Hotels in city enjoy boom year – despite higher rates

Date Published: {J}

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

Hotels in Galway charged more per room than any other city in the country during 2010 – but local hoteliers also enjoyed a ‘boom’, outperforming everywhere else in Ireland.

A new industry report has found that Galway was the most expensive city for a hotel room last year.

According to the ‘CityOccupancy’ Hotel Index for 2010, Galway City had the highest average room rates, at €87 per person – a 6% ‘premium’ on averages for Dublin.

CityOccupancy describes itself as an ‘industry leader’ for the provision of statistics and information to the hotel sector.

Paul Gill, Chair of the Galway Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation told the Sentinel: “That figure would be slightly skewed because only 15 of the 45 hotels in Galway are included in the index, compared to all 200 in Dublin. A number of upper-end Galway hotels are also included, so that would drive averages that bit higher.

“Rates are down between 30% and 50% from 2007 (the peak), but it’s a case of supply and demand. If there is a demand for a product, you can charge a premium, but that doesn’t give hoteliers a ‘gouging’ entitlement.

“People are coming to Galway. If they don’t like what they get, or if they think they’re paying too much, they will vote with their feet. We are now, along with Failte Ireland, making Galway a City of Excellence, bringing on board shopkeepers, café owners, restaurateurs etc to keep Galway a prime destination,” said Mr Gill.

He said there are hotel rooms in the city to cater for every price range, and visitors are not being put off by prices.

“Based on the feedback we are getting, there is a room in Galway for every budget, so people don’t feel like they are being prevented by coming because of prices,” he said.

The Chairman – who owns the Claregalway Hotel – said there was demand for rooms throughout 2010, and Galway had fared significantly better than the other cities.

“Galway did outperform the rest of the country and rates did hold within the city, so the demand for rooms was there. Galway was lucky in that we didn’t see an absolute surge in bedrooms during the Celtic Tiger era.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.