Dublin hotels charge up to €2,400 for single rooms in St Patrick’s Day ‘price gouging’ (2024)

A minister has slammed eye-watering price gouging by the hospitality industry ahead of this week’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations as a “slap in the face to government” after extending the lower VAT rate.

The sector was also warned by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media that drastic price hikes by accommodation providers were hurting Ireland’s reputation on the international stage.

The VAT rate was due to be restored to 13.5 per cent at the end of last month under plans outlined in the budget, but the government made a last-minute U-turn on the decision and retained it at 9 per cent for another six months after extensive lobbying by the industry amid the cost of living crisis.

Speaking to The Sunday Times yesterday, Niall Collins, the minister of state for higher education, condemned the price hikes by accommodation providers.

“The justification being offered by the hotel industry that it’s about supply and demand just simply rings hollow,” he said.

Some accommodation operators were charging up to €2,400 for single-night stays in Dublin city centre for St Patrick’s weekend, with some of the rooms on offer consisting of bunk beds.

City Centre Skyline, a guesthouse located at Eden Quay and managed by Eden Quay Lodge, was charging a base price of €2,430 for a private room for just one night on St Patrick’s Day. An extra €70 is charged for every additional person who books into the room as part of the same booking, with a maximum of 14 people. The same accommodation has a base price of €442 two weeks later on March 31, less than a fifth of the cost.

Ground Floor Snug, another guesthouse operated by Eden Quay lodge, was charging a base price of €2,160 for one person to stay in a private room for one night next Saturday. An extra €70 is charged for every additional person who books into the room as part of the same booking, with a maximum of ten people.

Both accommodations now appear as “unavailable” on those dates after Eden Quay Lodge was contacted by The Sunday Times for comment.

Zanzibar Locke, an apartment-hotel at Ormond Quay Lower, is currently charging guests €1,234 for a large double bedroom for one night on Friday. The accommodation also has a private kitchen and bathroom.

Leevin Hostel George on Great George’s Street was last week charging €1,234 for two people to stay in a mixed bunk-bed dormitory on March 17. The hostel has since reduced its prices to €576 for two people.

A spokesman for Leevin Hostel said it used third-party software to analyse its competitors and “to adjust the prices dynamically according to availability and demand with competitors”.

It said: “We set these rules with percentages, and due to adjustments, the price was higher than what we offered our clients. Therefore, we reduced the price the moment we realised this abnormality.

“Our ADR [average daily rate] for the period is still higher than at any other time of the year because of the higher demand for travellers and the higher demand for staff and services to ensure quality to customers and our team.”

The Shelbourne hotel is charging €1,593 for one person to stay in its king suite bedroom on St Patrick’s Day, which is usually priced between €500 and €800 on a normal Friday night. The hotel declined to comment when contacted.

Failte Ireland said it had consistently raised the issue of price gouging with the tourism industry and had encouraged businesses to be “mindful of not just the revenue for today, but our reputation for tomorrow”.

It said: “In December of last year, Failte Ireland’s CEO Paul Kelly wrote directly to accommodation providers . . . [He] advised that short-term excessive pricing in a time of capacity constraints will damage the value for money reputation of Ireland as a visitor destination which takes many years to repair.”

Failte Ireland said the dollar to euro exchange rate had been “a big help” in value perceptions among US visitors, but it was seeing early “warning signs” on its “value for money ratings” among domestic, UK and European visitors. “This is something that we, as an industry, need to be really mindful of,” it added.

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, chief of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, said that some of the prices for St Patrick’s Day accommodation were “outlandish”.

He said: “It’s completely excessive and I don’t think the punter should buy that service, but I think the vast majority of tourism and hospitality providers do charge fair prices . . , There are operators taking advantage of the situation, but they are not reflective of the broader industry.”

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) said it encouraged people who had yet to book to consider contacting hotels directly. “The last availability rates represent a tiny fraction of all rooms in Dublin and are in no way reflective of the value that has been available to Irish consumers and overseas visitors,” it said.

Denyse Campbell, the IHF president, added: “Dublin room rates have increased 18 per cent over the last three years and that’s really on the back of the huge costs we’ve incurred. Our energy costs have increased hugely, the cost of doing business, our food inputs, inflation has affected it.”

Timmy Dooley, a Fianna Fail senator, called the prices set by some accommodation operators “shameful”.

He said: “Hotels that generally charge €150 as a maximum for a room and then are suddenly charging €350 or €400 — that to me is gouging. A hostel should always be priced at less than €80 a night. I just wonder what these people are at because it’s damaging and disgusting.”

Dooley added: “The government has put thousands of Ukrainian refugees in hotels which means that there is a lot less availability for tourists. It’s not as if these hotels or guesthouses have come through a difficult period.”

A Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media official last night said inflation was a factor in rising room costs, but added: “There seems to be an increasing spike in the frequency and scale of price spikes in the accommodation sector, often coinciding with concerts and sporting events. These price spikes lead to both reputation damage of the sector within Ireland and damage to Ireland’s reputation globally for offering value for money.”

Related articles