Brooks Hotel on Drury Street unveils a bold €6M transformation — led by hospitality veteran Doiran Kavanagh
From an early point in his hospitality career, General Manager of Brooks Hotel Doiran Kavanagh fell for the allure of the five-star end of the business and it’s now an area where he is creating and managing at the highest level.
From an early point in his hospitality career, General Manager of Brooks Hotel Doiran Kavanagh fell for the allure of the five-star end of the business and it’s now an area where he is creating and managing at the highest level.
Today, he is the GM of one of the most well-established quality hotels in the capital. Brooks Hotel on Drury Street has undergone a huge renovation project that will end up reaching almost every corner of the property, with a budget of over €6 million.
Experience Meets Transformation
The immediate challenge that springs to mind when getting involved in such an undertaking is how to maintain the very highest level of service while entirely refurbishing it.
It’s the kind of challenge that the Kerryman has come to relish, having been brought up in hospitality and worked in some of the biggest and best in Europe, including the Méridien Étoile in Paris and the Shelbourne in Dublin.
“I had worked at the Shelbourne with Eamonn Casey,” says Doiran. “He moved to the Westin Hotel on Westmoreland Street as General Manager and not long after starting there, he had an opening for Director of Rooms. I decided to join him in what was my first senior management role, with responsibility for housekeeping, front office, concierge and engineering.”
He would remain there for four years, progressing to Deputy General Manager.
“It was a very big refurbishment,” he recalls. “We added on 19 guestrooms which were previously the cash sorting offices of AIB Westmoreland St. We fully refurbished the Atrium Lounge & Moreland’s Grill… It was one of the most exciting refurbishments I’ve been involved with. It was a very complex project but a very enjoyable one and a great education in terms of the construction side of things.”
Covid brought changes that saw him move to the Intercontinental in Ballsbridge, where he worked as Deputy GM before the move to the Brooks Hotel in August 2024 as Project Manager.
“During my time at the Intercontinental, I had been seconded down to Powerscourt Hotel in Enniskerry to oversee the building and development of the Sally Gap Restaurant – the replacement of McGill’s. It’s a 180-seater bar and restaurant and it was a massive development. We knocked through into an underground car park and extended that bar significantly. I was there for the construction, fit out and the opening of that.”
“When the project management role at Brooks came along, it was primarily to oversee the huge refurbishment of Brooks Hotel. So, I decided to take that on. I joined the project at the end of August 2024 and we closed the hotel at the end of October for four months and reopened on the 1st of February 2025.”
The project involved the addition of three bedrooms, bringing capacity up to 101 bedrooms.
“When MHL bought it, the product was quite diluted,” explains Doiran, “in that there were several room categories and different styles. The ground floor needed a massive investment so the decision was made – and it wasn’t an easy one – to close the hotel, do it right and re-open it.”
While Brooks was closed, employees were sent to work in other hotels in the group.
“It was great because it allowed us to retain staff,” says Doiran. “We’ve a lot of hotels in the city centre, so we didn’t have to go sending people travelling afar to places like Limerick or Galway where MHL have other properties… in fact, one of the great things about Brooks is the longevity of many of the staff – and it’s not every hotel that can say such a thing. We have over 10 associates that have 10 or more years of experience. Five of them are here 20 years or more, which is amazing. We currently have a team of 70 and 20% of them are here 10 years or more.”
For the staff too, it was a very exciting time – allowing them the opportunity to work in other properties and in different roles where they would be able to learn and return refreshed and upskilled to a new-look Brooks.
A Carefully Crafted Rebirth
The hotel re-opened with just 30 bedrooms. Another 18 newly-refurbished rooms came back into use at the end of February. By Saint Patrick’s weekend, Brooks was up to 72 revamped rooms and by the end of April, the 5th and 6th floors had been refurbished, bringing capacity back up to 101 bedrooms.
“There has been reinvestment in every single area,” says Doiran. “It was my first opportunity to have free reign on certain areas of the hotel on everything that we decided to put in: from salt-and-pepper shakers to the linen on the beds. The direction from the owners was, ‘It has to be right’. With this in mind we tried to ensure we choose where possible Irish suppliers.
We engaged Millimetre Design to work with us regarding the interiors and finishes we have achieved. For example, all our China and Glassware are very much bespoke, supplied by Michael & John in Hospitality Products in Dublin. Hospitality products were one of the largest suppliers on the project not just on the ground floor but also in sourcing our finishing items in the bedrooms.
Heritage, Detail, and Irish Pride
“Because Brooks has always been such a well-regarded hotel – almost an institution – we didn’t want to change the foundations that the hotel was known for; the customer service and the team, but the product did have to change.
“The bedrooms, in particular, had to change. We put a huge investment into the bedrooms in the hotel and there was a large emphasis on supporting Irish; that was of massive importance to MHL. The beds themselves are handmade by Respa in Oldcastle, County Meath. The toiletries again, are bespoke and supplied exclusively by Clarie Brett of Dublin Herbalists in Tipperary and are a very high-end product. Doiran and Clarie worked together to find a suitable scent, bottle & design as Brooks is Dublin Herbalists first venture into hospitality.
MHL built their own laundry plant at it’s Hilton Hotel at Charlemont Place, allowing Brooks to have its laundry cleaned in-house and delivered daily. These are the kinds of details to ensure that the 5-star bed product matches the quality of the hotel. It’s an arrangement that gives the hotel what they see as a necessary level of control over the quality they can deliver to their clients.
Every surface of the bedrooms was similarly replaced and all the bathrooms were refurbished and, in many cases, reconfigured – again, with a heavy emphasis on the best of Irish quality.
“We’ve all-new IT upgrades too,” says Doiran. “We’ve put in wireless Bluetooth speakers; every bedroom has a 50-inch smart TV. All our new bathrobes and towelling we’ve bought outright.”
Doiran considers himself to be in a very fortunate position – to have a company that is able to put substantial investment in the product in order to get it right. They are, he says, always on the lookout for new properties – not ones that are distressed but ones that they can add value to.
Looking Ahead: A New Chapter for Brooks
“We’re also lucky to have two Irish-based owners, in the form of John Lally and Paul Higgins,” adds Doiran, “that are very much involved in the day-to-day operation of all of our hotels. There are 14 now in the country, since the latest addition of the Moxy Hotel in Belfast, which is also being developed.
“They’re both very well-travelled, they’ve got their fingers on the pulse and they know what their competitors are doing and are constantly looking at how they can stay well ahead of the game. As hoteliers, we’re blessed to have them.”
Doiran is a self-confessed perfectionist who loves the attention to detail which is so vital to someone in his role at this high end of the hospitality sector.
“I have a huge passion for travel,” says Doiran, “and I’ve a huge passion for hotels that do it right and really care about it. We could all open our doors in a city like Dublin, which is bustling, and succeed in occupying rooms. But the difference is in hotels that put a bit of effort into that process and experience.
“I think that the differentiating factor is in the team – the service and the delivery and the product that you offer. You don’t want people to come to a hotel and see something that they have at home. It should be different and it should be a reaction like, ‘Where did you get that?’
“If Brooks is like a book series that so many have read and enjoyed, then this is the most exciting book in the series yet!”
