Sir, – Conor Pope's article on the cost of hotel accommodation reveals the increasingly ludicrous prices that Ireland charges for hospitality, whether for tourists or for residents ("Irish hotels have bounced back – their prices have bounced even higher" (Travel, May 13th).
For decades, Irish people on holidays abroad have marvelled at how much lower the prices are (almost always for superior products) and have warned potential visitors about how expensive it is to holiday here.
That Ireland is prohibitively expensive is a staple of every Irish person’s conversation when holidaying abroad.
At this point it is embarrassing to reveal how much visitors will pay to stay in a mediocre hotel on a suburban roundabout and how much it will cost them to have just a burger and a few beers in a nondescript restaurant or bar.
Absolutely nothing is ever done to stop the upward trajectory of prices or to enable real competition and lower prices.
The coffee I sip as I write this letter, which was served from a converted shipping container located in a blustery carpark, was more expensive than the one I had in a beautiful frescoed café in Rome this day last week. – Yours, etc,
BILL CALLAGHAN,
Dublin 3.