Volvo Ocean Race

Storm 10 · 25-02-2009 12:00pm

I just went on the Radisson SAS Hotel website in Galway and if you book the weekend of the 5th to the 7th June thats the weekend the race is leaving Galway it will cost you 299 Euro a night, the following weekend 12th to the 14th it will cost you 180 Euro per night.

Now if thats not a rip off I dont know what is, of course you will be ripped off in Galway its a disgrace keep prices low my a..

Webbs · 25-02-2009 12:27pm

Storm 10 wrote: »

I just went on the Radisson SAS Hotel website in Galway and if you book the weekend of the 5th to the 7th June thats the weekend the race is leaving Galway it will cost you 299 Euro a night, the following weekend 12th to the 14th it will cost you 180 Euro per night.

Now if thats not a rip off I dont know what is, of course you will be ripped off in Galway its a disgrace keep prices low my a..

I am playing devils advocate here but would this not be normal hotel practice the world over, running a ryanair like pricing policy?
They have x amount of rooms at discount, x at 'normal rate' and then the remainder of rooms at higher rate.
I would be interested to see what the occupancy is for those 2 weekends at the moment.

Storm 10 · 25-02-2009 12:48pm

Webbs wrote: »

I am playing devils advocate here but would this not be normal hotel practice the world over, running a ryanair like pricing policy?
They have x amount of rooms at discount, x at 'normal rate' and then the remainder of rooms at higher rate.
I would be interested to see what the occupancy is for those 2 weekends at the moment.

Yes I know what you mean however it was stated when this race was coming to Galway that they would not increase prices in Hotels Etc.

biko · 25-02-2009 12:52pm

They did? That's odd, every year they increase prices for the races so I assumed it'd be the same now.
Do you have a link?

JohnCleary · 25-02-2009 12:57pm

biko wrote: »

They did? That's odd, every year they increase prices for the races so I assumed it'd be the same now.
Do you have a link?

I heard it from various people, read it in various places myself. It was stated that a certain group of hotels had agreed not to raise prices for the stopover... but of course we couldn't get a list of these hotels.

Then a few weeks back someone comes out and states that Demand will dictate prices.

If you want a link, search for it yourself (it'll be there)

snubbleste · 25-02-2009 1:20pm

JohnCleary wrote: »

I heard it from various people, read it in various places myself. It was stated that a certain group of hotels had agreed not to raise prices for the stopover... but of course we couldn't get a list of these hotels.
Then a few weeks back someone comes out and states that Demand will dictate prices.
If you want a link, search for it yourself (it'll be there)

Was that someone you?

Zzippy · 25-02-2009 1:30pm

JohnCleary wrote: »

I heard it from various people, read it in various places myself. It was stated that a certain group of hotels had agreed not to raise prices for the stopover... but of course we couldn't get a list of these hotels.

Then a few weeks back someone comes out and states that Demand will dictate prices.

If you want a link, search for it yourself (it'll be there)

I think the hotels agreed not to raise prices above their quoted rack rates, which is the maximum they charge when all their discounted rooms are booked. As someone else said, they work on a Ryanair model i.e. a certain number of rooms at discount rates then the prices go up as availability is reduced.
The rack rates applying during the Volvo are still a lot lower than what they charge during Race Week, when rack rates are suspended AFAIK. Sure you could pay up to 700 for a room in the Radisson on the weekend of Race Week...

JohnCleary · 25-02-2009 1:31pm

snubbleste wrote: »

Was that someone you?

No, it was Bord Failte I think? There's a newspaper article about it

biko · 25-02-2009 1:32pm

Nah was mostly curious. I think majority of peeps won't be surprised to learn prices are higher for this event.

I wonder what will happen if the stopover is moved somewhere else because Galway couldn't get ready in time. Will hotels refund?
Hopefully it won't come to that.

snubbleste · 25-02-2009 1:55pm

Posted earlier in this thread

Visitors to Galway during next year's Volvo Ocean Race will not have to pay an arm and a leg for accommodation, thanks to a new charter from Fáilte Ireland West and the Irish Hotels Federation.
The measure has been introduced to promote Galway as a value for money stopover.. The initiative aims to highlight the world-class accommodation at competitive prices available to all visitors, including the race teams during the Galway stopover leg of the race.
The charter was implemented following a recent meeting between Fáilte Ireland West, the Galway Branch of the IHF and Let's Do It Galway. Hotels that sign up to the charter will clearly state their rates and tariffs for the duration of the event and all rates quoted will be in line with comparable stopover destinations around the world, such as Boston, Cape Town and Singapore
GalwayIndependent April 9 2008

Hotel bosses in the city insist they will not engage in “price gouging” or “profiteering” during the Volvo Ocean Race stopover but warned that demand, and not semi-State bodies, will determine their pricing during the event.
Paul Gill, Chairman of the Galway Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, said the city hotel sector wouldn’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater” by charging excessive rates during the event which is expected to bring up to 140,000 visitors to Galway for two weeks in May and June.
However, he said it is illegal for semi-State bodies such as Fáilte Ireland West to be dictating what price hotels should be charging during the stopover and said that ultimately supply and demand will dictate their pricing structures. The Sentinel Jan 27 2009

Fey! · 25-02-2009 2:14pm

JohnCleary wrote: »

I heard it from various people, read it in various places myself. It was stated that a certain group of hotels had agreed not to raise prices for the stopover... but of course we couldn't get a list of these hotels.

Then a few weeks back someone comes out and states that Demand will dictate prices.

If you want a link, search for it yourself (it'll be there)

snubbleste wrote: »

Was that someone you?

JohnCleary wrote: »

No, it was Bord Failte I think? There's a newspaper article about it

Was it not Paul Gill, owner of the Claregalway Hotel and chairman of the Galway branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, who recently said that the demand would dictate the rates, and that basically they wouldn't be dictated to by Failte Ireland. I believe that was at a meeting in the Salthill Hotel last month.

As for the hotels promising not to put up the rates, there was great talk about that last year, but, as someone has already said on this thread, there are no names of hotels to go with the promises made.

JohnCleary · 25-02-2009 2:26pm

Fey! wrote: »

Was it not Paul Gill, owner of the Claregalway Hotel and chairman of the Galway branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, who recently said that the demand would dictate the rates, and that basically they wouldn't be dictated to by Failte Ireland. I believe that was at a meeting in the Salthill Hotel last month.

As for the hotels promising not to put up the rates, there was great talk about that last year, but, as someone has already said on this thread, there are no names of hotels to go with the promises made.

So in conclusion it was a bit of hyped up bull-crap to try and make people coming to Galway feel that they're getting value for money, when infact the opposite is true?

ARGH

ronnie3585 · 25-02-2009 2:45pm

Is there any chance of the oil tanks at the dock being removed before May? Drove past them during the week and it doesn't look like a tap of work has been done.

Mrs OBumble · 26-02-2009 12:58pm

JohnCleary wrote: »

I heard it from various people, read it in various places myself. It was stated that a certain group of hotels had agreed not to raise prices for the stopover... but of course we couldn't get a list of these hotels.

Even if you could get a list of them, you still wouldn't know what their rack-rate and various discount rates are, so you've got no way of knowing if they've kept their word or not.

Oh - and the world economy has taken a nose-dive since they made that promise, so many would argue that the changed conditions mean they had to change their minds.

(I'm not saying it's right, proper, or moral. But business is business.)

Zzippy · 26-02-2009 2:00pm

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Is there any chance of the oil tanks at the dock being removed before May? Drove past them during the week and it doesn't look like a tap of work has been done.

Work is supposed to start before the end of March. It is supposed to take 5-6 weeks to remove the tanks and prepare the site, then its 10 days or so to erect the race village. Supposedly!

26-02-2009 2:20pm

If councillors spent less time demonising students, maybe they would be able to tell people to take down a few tanks.

galvianlord · 26-02-2009 3:23pm

Deleted User wrote: »

If councillors spent less time demonising students, maybe they would be able to tell people to take down a few tanks.

this council or any council cannot tell businesses how to run their affairs, let alone dump a major part of their infrastructure before the replacement is finalised...

27-02-2009 2:13pm

galvianlord wrote: »

this council or any council cannot tell businesses how to run their affairs, let alone dump a major part of their infrastructure before the replacement is finalised...

I had councillor Crowe at my door yesterday and he said that Let's Do It Galway were six months behind their original schedule.It realy is pathetic if this is true.I have a feeling that Galway will be made a laughing stock at this race.:(

JohnCleary · 27-02-2009 2:19pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I had councillor Crowe at my door yesterday and he said that Let's Do It Galway were six months behind their original schedule.It realy is pathetic if this is true.I have a feeling that Galway will be made a laughing stock at this race.:(

Councillor Crowe said himself, that Lets Do It Galway are 6 months behind? ooohhh they be fightin words! You should email LDIG (Since it was you he told it to) and see what their reaction is

27-02-2009 2:23pm

JohnCleary wrote: »

Councillor Crowe said himself, that Lets Do It Galway are 6 months behind? ooohhh they be fightin words! You should email LDIG (Since it was you he told it to) and see what their reaction is

Whats their email address?

snubbleste · 27-02-2009 2:31pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I had councillor Crowe at my door yesterday and he said that Let's Do It Galway were six months behind their original schedule.It realy is pathetic if this is true.I have a feeling that Galway will be made a laughing stock at this race.:(

Did he really say that?
Was he looking for your vote, did you ask him if there were still too many trees around?
http://www.letsdoitgalway.com/contact.php

JohnCleary · 27-02-2009 2:31pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Whats their email address?

Lets Do It Galway.com wrote:

Let's Do It Galway
Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09
Galway Stopover
1-5 Merchants Road
Galway
Ireland

Tel: +353 91 539995
Fax: +353 91 539484
Email: info@galwayvolvooceanrace.com
Web: www.galwayvolvooceanrace.com

There ya go Ted

JohnCleary · 27-02-2009 2:37pm

With regards to expensive hotels etc. I was viewing this page:

http://www.letsdoitgalway.com/visitorinfo.php

And found this:

We also recommend the following partner hotels whose support to the Green Dragon and Galway Stopover is gratefully acknowledged:

Galway City
Meyrick Hotel, Eyre Sq, Galway. Tel: +353 (0) 91564041
Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, Galway. Tel: +353 (0) 91520520
The G Hotel, Wellpark, Galway. Tel: +353 (0)91 865200

Now, does this mean that's these are the hotels that have promised not to up their prices, or the hotels that are going to host the VIP's/Crew etc. etc?

Zzippy · 05-03-2009 10:51pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I had councillor Crowe at my door yesterday and he said that Let's Do It Galway were six months behind their original schedule.It realy is pathetic if this is true.I have a feeling that Galway will be made a laughing stock at this race.:(

Where you living?
I can't wait for that gombeen to knock on my door... I swear to fcuk he is not going to know what hit him. He displays the worst characteristics of any FF politician I've seen, all rolled into one. Blaming LDIG for the tanks not coming down when his own council could have done a lot more to hurry things along :rolleyes:

People, do not vote for this waste of space.

Zzippy · 05-03-2009 10:53pm

JohnCleary wrote: »

With regards to expensive hotels etc. I was viewing this page:

http://www.letsdoitgalway.com/visitorinfo.php

And found this:

Now, does this mean that's these are the hotels that have promised not to up their prices, or the hotels that are going to host the VIP's/Crew etc. etc?

AFAIK these hotels are sponsors of LDIG. There were loads of G Hotel brochures lying around at the briefing the other night. The crews and support teams are booked into hotels and apartments all over town.

Storm 10 · 06-03-2009 10:28am

Zzippy wrote: »

Where you living?
I can't wait for that gombeen to knock on my door... I swear to fcuk he is not going to know what hit him. He displays the worst characteristics of any FF politician I've seen, all rolled into one. Blaming LDIG for the tanks not coming down when his own council could have done a lot more to hurry things along :rolleyes:

I dont know where you came up with the idea that Galway City Council can get the tanks moved the simple answer is they cant. Its a commercial operation and they will not be moved until the company that own them are ready to move to the new tank farm outside the Harbour so no amount of ranting against the City Council or Michael Crowe is going to move them. In my opinion they will not be gone until later this year.

Zzippy · 06-03-2009 10:56am

Storm 10 wrote: »

Zzippy wrote: »

Where you living?
I can't wait for that gombeen to knock on my door... I swear to fcuk he is not going to know what hit him. He displays the worst characteristics of any FF politician I've seen, all rolled into one. Blaming LDIG for the tanks not coming down when his own council could have done a lot more to hurry things along :rolleyes:

I dont know where you came up with the idea that Galway City Council can get the tanks moved the simple answer is they cant. Its a commercial operation and they will not be moved until the company that own them are ready to move to the new tank farm outside the Harbour so no amount of ranting against the City Council or Michael Crowe is going to move them. In my opinion they will not be gone until later this year.

You took me up wrong. I can't stand Crowe for a number of reasons, not least his constant self-serving publicity-seeking by jumping on stupid bandwagons e.g. Rag Week, e.g. people camping in trees (front page of the Advertiser a while back). This rant was about him blaming LDIG for the issue above, like the City Council they can do little about the tanks coming down, but the Council have a lot more influence than they do and haven't used it.
He's a typical politician - if something goes right he'll grab the credit from someone else, if it goes wrong its never his fault, he'll blame anyone he can.

As for the tanks, the new tanks are apparently ready, so I still have faith that they will be down in time for the Volvo stopover.

Sponge Bob · 06-03-2009 12:44pm

Zzippy wrote: »

As for the tanks, the new tanks are apparently ready, so I still have faith that they will be down in time for the Volvo stopover.

They will not be down for the Volvo and the Corpo know that.

Hope they paint the ***** a nice green colour at least

soundbyte · 06-03-2009 1:24pm

http://www.galwaynews.ie/6764-oil-tank-removal-step-closer

Deliveries start at new 'depot farm'

STALLED plans to move the oil tanks from Galway Docks in time for the Volvo Ocean Race took a leap forward this week – oil deliveries at the port are now being stored at the new oil tank ‘farm’ in the Harbour Enterprise Park.

Galway Harbour Company has confirmed that the final delivery to the old tanks was made on Thursday of last week.

The first delivery to the new EnWest facility was made yesterday, with Harbour Master Brian Sheridan officially ‘turning the tap’ on the delivery. There have been ongoing fears that the Volvo Ocean Race would not go ahead without the decommissioning and removal of the tanks at Docks Road.

biko · 09-03-2009 11:09am

Good news! Hope it's not too late. I guess a lot of overtime is on the cards for the workers now.

Volvo Ocean Race

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