Clare Hotels had the highest room prices in the country for five months in a row last year.
A new Fáilte Ireland analysis shows that the average daily rate here was more than €285 per room between April and August.
However a prominent Clare Hotelier is disputing the findings, as Clare FM’s Daragh Dolan reports.
According to Fáilte Ireland’s latest Hotel Survey, Clare had the highest average daily rate between April and August last year at a cost of €285.47.
This represents a 26% increase in annual rates here, rising from €211.27 per room on average at the same juncture of 2022.
A local Hotelier believes however that this county’s figures in particular are highly skewed due to the sample size.
Seán Lally, who is the Co-Owner of Hotel Woodstock in Ennis claims that just seven establishments in Clare were surveyed, which included two five-star institutions.
He insists that while the tourist experience in this county is good value, the government needs to do more to avert “the cost of doing business crisis”.
The report also showed that Clare had by far the highest proportion of overseas visitors arriving here last year at a rate of 70%.
This is despite the county’s occupancy rate now being the third lowest nationwide for the same period at just 86%.
Managing Director of Dromoland Castle, Mark Nolan says the VAT rate must be reduced to allow local hotels to remain as competitive as their international counterparts.
You can listen to the full interview here:
