Pricewatch »

• Hotels are not at the races when it comes to the price of a room

  August 14, 2008 @ 10:58 am | by Conor Pope

  THE RIP-OFF CULTURE that exists in Galway during the races can only be described as “utterly disgusting and opportunistic and extremely short-sighted in these toughening times”, writes Joe McElwee, a businessman from the city. In the middle of race week, McElwee rang a hotel in the city which he uses frequently for business purposes. The corporate rate is approximately €68 per night, he says, but the price he was quoted for a single room on the night in question was €299. He gave his name and the name of his company and pointed out that he had at least 15 of his clients stay in the hotel over the past year alone and asked if he could get a better rate, “but the answer was an emphatic no”.
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• When even a diet of bread and water can break the bank

  August 7, 2008 @ 12:30 pm | by Conor Pope

  IT WOULDN’T BE summer without the tourist industry chiefs complaining about the fall-off in visitor numbers. And while in the past few years there has been a distinct whiff of the boy who cried wolf about many of the moans, this year the hoteliers and restaurant owners might be right on the money.

  As the euro remains stubbornly strong and the economic downturn really takes hold, all over the world – or at least those parts of the world that can afford to come to Ireland on their holidays – times are undoubtedly getting tougher. Not only can fewer overseas visitors afford to come here, fewer Irish people are willing to spend their money blindly in expensive cafes, pubs and restaurants.
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