Ms Denyse Campbell:

First, our industry could not have survived the past two years without the Government supports. As my colleagues have said, we are very grateful for them. To answer the Senator's question, when concert promoters announce dates, we have no knowledge of it. I have two points I would like to raise on it. When a concert is announced in Dublin specifically, it has a much further impact on the availability of rooms than if a concert or sports event is announced in, say, London. London is a larger city and has more hotel rooms and hotel stock. The issue we are dealing with now in Dublin, and as a hotelier working in Dublin for many years, is an exceptional level of advance bookings.

We have highlighted that in the paperwork we have submitted to the committee. If I may draw the committee's attention to that paperwork, we have used June as an example. As we approached June 2022, we had 80% of our business done; in other words, in 44 hotels in Dublin, 80% of the business was already in those hotels. That was a sample of 44 hotels taken by an independent company we use, as Mr. O'Mara Walsh mentioned. In 2019 the corresponding figure was 65%, so already there is pressure on the capacity in Dublin. That is one factor.

The other factor is that, as Mr. Fenn highlighted, we are dealing with reduced availability, so our supply is reduced - by up to 17%, we have said. That is a further issue we are dealing with. My hotel is 90% full. The city is very busy. That means we are talking about the last available rooms. Those rooms are what people are seeing. To answer the Senator's question about concerts and events, pent-up demand is huge. We have corporate business on the books that has been carried over from 2020 and 2021. It is the same with group business on our books. Members may see the tour buses driving around the country. Forty-five per cent of the tour bus customers in our hotels at the moment made bookings in those hotels that have been carried over from 2020 and 2021. That is putting extra pressure on our supply as well because we do not have enough space. That is all building up such that when we come into a new month we have fewer rooms we can sell. The example we gave in our paperwork was of a hotel with 80% of its business already such that it has only 20% left, meaning that it will probably finish the month at 94%, so all we are dealing with is 14% of its availability. If there is a concert on a Wednesday, either side of that will be very difficult. The demand might not be there to fill the week, so the hotel could end the month with 92% or 94% occupancy. That is the problem we have. It is total lack of supply. That is what is causing the prices for those last few rooms. As a trade association, we cannot comment on pricing, but I am not here to defend excessive pricing either. It is important I say that.