Legendary hoteliers Francis and John Brennan visit two Cork properties in new series

The hospitality industry is having a tough time of it, so we’re told, but on the other hand, new hotels are springing up right across the country.

In a competitive climate, all businesses in the sector need as much expert help as they can muster.

Right on cue - legendary Kerry hoteliers, brothers Francis and John Brennan, are back to point the way, as a new series of their popular show At Your Service starts on RTÉ1 tomorrow (Sunday, September 28) at 7.30pm.

As usual, the straight-talking duo travel the country bringing their expertise and knowledge to one brand new hospitality business each week.

In the course of the series, they will head to Cork twice; firstly, to advise a high-flying corporate accountant who left her jet-setting world behind to renovate a four-bedroom farmhouse B&B in Mitchelstown.

The Brennans also advise sisters with a passion for wellness, who dream of opening their very own retreat and spa in Glengarriff, Co Cork.

However, Francis and John start the new run of At Your Service in their native Kerry, where they set out help a family who have boldly moved from their quartz and granite business to building and running a 26-bedroom hotel in Tralee.

If you want to build a hotel, you need engineers. But do you really want them running the place afterwards?

Well, that’s the plan for the optimistic O’Carroll family – mum Norma, dad Tony, and sons Thomas, Paul and Anthony are a tight-knit family who are taking a big step way outside their comfort zone.

Their family business is in joinery, cabinetry, and stone fabrication, but this hotel plan is venturing into something unknown.

They have demolished an old inn in the middle of Tralee and built themselves the brand new 26-bedroom hotel. But do the O’Carrolls really have any idea of what they’re letting themselves in for?

And can the Brennans help these first-time hoteliers make their business work?

Later in the series, the brothers will also come to the aid of an Irish farmer and his Latvian partner who are creating a beach resort in land-locked Laois – all in time for At Your Service’s first wedding.

Francis and John Brennan owned the 46-bedroom The Park Hotel and the 4-star The Lansdowne Hotel in Kenmare, and sold them in 2023 having pit them on the market for a combined price of €20.5 million.