irishrailhotels.ie

Judgement Day · 01-10-2013 2:12pm #1

http://www.irishrailhotels.ie/ - Anybody know what this is about? I came across a leaflet for this new (?) innovation at my local station today. The website makes little sense and looks like a junior infants project - one thing it doesn't appear to do is promote rail travel.

Losty Dublin · 01-10-2013 2:47pm

Took your time on this, JD. It's been up most of the summer :pac:

It's just a hotel booking referral site akin to lastminute.com or that sort of thing. Irish Rail don't have anything to do with it; it's a private venture.

Judgement Day · 01-10-2013 3:17pm

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Took your time on this, JD. It's been up most of the summer :pac:

It's just a hotel booking referral site akin to lastminute.com or that sort of thing. Irish Rail don't have anything to do with it; it's a private venture.

Am I missing something here? Nothing to do with IE?

dowlingm · 01-10-2013 3:26pm

domain: irishrailhotels.ie
descr: Hotels In One Limited
descr: Body Corporate (Ltd,PLC,Company)
descr: Discretionary Name
admin-c: APN182-IEDR
tech-c: AAM456-IEDR
registration: 06-August-2013
renewal: 06-August-2015
status: Active
nserver: ds1109-dns1.centos-server.net
nserver: ds1109-dns2.centos-server.net
source: IEDR

person: Eamon Fennelly
nic-hdl: APN182-IEDR
source: IEDR

person: Blacknight.ie Hostmaster
nic-hdl: AAM456-IEDR
source: IEDR

Losty Dublin · 01-10-2013 3:33pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

Am I missing something here? Nothing to do with IE?

It isn't Irish Rail who are behind it though, that's what I mean. The site is a third party site and is run by a company called Hotels In One, who are based in Clifden. Maybe Irish Rail get a few shekels by way of commission but that's about it and if they do then fair play; many of the hotels are miles away from railway stations

Judgement Day · 01-10-2013 3:38pm

All very iffy if you ask me - IE logo on leaflets, IE website (in appearance) and leaflets available at IE station. Par for the course I'm afraid. :rolleyes:

Hilly Bill · 01-10-2013 11:16pm

Whats iffy about it? All they are doing is promoting Hotels.

n97 mini · 01-10-2013 11:27pm

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Whats iffy about it? All they are doing is promoting Hotels.

I think they should only promote hotels you can access using their own rail network, and maybe the cost of rail transport should be included in the overall price.

Not sure this is any different to www.lidl-breaks.ie etc., which is kind of disappointing.

Hilly Bill · 01-10-2013 11:44pm

n97 mini wrote: »

I think they should only promote hotels you can access using their own rail network, and maybe the cost of rail transport should be included in the overall price.

Not sure this is any different to www.lidl-breaks.ie etc., which is kind of disappointing.

Why?

Judgement Day · 02-10-2013 10:17am

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Why?

Why is IE's logo on the promotional literature? Why is there not even a rail route map on the site? It's just another load of old codswallop.

n97 mini · 02-10-2013 10:28am

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Why?

Have you ever heard of a USP? As is they don't have one.

Judgement Day · 02-10-2013 10:45am

This is what puzzles me - is it an Iarnrod Eireann Company or not? Below is the homepage and it seems bizarre that IE would allow a private company to use its corporate identity in this way.

IE+Hotels.PNG

Hilly Bill · 02-10-2013 12:27pm

Irish Rail promote it.

Hilly Bill · 02-10-2013 12:29pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

Why is IE's logo on the promotional literature? Why is there not even a rail route map on the site? It's just another load of old codswallop.

You can get a rail map on Irishrail.ie.

LXFlyer · 02-10-2013 12:31pm

This is no different to what most airlines do - they establish a partnership with booking agents and brand it as their own.

IE then get commission for sales.

I fail to see what the big deal is - if it generates ancillary revenue then why not?

Judgement Day · 02-10-2013 12:31pm

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Irish Rail promote it.

If you're replying to me, you're still not getting my point - when you go onto this 'private' company website it appears to be the official IE website! I've just contacted the IE Corporate Affairs Dept. and they seemed very vague but I have a name to contact.

Hilly Bill · 02-10-2013 12:35pm

n97 mini wrote: »

Have you ever heard of a USP? As is they don't have one.

Do they need one? Should they only promote hotels that are only a 2 min walk from a train station?

n97 mini · 02-10-2013 12:35pm

Do they want to differentiate their offering from Lidl's? If not then no.

Judgement Day · 02-10-2013 12:44pm

The phone call was a waste of time and all I got was more vagueness and an email address marketing@irishrail.ie to send in my query - I will.

LXFlyer · 02-10-2013 12:54pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

If you're replying to me, you're still not getting my point - when you go onto this 'private' company website it appears to be the official IE website! I've just contacted the IE Corporate Affairs Dept. and they seemed very vague but I have a name to contact.

Judgement Day wrote: »

The phone call was a waste of time and all I got was more vagueness and an email address marketing@irishrail.ie to send in my query - I will.

Did you read my post above?

This is exactly the same as what all of the airlines do - they link up with an established booking agent, and sell hotels, insurance etc. branded as their own, but the operation is run by the booking agency.

The airlines then get a commission for the sale.

IE are doing exactly the same thing.

Judgement Day · 02-10-2013 1:06pm

lxflyer wrote: »

Did you read my post above?

This is exactly the same as what all of the airlines do - they link up with an established booking agent, and sell hotels, insurance etc. branded as their own, but the operation is run by the booking agency.

The airlines then get a commission for the sale.

IE are doing exactly the same thing.

I did read your post - how about a link to site to back up your statement? I've never come across it but then I fly as little as possible.

02-10-2013 1:07pm

Why is this bad news? It's a bunch of posters on walls in stations, no different to airlines trying to hawk hotel & car deals when you're booking your ticket. Hardly worth having a Irish Rail snarking session over.

LXFlyer · 02-10-2013 1:09pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

I did read your post - how about a link to site to back up your statement? I've never come across it but then I fly as little as possible.

It's fairly obvious that it exactly what they are doing.

Check any airline website and you will see they all offer hotel bookings - there is nothing unusual about this practice whatsoever.

IE are just attempting to maximise revenue.

Judgement Day · 02-10-2013 1:51pm

I've no problem with IE selling hotel bookings or anything else that brings in revenue but I do have a problem with them outsourcing their brand to a private company. A quick check of three obvious airlines does not back up what has been said about airlines selling hotels through third parties.

http://www.ryanairhotels.com/
Copyright Ryanair Ltd. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to the Ryanair.com - Terms of Use. Ryanair.com - Website Privacy.

I'm not 100% clear on whether this is a Ryanair controlled site but has copyright notices from them.

http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/planandbook/bookhotels/
In-house hotel site

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/hotels/public/en_gb#
In-house hotel site

Surely the bottom line is why don't CIE/IE sell hotel bookings themselves - it's not as if they are understaffed.

Graham · 02-10-2013 1:55pm

None of those airlines run their own hotel booking sites. They are all white-label versions of one of the major hotel consolidators.

Hilly Bill · 02-10-2013 2:12pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

I've no problem with IE selling hotel bookings or anything else that brings in revenue but I do have a problem with them outsourcing their brand to a private company. A quick check of three obvious airlines does not back up what has been said about airlines selling hotels through third parties.

http://www.ryanairhotels.com/
Copyright Ryanair Ltd. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to the Ryanair.com - Terms of Use. Ryanair.com - Website Privacy.

I'm not 100% clear on whether this is a Ryanair controlled site but has copyright notices from them.
http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/planandbook/bookhotels/
In-house hotel site
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/hotels/public/en_gb#
In-house hotel site

Surely the bottom line is why don't CIE/IE sell hotel bookings themselves - it's not as if they are understaffed.

But you have no problem with IR becoming privatised.

Why is it an issue?

Not understaffed? sure about that?

Judgement Day · 02-10-2013 2:19pm

Hilly Bill wrote: »

But you have no problem with IR becoming privatised.

Why is it an issue?

Not understaffed? sure about that?

I didn't mention IE becoming privatised.

Quite sure about not being understaffed.

As for it being an issue - tough - I'm interested in it. :P

Hilly Bill · 02-10-2013 2:29pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

I didn't mention IE becoming privatised.

Quite sure about not being understaffed.

As for it being an issue - tough - I'm interested in it. :P

Its the same idea of sorts.

Saying that you are interested in it isnt saying why you have a problem with it.

Graham · 02-10-2013 2:30pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

Surely the bottom line is why don't CIE/IE sell hotel bookings themselves - it's not as if they are understaffed.

It's not their core business.
They would have to invest in the I.T. infrastructure to do it.
They would need a sales force.
They couldn't purchase in the scale to get significant discounts.
They would leave themselves open to accusation that they are using state funds to undercut private enterprises in a marketplace that is already sufficiently served.

LXFlyer · 02-10-2013 2:53pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

I've no problem with IE selling hotel bookings or anything else that brings in revenue but I do have a problem with them outsourcing their brand to a private company. A quick check of three obvious airlines does not back up what has been said about airlines selling hotels through third parties.

http://www.ryanairhotels.com/
Copyright Ryanair Ltd. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to the Ryanair.com - Terms of Use. Ryanair.com - Website Privacy.

I'm not 100% clear on whether this is a Ryanair controlled site but has copyright notices from them.
http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/planandbook/bookhotels/
In-house hotel site
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/hotels/public/en_gb#
In-house hotel site

Surely the bottom line is why don't CIE/IE sell hotel bookings themselves - it's not as if they are understaffed.

You are completely wrong about this.

Again, for the third time, each of those airlines are using an outside booking agency for the hotel bookings, but it is branded as their own.

This is a very common tool that airlines use. It's a win win for everyone - the airline earns commission as do the agents.

Times have changed - transport companies use specialists to do this work. It earns marginal revenue at minimal cost.

This is something totally standard and you are really stirring up a hornets' nest over nothing.

BuffyBot · 02-10-2013 3:13pm

None of those airlines run their own hotel booking sites. They are all white-label versions of one of the major hotel consolidators.

Indeed. I really don't see the issue with this: it's a extremely common activity in the travel world. If you look closely at the Ryanair hotels site, you'll see "Powered by HotelsCombined". If you look at Aer Lingus, the service is provided by WWTE (Worldwide Travel Exchange).

I'm not sure there is even a topic here (apart from folks who might bizarrely try and take a go at IE for taking part in a perfectly normal practice and getting money for their troubles), now that the nature of the site has been clarified. I'll leave it open for now, but I'm not sure how much more of dead horse flogging I can take..

irishrailhotels.ie

Comments