Aug 14, 2026 · 57 min · 13 segments
In this episode we're joined by John Harrington, head of Business Development UK & Ireland at Líbere Hospitality Group. John spoke about his role in launching the company's UK presence from the ground…
John HarringtonGuestHeatherHostWonderful.
So to get us started, I wonder if you could tell us what first brought you to, to hospitality, and perhaps take us through your, your career journey in, in earlier roles prior to today.
Uh, and when I had the opportunity, uh, a good 12, 13 years ago, to change my role and go from being the buyer to the seller or vice versa, I should say, um, we had, um, an opportunity arose whereby I could join a hospitality company and become the acquisitions of that.
Mm
And that was a new experience to me, and that was one of the, the points that really attracted me to the role was to get into, into the opportunities to establish a hotel chain or to establish a, a service department group or the likes thereof.
Um, having come from the sales background, as I said, and sales management background, I was given the opportunity to join a company, which I did.
Uh, they are or were known as Deep Blue Apartments, and they've morphed multiple times from Deep Blue Apartments into, uh, Flying Butler, and then lastly into Viridian Apartments.
Mm.
So what happened was the gentleman approached me and said, "Uh, I need you to go out into the marketplace and tap into your network," which I have-
Mm
Wow.
And fortunately, with the contacts that I'd built through my sales positions and that, and as you could imagine, you would know you'd have to deal with agencies, you'd have to deal with landlords, you'd have to deal with investors and the likes thereof to build a portfolio.
Mm
Wonderful.
So to get us started, I wonder if you could tell us what first brought you to, to hospitality, and perhaps take us through your, your career journey in, in earlier roles prior to today.
Uh, and when I had the opportunity, uh, a good 12, 13 years ago, to change my role and go from being the buyer to the seller or vice versa, I should say, um, we had, um, an opportunity arose whereby I could join a hospitality company and become the acquisitions of that.
Mm
And that was a new experience to me, and that was one of the, the points that really attracted me to the role was to get into, into the opportunities to establish a hotel chain or to establish a, a service department group or the likes thereof.
Um, having come from the sales background, as I said, and sales management background, I was given the opportunity to join a company, which I did.
Uh, they are or were known as Deep Blue Apartments, and they've morphed multiple times from Deep Blue Apartments into, uh, Flying Butler, and then lastly into Viridian Apartments.
Mm.
So what happened was the gentleman approached me and said, "Uh, I need you to go out into the marketplace and tap into your network," which I have-
Mm
Wow.
And fortunately, with the contacts that I'd built through my sales positions and that, and as you could imagine, you would know you'd have to deal with agencies, you'd have to deal with landlords, you'd have to deal with investors and the likes thereof to build a portfolio.
Mm
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