overseeing the planting of a wildflower meadow which will bloom next spring, he’s taken a cautious approach to making a mark on the property.

“It was always made very clear to me I wasn’t hired to change Ballyfin. So my mandate has always been that I can enhance, I can’t change. And that fits with my personality type. There’s always room for improvement but we’re not about to change the ethos of Ballyfin because it’s such a special place.”

The business of luxury

A three-month handover from Bastiat followed. “I usually come in in crisis management as a new manager and the children have been left to rule the world and you’re there to pick up the pieces. But to have two months of handover in lockdown and a month together after reopening was a brilliant introduction. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to be introduced to regular guests than through Damien.

“Pre-Covid, Ballyfin was about 60 per cent American, 30 per cent Irish and about 10 per cent the rest of the world. Now it was 90 per cent Irish guests and the nicest people I could ever meet.

“Talking to other hoteliers, they’d say ‘bring back the Americans, Irish guests are such hard work’ but I couldn’t understand why they were complaining because I found them to be the nicest people, the most respectful and they appreciate everything about Ballyfin and have a great time.”

The domestic market has helped secure Ballyfin’s most successful year to date. “If we were to take it from reopening last June to June of this year, we’ve officially had the biggest year we’ve ever had. They used to talk about 2019 as being the best year Ballyfin ever had, but we trumped that.”

Pent-up demand to experience once-in-a-lifetime bucket list excursions has fuelled a tourism renaissance of sorts amongst the domestic market and Ballyfin was ready to receive them. The hotel’s first class reputation and unique charms made it an obvious choice for those looking for a special staycation, accounting for the banner year.

“From May onwards the US market has been very very strong – it’s not quite what it was, but it’s being supported by the domestic market. Every day, I hear another story about the airport and lost luggage, I secretly cheer because it means more Irish are going to stay with us,” he jokes. 

“It’s a seasonal business, but if you think of other parts of Europe, it’s never too hot here in the summer or too cold in the winter, and those shoulder seasons can be padded out a lot more. Last year, we saw that. We were busy all the way through to December and opened in January and proved we can actually make money in January. Usually we close, and this January coming I already have three exclusive use bookings for next year, which is unheard of.

“We’re profitable without being overtly driven by commercial. The gates are closed so we focus on supplying the 21 bedrooms, or 40 guests that we have, and that generates more than enough revenue to wash its face and be reinvested. If we wanted to we could open the gates and have afternoon teas, but that would change what Ballyfin is so it’s very unique in many respects. 

“There’s some very famous hotels in this country but you would struggle to get a seat in the lounge during the day if you wanted a cup of tea. But in Ballyfin, you’d rarely not be able to get a seat by the fire if you wanted to. And to have so much of the team there from the beginning… some of my butlers went to school here [the estate was formerly a boarding school run by the Patrician Brothers], some worked on the restoration project. They love it. The connection to the local community is super strong.”

Training is “always ongoing”, says White, but “personality always trumps service”.

While all eyes have been on Tipperary’s Cashel Palace, Irelands’ newest five star which opened earlier this year, White isn’t afraid of competition. “It meant more people were talking about the midlands. They’re also a Relais & Château member, so it makes a very good Route de Bonheur where you could potentially start in Sheen Falls or The Park in Kenmare, go to Cashel and then up to Laois. 

“Cashel is fabulous. But it’s a different price point and a different experience too. I’ve stayed and it’s a very special place, but you don’t get the exclusivity, you’re on the high street. It’s great that people are investing money again to build or redevelop properties like that. There should be more of them.

As for ‘scone gate’ – when a social media post about the price of scones in Cashel Palace went viral – White takes a balanced approach. “Unfortunately, there will always be somebody who talks louder than the other and drowns the other person out, so to have a balanced conversation makes it hard, but most people who would go there or Ballyfin or the Merrion will see that €15 for a scone and pot of tea is exceptionally good value for money.

“We shouldn’t be afraid of what we do. There is great value for money in Ireland in the luxury side of things and I think it’s interesting that a lot of Irish people are happy to spend that money abroad, they just don’t want to be seen to have notions by spending that money in their own country. You see the same in New Zealand, it’s very much an international market, but the domestic market will think twice, even though they’ll go to Fiji and spend there.

“Ballyfin really doesn’t have a competitive set to sit against. There are three of us probably perceived as the pinnacle, outside of Dublin – Adare, Ashford Castle and ourselves, and we all offer something different, which is great.

“I met a property developer from Kildare who came in with his big builder hands, and wrapped them around mine and he looked me in the eye and said ‘How do you make money from 21 bedrooms?’ And I looked him straight in the eye and said ‘We charge a lot’ and in that very Irish way he roared with laughter. He thought that was the best thing he had ever heard.

“The reality is we don’t charge the most. People think we’re the most expensive hotel in Ireland but we’re not. And the value for money, the seclusion, the exclusivity. We encourage our guests to have 24 hours. Most hotels don’t want to see you before six o’clock.”

It appears the domestic market is inclined to agree if this year’s figures are anything to go by, but will it continue? “Maybe, it’s a perception that’s changed,” says White. “But once you’ve driven the Ferrari or the Porsche you don’t want to go back to the Volkswagen, do you?”