An emergency meeting of hotel general managers in Kilkenny has been called to discuss the impending glut in beds in the city.
The hotels fear for business because of a projected 150 per cent increase in the number of rooms over the next two years, and because of the fall-off in bed occupancy in the last 12 months.
There are 692 hotel rooms provided by the 10 existing hotels. Within two years this number will rise to 1,754.
There are three new hotels under construction: Lyrath Estate, Carlow Road; The Inn, Vicar Street, and a third, yet unnamed, on Patrick Street. They will add 247 more rooms. Two other hotel projects in the city, which have been granted planning, have not started construction. They will bring 240 rooms.
Within the city environs there are seven hotel projects at various stages of the planning process and these have the capacity to deliver 467 more rooms to the market.
The only hotel project which will definitely bring in new business is the Lyrath Estate. The five-star hotel and conference centre will attract corporate business for which it is already successfully marketing.
Kilkenny has managed to shake off the tag of "Stag City" through the co-ordinated effort of hotels and other tourism interests, but with this glut of rooms, it may be impossible to maintain.