Are we being priced out of family events in hotels?

French woman Lucie Galey was delighted to receive an invitation to a wedding in Ireland this summer. But that delight quickly turned to frustration when she tried to book accommodation.

While Galey was looking forward to a bit of luxury, prices for a night in a three-star hotel in central Dublin were between €200 and €300, with few at the lower end of that scale. A two-night stay was generally twice that amount. The luxury of a four-star hotel for two nights would have set her and her partner back some €700 to €800.

“Of course, if you book a hotel in the very centre of Paris, or in a very nice neighbourhood, it would be very expensive,” she said. “But I think you can find a nice hotel with a private room and a private bathroom in Paris and it would be like €150 a night or something, maybe €100 a night.”

Galley said she and her partner could have shared a dormitory room in a hostel for less, or booked a room without a private bathroom, but that did not appeal at this stage of their lives. “I am travelling with my boyfriend and we are not 20 any more. There was no way I was living in a dorm.”

I’ve begged Virgin Media to restore my old service. I can’t record RTÉ and my phone won’t work

---

ECB’s Schnabel sounds cautious note on pace of rate cuts

---

VHI cancelled our policy over a year ago without us knowing. Now they want us to pay €7,000 in arrears

---

They looked at Airbnb and other rental options. “It was slightly better, but it was a lot of rooms in someone else’s house. So I gave up because it was not what I was looking for,” she said. “We wanted to have breakfast [included] and it was only two nights and we don’t do that often, you know, just get away together.”

In France, she said, she could get a family room or a suite for herself, her partner and two children for “about €200 per night with breakfast”.

Ultimately, the bride at the wedding Galey is to attend found them suitable accommodation with friends. Asked if her hotel hunting experience would make her re-evaluate the city as a future destination, she said: “It would make me reconsider Dublin, which is a pity because I love Dublin.”

A different experience was had by London-based Luke Hughes, who is originally from Castlebar, Co Mayo. He got married in Doolin, Co Clare, in February and said he has “only good things to say about Hotel Doolin”.

“We paid €95 per person – [for the wedding breakfast and party] but that’s gone up to €119 now for a midweek wedding – still a good bargain,” Hughes said. “Rooms in the hotel cost around €540 for three nights ... That’s quite high but I’ve stayed in other venues that were much more expensive.”

He said “the London crowd” who attended all seemed happy with their Airbnb rentals, “though I think most of them were more charmed by the scenery, to be frank”.

“I think I would still recommend Ireland to people with the caveat that they will likely be paying more for less in terms of hotel quality or even Airbnb quality, maybe, but in terms of scenery and culture, it can’t be beat.”

Colin Frost, an Irishman living in London, said someone he works with planned to travel to Dublin for a weekend.

Due to hotel prices being so high, the colleague got a 7am flight from London Stansted on the Saturday, staying in an airport hotel there before departing. He then got a flight that night back to Stansted and stayed in an airport hotel in London.

The best price for a room on Friday night at the Premier Inn Hotel in Stansted is €85.97 (£74). The same night in the Premier Inn in Dublin’s Gloucester Street South is €255 (£219.49). The cost of a Saturday night stay at the Premier Inn in Stansted is €101.08 (£87) while a room at the Premier Inn in Dublin’s Gloucester Street South remains €255.

“He said the accommodation was really expensive in Dublin so he didn’t want to stay there,” Frost said.

Shelagh Watts, from Buckinghamshire, England, is a seasoned visitor to Ireland. She reckons prices in Dublin are about on a par with London since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she said there is value to be had if you look around.

Watts said she and her husband Roger recently enjoyed a “delightful” stay at Crom Estate on Lough Erne right on the Northern Ireland Border in Co Fermanagh.

Watts said she enjoyed “the usual high National Trust accommodation standard at an unusually lower price”, with “sunset over the Lough, early morning dip if wanted, their cafe on site – what’s not to like? Even better they are dog friendly”.

Watts is also well familiar with Dublin restaurant prices, which she says “have increased and they are on a par with London post-Covid”.

However, she said, “Dublin and much of Ireland do fantastic cafes – scones with coffee, or tea or soup and scones for lunch make an affordable and tasty break.”

Angela Kelly, originally from Dublin but now living in Roscommon town, says the key to getting value for money is to book offpeak. “Everybody knows that when you get a two-night break in a hotel starting on a Monday or a Tuesday night you get better value. But there is also value to be had in early bird deals in restaurants and on Sundays you can usually book a lunch, which comes at lower prices than dinner, but it is usually the same food. Lunch is usually served in the afternoon – and you can eat until 7pm or after.”

Michael Magner, who owns the Vienna Woods Hotel in Cork, said nearly all hotels do discounted rooms for weddings, and other family events. In many cases, he said, a hotel will give the wedding party codes for the hotel’s website that allow them to access better rates.

[ No evidence of price gouging by Dublin hotels during big events, report finds ]

Magner, president of the Irish Hotels Federation, said the first step is to go directly to the hotel’s website as booking agencies may not have access to group rates. “If you can’t find it on the website, ring the hotel and explain what function you are going to,” he said.

Costs in the hotel business have risen astronomically, he said, particularly when buying in food and beverages, an expense about which visitors to Ireland are also expressing concern.

Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said many restaurants had “quirky deals” such as reduced corkage charges on guests’ own wines in the early part of the week, and he advised customers to check out the value that was available.

“We are doing what we can and still trying to make a profit. We are aware of the cost-of-living crisis but it is not a good time for restaurants because of high costs,” he said.