Hotel Prices for big events

Vizzy

Just heard that hotels in Waterford will be charging approximately 3 times the "going rate" during the Tall Ships festival next weekend.
A room in the Tower hotel will cost you €65 tomorrow night and they will be charging €199 for the same room next week.
Apparently this is not limited to Waterford,the same theory applies when Bon Jovi come to Dublin and also when Take That were here last weekend.

Do we never learn ?

Is is a matter of screw the tourists while we can or can anyone give me a valid reason why prices should increase by 2.5 or 3 times ?

oppenheimer1

Vizzy wrote: »

Just heard that hotels in Waterford will be charging approximately 3 times the "going rate" during the Tall Ships festival next weekend.
A room in the Tower hotel will cost you €65 tomorrow night and they will be charging €199 for the same room next week.
Apparently this is not limited to Waterford,the same theory applies when Bon Jovi come to Dublin and also when Take That were here last weekend.

Do we never learn ?

Is is a matter of screw the tourists while we can or can anyone give me a valid reason why prices should increase by 2.5 or 3 times ?

Supply and demand. They charge those prices because they can.

Head The Wall

It happens in every city and country in the world for events. Olympics, world cup, Galway races etc

Vizzy

Head The Wall wrote: »

It happens in every city and country in the world for events. Olympics, world cup, Galway races etc

Oh I know that but that doesn't make it right and given how broke we are would it not be a better idea for the hotels in Irish cities to "promote" their city and not screw everyone who comes to visit.
I presume that the workers will all be on triple wages for the week as well :rolleyes:.
BTW if people are willing to travel a small bit ( 3 miles) they will pay the same next week as they will tomorrow.

ardmacha

If supply exceeds demand, they can only ration rooms by price or just let the early birds book them all out. These premium rates allow the hotels supply rooms more cheaply at quieter times. Go to a booking engine and type in central London for tomorrow, there is hardly a single room below £300 and plenty in normal enough hotels for £500.

Vizzy

Sorry but we are not talking about central London or downtown Tokyo or New York.(I dare say if you search some central Asian capital cities you will get much lower prices but thats irrevant as well)
Its Waterford FFS.
Rip off Ireland is alive and well IMHO.

spunkymunky

Rip off indeed buts its the people who pay these amount that are fueling the fire. If people stop paying, the price come down!
Think about it, If you had a car, say a vintage VW beetle and were going to sell it this week for 5 grand but you hear that people are willing to pay 20 grand next week because for some reason your car has become a hot commodity, what would you do? You would forget your pride and principles (probably) and sell it for 20 grand.

Anyways, its not just Ireland. While looking at apt/house to rent in Auckland im seeing 3 bed houses going for 3000 dollars a week during the rugby world cup!! The average price for those areas would be like 700-1000 a week Max!!
Supply/Demand!

hinault

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Supply and demand. They charge those prices because they can.

I attend a medical expo every year in Germany.
Hotel prices don't increase by 300% despite the fact that the expo attracts thousands of companies and their staff from around the world.

Room rates may go up by €10-€50 max.
I know this because I travel to the same region at times when the expo isn't on in that location and room rates remain in or around what is charged at expo time.

In this country we're particularly good at trying to scalp our own and visitors alike.

It seems we have no concept of recurring income/value for money.

hinault

spunkymunky wrote: »

Rip off indeed buts its the people who pay these amount that are fueling the fire. If people stop paying, the price come down!
Think about it, If you had a car, say a vintage VW beetle and were going to sell it this week for 5 grand but you hear that people are willing to pay 20 grand next week because for some reason your car has become a hot commodity, what would you do? You would forget your pride and principles (probably) and sell it for 20 grand.

Anyways, its not just Ireland. While looking at apt/house to rent in Auckland im seeing 3 bed houses going for 3000 dollars a week during the rugby world cup!! The average price for those areas would be like 700-1000 a week Max!!
Supply/Demand!

New Zealand is almost as bad as Ireland for scalping.
They did it in 1987 as well.

oppenheimer1

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Supply and demand. They charge those prices because they can.

And then the following week we'll see another article or letter in the papers about the poor hotels falling apart and nobody is visiting them anymore, and everyone will be wondering why

They can charge those prices, once.

Suryavarman

Vizzy wrote: »

Oh I know that but that doesn't make it right and given how broke we are would it not be a better idea for the hotels in Irish cities to "promote" their city and not screw everyone who comes to visit.
I presume that the workers will all be on triple wages for the week as well :rolleyes:.
BTW if people are willing to travel a small bit ( 3 miles) they will pay the same next week as they will tomorrow.

Or maybe they could charge the higher rates and use the profits to improve the hotel or cover the losses they've probably been making the last couple of years. At the end of the day they run a business not a charity. It's just plain childish to think they should only charge the normal rate for such a big event.

Fordey73

Its basic supply & demand

I live in Sydney and have my tickets for the rugby world cup, now before I get to the hotel pricing Ill tell you about the ticket pricing

The Ireland V Russia & USA games are $95 AUD each

The Ireland V Australia game is $295 AUD per ticket,,,because the demand is higher, so they charge more

Hotel prices in Auckland for the duration of the world cup have gone up by as much as 600% in some cases.

It happens everywhere, can we stop beating ourselves up constantly

Nijmegen

Ireland remains an expensive place to take a weekend break in, regardless of special events driving prices up.

That's my perception at least (and I've been pricing deals for the summer. A staycation needs to get cheaper IMO, to beat out the temptation to fly elsewhere.)

Tipp Man

Nijmegen wrote: »

Ireland remains an expensive place to take a weekend break in, regardless of special events driving prices up.

That's my perception at least (and I've been pricing deals for the summer. A staycation needs to get cheaper IMO, to beat out the temptation to fly elsewhere.)

I'd agree with this - we still have a long way to go to being a reasonably priced economy

On the hotel issue however i have no problem with them raising their prices for big events - its the basis of how they keep the show on the road and profit from that weekend should tide them over from weekends where they have very few rooms booked out

Idbatterim

the hotels that are being complained about, probably have very low occupancy off peak and alot are probably running losses, also hotels here are very cheap at the moment, I read an article few weeks ago saying we had second cheapest hotels in europe after some other eastern european country. Also with the likes of boardsdeals, citydeal etc hotels can now be got for next to nothing!

hinault

I disagree.

Hotels here are still far too expensive compared to mainland Europe.

And with respect to hotels jacking up their prices to tide themselves over the lean period - this sort of thinking is short term and it is fatal.

If prices generally were lower for a sustainable period - hotel business would pick up and income would become recurring.
You wouldn't have to scalp customers in order to "tide the hotel over in lean times"

Scalping people is the lazy, short term "solution".
Competitive prices, first rate customer service and better quality will ensure a better hotel industry.

libra02

Vizzy wrote: »

Sorry but we are not talking about central London or downtown Tokyo or New York.(I dare say if you search some central Asian capital cities you will get much lower prices but thats irrevant as well)
Its Waterford FFS.
Rip off Ireland is alive and well IMHO.

I think you may be overreaching with Waterford Hotel charging more than Aisan hotels.

Look Waterford apparently has cheapest hotel prices at all other times during the year. So for Tall Ships they obviously are going to charge a bit extra for rooms. First of all it is basic economics, second of all extra staff have been hired to work for the week of the Tall Ships so these people need to be paid and as someone else mentioned the extra money they charge will probably help to keep prices low after the festival and in turn can encourage people to stay on for another few days or come back.

Does not make a difference if it is Waterford every place does it and at least it is not like Dublin where you are overcharges for hotels every day of the week. It is only Dublin after all and not London.:D

meglome

hinault wrote: »

I disagree.

Hotels here are still far too expensive compared to mainland Europe.

And with respect to hotels jacking up their prices to tide themselves over the lean period - this sort of thinking is short term and it is fatal.

If prices generally were lower for a sustainable period - hotel business would pick up and income would become recurring.
You wouldn't have to scalp customers in order to "tide the hotel over in lean times"

Scalping people is the lazy, short term "solution".
Competitive prices, first rate customer service and better quality will ensure a better hotel industry.

Agreed.

I was at a wedding two weeks ago in Faithlegge in Waterford. The 'special' rate for the wedding guests was €160 for the night. The rate that you could get outside of the wedding was €80. I wasn't going to stay but decided on the day to do so. There was no way the rooms were worth 160, fairly poky and average imo. I told them point blank I could get a room in the city for less than €100 so there was no way I was paying €160. After some unfriendly (on their part) haggling I paid €120. But honestly it was almost like I insulted someone's mother, such was the attitude. I appreciate that many hotels are hurting financially but trying to gouge me (imo) for the room means I would never ever go back and I would tell others to not touch the place with a barge pole.

Worse I've been at 3 weddings in the last year and the same thing was being done. As it stands I'd have to be forced at gunpoint to go back to those hotels.

Scofflaw

Moved to Rip-off Ireland from Politics on the basis that there doesn't seem to be a wider political point, despite the interest.

moderately
Scofflaw

borderlinemeath

Nijmegen wrote: »

Ireland remains an expensive place to take a weekend break in, regardless of special events driving prices up.

That's my perception at least (and I've been pricing deals for the summer. A staycation needs to get cheaper IMO, to beat out the temptation to fly elsewhere.)

You can get cheap deals in Ireland if you look early enough. I have booked self catering houses months in advance of events happening in the locality and have got great bargains.

However this year I got caught short because Easter week and May BH ran over successive weekends. I should have looked far earlier, but everything reasonable was booked up. My bad, not a rip off though.

I don't know why people are getting on their high horses about this, it happens the world over, same with flights, package holidays, flowers on Valentines etc.

Yet people continue to bash the economy, blaming Rip off Ireland and moaning to Joe. We have become a nation of moaners, always looking for somebody to blame except ourselves.

parsi

Hotel prices in general have come down here.

Dublin is much more reasonable now - D4 hotels have usually reasonable prices for non-special days.

What we probably lack is no-frills hotels which would have static pricing - the likes of Campanile, BB-Hotels etc.

ejmaztec

It isn't just Waterford, Listowel got a mention after the last Writers' Week, which I posted in the Kerry forum.

ejmaztec wrote: »

Not very nice to see this in the Irish Times, taken from a list of 40 items relating to Writers' Week:(


[QUOTE
8 Base camp. The Listowel Arms Hotel is where all the writers were staying, and its bar stayed open long into the night.
9 Cost of a room in said establishment – the town’s only hotel – during the festival. My single, extremely modest, room, overlooking a derelict site, was a whopping, unrecessionary €160 per night for Friday and Saturday. Many festivalgoers complained of being stung by temporarily inflated hotel-room prices.]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0608/1224298562191.html[/QUOTE]

Vizzy

libra02 wrote: »

I think you may be overreaching with Waterford Hotel charging more than Aisan hotels.

Look Waterford apparently has cheapest hotel prices at all other times during the year. So for Tall Ships they obviously are going to charge a bit extra for rooms. First of all it is basic economics, second of all extra staff have been hired to work for the week of the Tall Ships so these people need to be paid and as someone else mentioned the extra money they charge will probably help to keep prices low after the festival and in turn can encourage people to stay on for another few days or come back.

Does not make a difference if it is Waterford every place does it and at least it is not like Dublin where you are overcharges for hotels every day of the week. It is only Dublin after all and not London.:D

I'm not belittling Waterford in any way by my comment above(worked there for years and loved the place).
Personnally,whether it is Ballsbridge or Ballydehob,if the going rate today is €X then the costs do not triple simply because a big event comes to town.
Sure,there is a short term gain to be had,but when the hotel goes bust next week or next year because nobody is staying,then who will be ringing Joe complaining about high operating costs.
I have no problem with simple market economics being used but the flipside of that is "don't come crying when you have priced yourself out of the market"

P. Breathnach

Vizzy wrote: »

I'm not belittling Waterford in any way by my comment above(worked there for years and loved the place).
Personnally,whether it is Ballsbridge or Ballydehob,if the going rate today is €X then the costs do not triple simply because a big event comes to town.
Sure,there is a short term gain to be had,but when the hotel goes bust next week or next year because nobody is staying,then who will be ringing Joe complaining about high operating costs.
I have no problem with simple market economics being used but the flipside of that is "don't come crying when you have priced yourself out of the market"

You do seem to have a problem with simple economics being used, because you have decided that the going rate is based on costs. The going rate is determined by demand. Why should a hotel give you a room for €65 if they have the alternative of getting €180 from a different customer?

If the hotel sells its rooms at the price it asks, then they are right; if they fail to sell the rooms, then they are wrong.

Vizzy

P. Breathnach wrote: »

You do seem to have a problem with simple economics being used, because you have decided that the going rate is based on costs. The going rate is determined by demand. Why should a hotel give you a room for €65 if they have the alternative of getting €180 from a different customer?

If the hotel sells its rooms at the price it asks, then they are right; if they fail to sell the rooms, then they are wrong.

And thats why NAMA has no issues with hotels in Ireland and why I've no sympathy for them !

P. Breathnach

Vizzy wrote: »

And thats why NAMA has no issues with hotels in Ireland and why I've no sympathy for them !

I could ask you to explain the relevance of that point, but I suspect you might find it difficult to establish how it might be relevant.

Vizzy

My point is that all our NAMA hotels borrowed/extended/renovated etc on the premise of "we can sell rooms at an inflated price" based on the bubble that we lived in up to about the end of 2007(.Not the only ones of course).
That bubble,I think you will agree is now well burst.

I hate to think that we are now trying to create another bubble just cause we think we can.
As I said in my first post - will we never learn.

Nonoperational

It is nothing to do with the Celtic Tiger, it's supply and demand simple as. Happens everywhere.

ejmaztec

gpf101 wrote: »

It is nothing to do with the Celtic Tiger, it's supply and demand simple as. Happens everywhere.

It was happening here long before the Celtic Tiger. Wherever there was a local festival, fleadh or whatever, hotels, b&bs, pubs etc., all jumped on the greed band-wagon. They never thought about future custom when it came to putting the squeeze on visitors, and they still don't.:(

maxer68

I hate this unsubstantiated bs from people. Yes, the towers may be sold out of their standard rooms and only have suites left at €199, but normal people will check other hotels in the area. Dooleys have rooms fir €89, traceys have rooms for €100. Not per person room ratesbut as usual with the hysterical media types, these prices don't make as good s negative story as the €199 price (which they forget to mentioned is a suite)

so rather than believe the bs media (probably Irish muck) do you own researc

Vizzy

maxer68 wrote: »

I hate this unsubstantiated bs from people. Yes, the towers may be sold out of their standard rooms and only have suites left at €199, but normal people will check other hotels in the area. Dooleys have rooms fir €89, traceys have rooms for €100. Not per person room ratesbut as usual with the hysterical media types, these prices don't make as good s negative story as the €199 price (which they forget to mentioned is a suite)

so rather than believe the bs media (probably Irish muck) do you own researc

Been trying to "book" the various hotels(single room in each hotel) and to be fair Dooleys and the Bridge don't increase their fees very much next week.
The Tower is booked up from next wednesday so I can't get info for the Tall Ships festival prices but the price for next Weds is €150 versus €65 for tomorrow night.

This is the very point that I am making,if other hotels can hold their normal prices next week,how can others justify a 2.5 times increase ?

maxer68

Vizzy wrote: »

Been trying to "book" the various hotels(single room in each hotel) and to be fair Dooleys and the Bridge don't increase their fees very much next week.
The Tower is booked up from next wednesday so I can't get info for the Tall Ships festival prices but the price for next Weds is €150 versus €65 for tomorrow night.

This is the very point that I am making,if other hotels can hold their normal prices next week,how can others justify a 2.5 times increase ?

The Tower, just like any other hotel has a fixed numebr of rooms. xx Singles, xx doubles xx twins xx suites.

All of these rooms are priced differently.

On a regular midweek they will usually be discounted (€65 for a good hotel room is very cheap), with an event, they will revert to their normal prices, probably €100 or so, but once the standard rooms are gone, you're left with the suites or premium rooms which are always more expensive, even on a mid week in January.

They can't create extra rooms.

All hotels also have to abide by the maximum room price as provided by them each year to Bord Failte - this is the published rate, so its not in their interest to have this too high as people won't look at them.

And finally - you're leaving it very late to book for what is quite a big event, that's your fault, not the hotel's!

MajorMax

Most people are unaware that hotels are not allowed to raise their rates for special events. Each room has a maximum price set on it and the hotel can't charge above this price. The price is usually €350 - €500 per night.

When you get a hotel for €75 a night you are getting the room at a greatly reduced rate. It's not that hotels are raising their rates in peak times, it's that they are dropping their rates in quiet times.

Supply & demand, but the begrudgers will always cry "Rip off Republic". I am not involved in the hotel industry

ssbob

MajorMax wrote: »

Supply & demand, but the begrudgers will always cry "Rip off Republic". I am not involved in the hotel industry

I think we can all learn a valuable lesson here, when Ireland held the Autumn interantionals last year and there was empty seats around the stadium, the IRFU straight away revised their ticketing prices for the 6 nations.

For hotels to reduce their prices, people have to stay away.

maxer68

ssbob wrote: »

For hotels to reduce their prices, people have to stay away.

Hotels have reduced their price and now Ireland is the CHEAPEST place to stay in Europe (Hotels.com survey), and for that reason tourism numbers are up substantially already this year. (CSO figures)

ssbob

maxer68 wrote: »

Hotels have reduced their price and now Ireland is the CHEAPEST place to stay in Europe (Hotels.com survey), and for that reason tourism numbers are up substantially already this year. (CSO figures)

Sorry for hotels to reduce their prices for big events people have to stay away, I am sorry that i disn't get this point across.

In fairness most hotels make an effort on normal weeks and you can see a massive reduction in prices.

Can you tell me where you heard that about tourism this year as I am unsure about this? And how do you know that it is specifically down to cheaper hotels?

maxer68

ssbob wrote: »

Sorry for hotels to reduce their prices for big events people have to stay away, I am sorry that i disn't get this point across.

In fairness most hotels make an effort on normal weeks and you can see a massive reduction in prices.

Can you tell me where you heard that about tourism this year as I am unsure about this? And how do you know that it is specifically down to cheaper hotels?

A hotel has to take ina certain amount of money. They budget that they can take in €xx on certain week and €xx on others. This allows for very low prices on some weeks, subsidised by the higher prices on other weeks.

That how hotels, trains, planes, ships work worldwide. And I say fair play to the waterford hotels for still charging reasonable prices for what is a very big event in the area. - Try getting a decent hotel under £200 in London during Fashion week!

Tourism figures for 1st 3 months were released about 10 days ago and widely reported upon in the newspapers.