60 Seconds With

“Leadership is not about being the best, it’s about making others better.”— 60 Seconds With: Clio O’Gara, Guestline

By Business & Finance
18 December 2018
Clio O’Gara

Clio O’Gara, Country Manager Ireland at Guestline takes on the Business & Finance 60-second interview challenge.


Q. What was your first job?

When I was 16, my dad sent me to work for the summer at Haven Hotel in Dunmore East. I was always very interested and keen to work within the hospitality industry, but dad had other ideas and thought a summer at Haven Hotel would rid any notions from my system. His method obviously didn’t work. Fast forward 30 years and it’s an industry that has dominated my career.

Q. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date?

Learning to speak French has been a great personal achievement, something I very much enjoyed, and hope will be of benefit throughout my life. But my biggest achievement definitely has to be my time spent working with Bewley’s Hotels and my role in its success story, driving growth and growing their position as a 126-room hotel in Newlands Cross to 2,100 rooms across 6 hotels.

Q. In three words or fewer, how do you define success?

Happy and healthy.

Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

To practice the Four Referability Habits; Show up on time, do what you say you will do, finish what you start and say please and thank you. I live by this motto, in business and in life. These are the foundations of great relationships and has been the premise of our business model at Guestline.

Q. How do you motivate yourself and your staff?

Albert Einstein said, ‘Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value’ and my mission in business has always been to ensure we are adding value to our client’s services. As a team, we love solving problems and our motivation comes from finding solutions, building new relationships and our drive for hitting targets.

Q. If you could step into the shoes of one business person for the day, who would it be and why?

I really admire Lord Alan Sugar. Whilst he has shown his softer side in recent years, his success story from humble beginnings to the business mogul we see today is inspiring. I’d like to get an insight into what motivates him after all his successes, his ingenuity with business and his fearlessness for risk taking.

Q. How do you relax?

I find getting out in the fresh air really clears the mind. My partner is a dairy farmer, so we like to spend time together outdoors. Plus, a little bit of retail therapy is also good for the soul.

Q. What’s your motto?

Taking influence from Sheryl Sandberg ‘Leadership is not about being the best, it’s about making others better’.

Q. What are your aspirations for the future of your business?

For Guestline to be a household name across the hospitality industry in Ireland and for the brand to be recognised for providing an excellent product and service with outstanding customer service.

Clio O’Gara is Country Manager in Ireland for Guestline, the award-winning global leader in hotel cloud-based property management systems, distribution and digital marketing technologies. The integrated, innovative, and intuitive solutions are developed to enable hospitality business owners and managers in sectors such as hotels, serviced apartments, pubs, and more, to deliver measurable business improvement both efficiently and profitably.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.