Galway hotels to cough up €1m for new TV licences

Hotel and guest house owners across Galway alone could face the prospect of having to cough up around €1 million to the Government for providing their guests with a television in their rooms.

The Minister for Communications has announced a get-tough approach against those who have successfully evaded the TV licence charge over the years.

And he indicated that he would be looking at the hotel sector where all rooms have televisions and would be imposing additional charges for them.

In Galway City and County there are in the region of 6,000 rooms between hotels and guest houses and if the Government were to impose the €160 licence fee charge on each room, it would cost this sector just short of €1 million.

It would mean that this additional cost would have to be passed back to the customer at a time when hotels are only at 60% of their occupancy.

Paul Gill of the Irish Hotels Federation said that the industry could not sustain another overhead like having to pay for every television in every bedroom.

The owner and manager of the Claregalway Hotel, he said that the industry could not take another hit and added that he was forking out €7,500 a year for the privilege of having music on his corridors or at functions.

Mr Gill said that the hotel industry would be faced with two options – either pass on the cost to their guests, or throw out the televisions from their rooms and impose a charge for those who want to have access to a TV.

“If we are going to be charged for having TVs in our rooms, it will be just another levy on the hotel industry that cannot be sustained in the current environment.

“This has to be thought out properly and I have every intention of meeting Minister Rabbitte on this. If we increase our prices because of this, then it will impact down the line.

“At the moment we are trying our level best to bring people to this country by offering competitive hotel rates. We are trying to boost the domestic market and anything that interferes with this is detrimental,” Mr Gill added.

Minister Pat Rabbitte wasn’t specific when he referred to charging hotels for the number of televisions they have in their rooms but it is an issue that has already raised quite a number of concerns.

It has been described as an indirect form of tourism taxation that would be a major issue for hotels and guest houses.

With many guests bringing their own laptops and iPads with them when going on holiday, it might result in hotels having a fresh look at the need for televisions in bedrooms.