Irish Hotels Federation urges action on rates, water and energy

Most hoteliers are planning to invest in upgrades and room refurbishment this year on the back of sustained increases in visitor numbers.

But members of the Irish Hotels Federation have warned that government-controlled costs are affecting the sector, which employs about 205,000 people, and may impact on further growth in 2016.

At their 78th annual conference in Killarney, the hoteliers called on the incoming government to “properly resource” a local authority rates review, and to reduce water and energy costs.

Federation chief executive Tim Fenn said businesses in Dublin and other urban areas had achieved local authority rates reductions of up to 30 per cent, while some more rural areas were still waiting to be assessed.

Mr Fenn said high energy and water costs were two other factors which could threaten the pick-up in tourism which in many parts of Ireland was the largest employer, responsible for 205,000 jobs nationally.

Local authority rates remain one of the most pressing issues facing hoteliers, with many premises being levied rates of up to €3,000 per bedroom and even average local authority rates equating to €1,500 per bedroom, regardless of occupancy rates.

‘Out of kilter’

Stephen McNally, federation president, said the rates were “out of kilter with economic reality” and were a result of delays in carrying out revisions by the Valuation Office.

“As such, action is required by the next government to minimise all controllable costs impacting on energy prices and that the CER gives priority to national competitiveness in reaching its decisions in relation to costs incurred by the commercial sector.”

Apart from such costs, however, most hoteliers surveyed by the federation said they were more confident of business growth this year - with 82 per cent of those surveyed planning to increase investment in refurbishment and product development.

Four out of five hoteliers who took part in the survey said they had a “positive outlook” for 2016 and reported an increase in advance bookings for the year.

Nationally, 82 per cent of hoteliers said they were seeing an increase in business levels compared to this time last year - building on increases in business levels across the sector over the previous two years.

Of those hotels catering for corporate meetings and business events, 64 per cent are seeing an increase in this area of their business compared with last year.

According to Mr McNally, “Irish tourism has achieved strong growth over the last three years and the benefits of this are now spreading throughout the entire country.

“We’re seeing an upturn across most rural areas, providing a welcome boost to local economies in terms of jobs and tourism revenues.”