LCN Awards: Hastings Hotels MD James McGinn MBE presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Lifetime Achievement award is presented every year to a long-serving individual in recognition of the unique contribution he or she has made to the hospitality industry in Northern Ireland.

“It has been our custom each year since the inception of the Licensed & Catering News Awards in 2008, to recognise the outstanding contribution to hospitality in Northern Ireland of that one, exceptional individual” said Publisher Bill Penton.

“A man or woman who, by their own efforts, has made a singular contribution to the development of the industry here at home.

“A succession of worthy individuals have stepped onto this stage in previous years to accept the Licensed & Catering News Lifetime Achievement Award and this year, we are delighted to acknowledge another worthy recipient who has made an indelible mark on the industry.”

A 30-year stalwart of Hastings Hotel Group and a hotelier through and through, he spent 20 years as General Manager of Hastings’ best known and most popular hotel, this iconic Europa Hotel in Belfast City Centre.

His journey began in Killyclogher, a small village in Co. Tyrone, with a close family unit, eight boys and two girls. His father was a successful builder, and his siblings all worked for him. James was the exception.

He pursued the academic route and completed ‘O & A’ Levels and then went to University.

However, during his teenage years, James worked in Hospitality. His Uncle was the General Manager of the Knock-na-moe Castle Hotel, on the outskirts of the village, and from about the age of 15, James worked there, first as a waiter and then as a bartender.

He graduated in 1988 from Queen’s University Belfast and moved to London to work before returning to Omagh in 1990, to work as Food and Beverage Manager in the family business, the Woodlander.

Upon returning to Northern Ireland, he re-entered the educational system and gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Hotel and Catering, and following that, an MSc in Hotel, and International Tourism Management from the University of Ulster.

In 1993, James went to Washington DC to work as Food and Beverage Manager for the Hilton Hotel, before returning to Northern Ireland in 1996, when he started his career with Hastings Hotels at the Europa Hotel. Twenty-eight years later, he never could have dreamt that he would become managing director.

Throughout his time with the hotel group, he was fortunate to train also in Neuro Linguistics, completing a practitioner’s course in 1998. He also gained Level 5 in Operational Management in 1999. He was extremely fortunate to have attended and Graduated from the distinguished Hotel School at the University of Cornell in New York, in 2002 and 2011.

James comes from a family with a great work ethic, and from when he started working at the Knock-na-moe Castle Hotel, he knew that hospitality was ingrained in him. He loved the buzz, the atmosphere, and the connection with other people. It is where he first learned people skills and knew early on that it was the start of a special career – here he gained confidence and it enabled personality to grow and develop.

Working in bars and hotels throughout his youth, gave him a great taste of what could be achieved. He began working in an American Style Restaurant, in Ealing, London.   It was there he tasted the pressure and adrenalin of a fast-moving goods environment.

He returned home, and his father built and opened an American Style Roadhouse, complete with bars and a restaurant, a shop and filling Station – the whole gambit was covered, where James was involved with this along with family members for a few years before moving to America.

It was here that he got a real insight into tourism and hospitality from a managerial perspective.

Meanwhile, back in Northern Ireland, James joined Hastings Hotels as Quality Development Manager of the Europa Hotel in 1996, and went on to hold the positions of General Manager in the Stormont Hotel, Culloden Estate & Spa, and the Europa Hotel where he was at the helm for over two decades.

In 2018, he was appointed Director of Hotels, which included joining the Group’s Board of Directors. This was a memorable year, not just for James, but for the  group, as they opened the 5-star Grand Central Hotel in Belfast. He was still General Manager of the Europa Hotel at the time, but was proud to have helped, Mr Howard Hastings, oversee the vision and construction of what is now Northern Ireland’s largest hotel.

James was appointed as the Hastings Hotels’ Managing Director in late 2021, which he has described as ‘an absolute honour to have been asked by the Hastings family to lead the company.’

James has said: “Our guests are at the heart of everything we do, and we pride ourselves on offering a world-class experience throughout our six hotels.

“We are proud of our properties and of our people, and we invest heavily in both. We are committed to the development of our talented teams, and this ensures they can progress their own careers and enables us to provide the very best experience for our guests. We can build beautiful properties, but the people, our colleagues create the experience, and people are buying experiences.

“We’ve won countless awards recognising excellent customer service.”

It’s customer service that James puts at the core of everything a good hotel should be.

Most recently, James was formally presented with his Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Princess Anne at Windsor Castle in recognition of his outstanding contribution to tourism and hospitality.

Originally announced in the King’s Birthday Honours List, the MBE acknowledges James’ exceptional career spanning more than 30 years in the hospitality industry as well as his significant contribution to Northern Ireland’s tourism sector.