Ms Elaina Fitzgerald Kane:

A customer who stays in our hotel tonight can do so for €95, including bed and breakfast. A family can stay for €125. I have looked at the cost of various hotels across the country for tonight and midweek next week and have found double rooms at €79 and family rooms at €129. There are 11 activities available for children in our hotel. We have a considerable level of resources.

I have one telling reminder for people who are planning a staycation when there are so many options available. It is critical that people book directly because that is how to find the best value. Online travel agencies often misrepresent the situation. I did a search for a family of four last week and although I requested one room, the website I was using deferred to two rooms which made it look as if a stay would be twice as expensive. It is critical that people book directly. Value means different things to different people but being able to stay as a family in a four-star hotel with a leisure club and facilities for children for €125 or €129 offers opportunity.

The Irish Hotels Federation is precluded from fixing rates or anything like that from a competitive point of view. There is value available across the country right now, as there always is. Inevitably, the further in advance someone books, the greatest opportunity they will find. People who find themselves in a zone that does not represent value to them should move on to the next alternative but there is certainly great opportunity in the context of value.

I thank our guests for their presentation and for giving very detailed analysis of the challenges their businesses now face. I will come back on one or two issues that have already been raised in respect of utility companies now acting unfairly. Do the witnesses want to identify the utility companies they are referring to? Would it be helpful if a clear message was sent out from here by identifying those utility companies that are felt to be acting unfairly?