You can ‘Blame it all on their Roots’ but some Dublin hotels will attempt to make up for the lean years by achieving the maximum possible rates for rooms during this summer’s big concert.
In the region of 50 people from the general Castleisland area travelled ‘up to Dublin’ for a Garth Brooks concert during the height of his ‘Friends in Low Places’ fame. That’ll be 20 years in April and I don’t think accommodation prices of the time caused the furore that it has now.
A hotels federation spokesman was unable to defend a Morning Ireland researched quote for a €444 hiked, bed and breakfast price in the vicinity of Croke Park for the sell-out concerts there in July.
Vox pops of the queuing fans over the week has shown that the vast bulk of them are from the rural parts of Ireland and the hoteliers are ‘rubbing their hands with glee’ – to quote a line from Morning Ireland today.
A vision of the Wildebeest migrations of East Africa flashed away in my mind; Lions by the water-hole – Crocodiles in the river.
However, Kerry Senator Marie Moloney led the calls this week on hotels and other accommodation providers in Dublin not to exploit concert goers by escalating room prices in advance of popular concerts, putting at risk the crucial 9% VAT rate for the hospitality industry.
Doubled Room Rates
“I’d expect that, as the Government managed to retain the 9% VAT rate, those in the industry would show good faith and refrain from exploiting concert goers by upping room prices extortionately for popular concerts,” said Senator Moloney.
“I am aware of one Dublin hotel which has doubled its room rate for the nights of the upcoming Garth Brooks concerts. This is taking advantage of our own people who will travel to the capital from all parts of Ireland to attend the concert. If hotels keep their prices at reasonable rates then people may decide to stay an extra night or two. However, if they inflate their rates, visitors will be more likely to opt to stay for one night – or just travel home after the concert,”
Actions of a Few
“I am calling on the Irish Hotels Federation to speak to its members regarding this issue. Many hotels and other businesses in the hospitality industry depend on this 9% VAT rate, for example in Kerry and other tourist spots where the hospitality industry is a major employer. It would be a shame to jeopardise the retention of the VAT rate for all hotels because of the actions of a few,” she concluded.
It wouldn’t happen in Kerry – would it ?