Galway Hotels Dearest in Europe

It is now more expensive to stay a night in Galway than anywhere else in Ireland or in top European city destinations such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid and even London.
For the third time in a row, Galway hotel prices are the highest in Ireland at an average of €110 per room, per night despite a 26% fall in the first six months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, according to the latest figures released in the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI).
Galway was 39% more expensive than Cork, where the average room cost €79, and 45% dearer than Dublin, where the average room on the website fetched €76. The capital of the west was also a whopping 70% above Limerick, which had the cheapest city hotel rooms in the country. Cork experienced the biggest drop in prices with tariffs 33% lower than the same period the year before, followed by Galway (26%), Dublin (27%) and Limerick (17%).
In fact Dublin experienced the steepest price fall of any of the major European cities, along with Barcelona where hotel prices slumped by 27% and room rates averaged at €76 per night, compared to €105 the year previous.
Galway was at the top of the price list for city hotels for the last three years in a row.
As a nation, Ireland experienced the largest drop in hotel prices of the major European countries (down 26% on the same period last year), ahead of Norway and Austria which experienced a hotel price drop of 24% and 23% respectively.
The average price of €80 paid for a hotel room in Ireland in the first six months of 2009, compared to €108 paid for the same period in 2008, also made Ireland the least expensive Western European nation, following the three Eastern European nations of Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic where the lowest hotel rooms prices were recorded in the Eurozone. The survey tracks the real prices paid per hotel room rather than advertised rates. It is based on the money handed over by customers on booking over the website for 78,000 hotels across 13,000 locations around the world.
David Roche, president of Hotels.com said with airline prices falling at similar rates to hotels, there has never been a better time for travellers to pack their bags and head off.

Source: Galway News

This was something that was made evident during the Volvo Ocean Race. It's ridiculous!

_ZeeK_

at least we (galwegians) don't have to pay these rates...

kodute

_ZeeK_ wrote: »

at least we (galwegians) don't have to pay these rates...

But we collectively suffer when foreign tourists decide to go somewhere else because of the prohibitive costs here.

There must be an incredible shortage of hotel rooms in the city to make them so expensive... :rolleyes:

Madame Razz

I regularly stay in hotels all over Ireland and the UK. It is seldom if never that one can get a room ANYWHERE in Ireland in a 4 star hotel for under €100 euro, and in the UK £100.

€110 is the average rate in most decent hotels in this country, and that rate would increase at weekends, quite dramatically in some cases. That study is pants quite frankly.

galwayrush

Market forces dictate prices.:rolleyes:

Madame Razz

Not just in Galway :pac:

starbelgrade

The last time I stayed in a hotel in Galway, they'd lost my restaurant booking, had no heat in the rooms & threatened me on the telephone when I posted a bad, yet honest review of their hotel on TripAdvisor.

Not only expensive, but desperate in (at least) this case.

Xiney

starbelgrade wrote: »

The last time I stayed in a hotel in Galway, they'd lost my restaurant booking, had no heat in the rooms & threatened me on the telephone when I posted a bad, yet honest review of their hotel on TripAdvisor.

Not only expensive, but desperate in (at least) this case.

Did you amend your trip advisor review to reflect the fact that they abused you afterwards?

'cause I so would have.

Afterword: Link please, dahlink.

Euro_Kraut

Madame Razz wrote: »

I regularly stay in hotels all over Ireland and the UK. It is seldom if never that one can get a room ANYWHERE in Ireland in a 4 star hotel for under €100 euro, and in the UK £100.

€110 is the average rate in most decent hotels in this country, and that rate would increase at weekends, quite dramatically in some cases. That study is pants quite frankly.

I am always amused by people who regard there own experiences to be of greater statistical relevance than a full survey.

Just because the result of study doesn't fit your perception of the world does not make it 'pants'. Unless you have read through that report and identified methodical weakness than really you are in no position to deride it.

Madame Razz

Euro_Kraut wrote: »

I am always amused by people who regard there own experiences to be of greater statistical relevance than a full survey.

Just because the result of study doesn't fit your perception of the world does not make it 'pants'. Unless you have read through that report and identified methodical weakness than really you are in no position to deride it.

Whilst I take your point; as it is a valid one. I still remain sceptical of this 'study' tbh. And with good reason.

Last year I did 198 nights in hotels; this year I'm on 96 so far and prob will have hit 150 by the year end.

So yeah, that makes me sceptical to say the least of this study and its parameters or lack thereof.

So maybe it isn't 'pants' per se; but I doubt its got anway near a decent p value

I won't knock it completely; I will take it with a VERY large pinch of salt tho;)

Victor

The study http://www.hotels.co.uk/press/hotel-price-index.html

Despite price-falls of 26%, Galway’s hotels maintained their position as the most expensive in the country at € 110 per night on average. The fact that prices held up in Galway was largely due to the fact that visitors to the city tend to look for a more luxurious experience from their breaks, relected in the prices they are willing to pay.

I'm wondering how like for like the comparison is - I suspect there is a real split in Galway between people using hostels and people using nicer hotels.

Sponge Bob

That study shows lots of dearer cities than Galway, eg Moscow. It is the highest in Ireland not the highest in Europe and much of the mid>low end in Galway is still B&Bs.

I would think the local hoteliers want to _strangle_ the Trib for not reading the report properly . It is a very stupid headline considering how much hotel advertising these people get !

EG



Note the Falls !



Finally

Madame Razz

And to be fair, seeing as it is based on a general average price based on their bookings, I would think that Galway would be one of the places in Ireland where the vast proportion of the hotels are of a high standard, i.e 4 star or higher, which would have an impact on the average price.

I know you could say that about Killarney too, but I suspect that the quantity of beds in Killarney impacts on their price, as does the fact that their business is mostly from bus tours and over a short season.