Money & Me: ‘I prefer buying businesses or properties than saving money’ – The National

Money & Me: ‘I prefer buying businesses or properties than saving money’ – The National

Dennis McGettigan of McGettigan Hospitality says Covid-19 cost his business a fortune but also helped the company hit the reset button

















Dennis McGettigan says his philosophy on money is simple: 'make sure you have enough'. Courtesy McGettigans







Dennis McGettigan is chief executive of family business McGettigan Hospitality and a father of five. During his 25-plus years in the industry, he has worked with Marriott Hotels in the US and his family's hotel businesses in his native Ireland. Mr McGettigan,44, moved to Dubai in 2008 to oversee completion and opening of the Bonnington Hotel, JLT, the UAE's only Irish-owned hotel. In 2011, he founded McGettigan's Bars, a growing brand in the UAE and overseas. Mr McGettigan, also shareholder and director of hotels in Ireland, lives in Jumeirah Park with his wife and two youngest children.



How did your upbringing shape your attitude towards money?



I come from a family of 10 children. Everything my father did for us was based around business, and that included our home life. He invented a type of co-op bank where everyone had their jobs and at the end of a week over Sunday lunch, the