Ms Denyse Campbell:

The IHF welcomes this opportunity to address the committee about the cost of tourist accommodation. We have provided a detailed submission and opening statement and I would like to add some further comments in the time available.

I would like to first address the issue of significant price increases on certain nights when occupancy levels in Dublin, for example, are very high. This happens when Dublin is very busy, including when hotels are essentially sold out for a given night. This is a challenge experienced by many European cities.

To clarify, we are not here to defend the pricing decisions of individual hotels or to send a message to the market regarding pricing. As a representative body, we are legally constrained from doing so under competition law because pricing is a matter for individual businesses.

When discussing price, we need to look at the full picture. Increases reported on certain nights are in no way reflective of the true overall value on offer to Irish consumers and overseas visitors. On a busy night, when the last remaining 500 to 800 rooms in Dublin may be priced at higher rates, the other 22,000 hotel rooms have been bought in advance at lower rates. Typically, these accommodate up to 45,000 guests. Similarly, 63,000 hotel rooms are available nationally on any given night. These can accommodate more than 120,000 guests. It would not be fair to think that the 500 to 800 rooms in question are representative either of Dublin or the country as a whole.

Looking at average room rates for the year up to September, the rate for rooms in Dublin has increased by 18% since September 2019. That was over a three-year period. This year alone, inflation is running at more than 9%. How does the 18% increase in the rate for rooms in Dublin over three years compare with the position in other European cities? It compares very well. Budapest was up 38%, Athens was up 35%, Paris was up 34%, Rome was up 29%, Milan was up 21% and Edinburgh was up 21%. At 18%, Dublin was around the same level as Lisbon and London, where the increase was 16%. This was on the back of eye-watering increases in our operating costs.

Part of the reason Dublin performed so well as regards occupancy is because visitors recognise that we offer good value for a very high-quality product by international standards. We are also highly rated toward the four- and five-star, high-spending market. That is a fact. These high-spending visitors make an enormous, positive contribution to our economy. While we accept that there are issues as a result of to capacity challenges and spikes in demand, from a reputational point of view, we should not promote the idea that price spikes on some nights are reflective of the value available because this is factually not the case. An independent, verifiable, industry analysis is available to demonstrate this. We look forward to discussing this matter with the committee, in addition to the economic challenges facing our industry over the next 12 months.