Dublin sector records its highest profit ever

Hotels in Dublin recorded their highest level of profit ever last year, according to a new survey of the industry in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The pre-tax profit per room in Dublin of £6,404 was almost twice that of other regions in the Republic.

The report was produced by Horwath Bastow Charleton, the accountancy firm and sponsored by Bank of Ireland.

It shows occupancy rates in hotels in the Republic have increased from 66 per cent to 69 per cent over the last year.

The other region experiencing similar growth to Dublin is the south-west, where, in the last five years, the number of hotel rooms has increased by about 1,000. The average rate of room occupancy in Dublin is 75.7 per cent and the authors dismiss suggestions of an oversupply of rooms. In comparison, the rate in the midlands and the east is 65.7 per cent, while on the western seaboard it stands at 65.5 per cent.

The rate of profit per room (only refers to available rooms) in luxury hotels is over twice as high as that in first class hotels and over three times as high as midprice hotels, according to the survey.

Hotels with over 100 rooms have seen the greatest increase in their occupancy rates.

The occupancy rate for hotels with between 50 and 100 rooms has declined over the last year, with small hotels staying at the same level.

The majority of Irish hotel guests are tourists, according to the survey, followed by business travellers, tour groups and conference participants.

However, hotels in Dublin have 24 per cent more business customers than tourists and the secondlowest number of tour groups. In terms of the nationality of hotel guests, the survey indicates little change to established trends.

Apart from Irish customers, guests coming from Britain still represent the largest group at 20 per cent, followed by guests from the USA and Canada at 15 per cent, followed by the rest of Europe at 14 per cent.

With the range of hotel services increasing the survey includes data on what hotels are offering.

This shows one quarter of hotels offering the use of a computer, 43 per cent claim to have multilingual staff, 31 per cent say they have a business centre and half those surveyed say they have a health club.

The survey suggests teleconferencing is becoming more popular, with almost 17 per cent of luxury hotels offering such facilities.

Meanwhile, the hotel sector in Northern Ireland took a downturn last year, says the survey, mainly due to the ending of the IRA ceasefire.

According to the authors, any political instability "makes attracting overseas visitors more difficult".

The establishment of the new Waterfront Hall in Belfast "represents a massive investment in conference facilities, which will greatly benefit the hotel sector in future years", the survey says.

The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid, said the report showed hotels had recognised they were now called upon to include a "whole range of leisure options in the packages they offer".