Cardiff hotels cashing in on a special occasion

HEINEKEN CUP:Devotion to Leinster rugby is exacting a high price on fans, with hotels in Cardiff hiking up their prices to outrageous levels, writes JOHN O'SULLIVAN

LEINSTER SUPPORTERS hoping to celebrate a Heineken Cup triumph by spending a night or two in Cardiff are certainly going to pay for the privilege. Hotels in the Welsh capital have doubled and trebled room rates – in some cases the hike has been even greater – and demanded a two night minimum stay. That’s if you can get a room in Cardiff.

There is minuscule availability and after a search across several hotel booking websites the only offer for Saturday night, May 21st, was an executive room at the Hilton hotel – it’s about 10 minutes walk from the stadium – available for an eye-watering £408 (€467).

The Sky Plaza hotel at Cardiff airport had three standard double rooms left at £199.95 (€229) for the Saturday night in question when their traditional tariff for a non-event weekend was less than £50 (€57).

One person who booked a flight to Cardiff with Aer Lingus on the night of Leinster’s quarter-final victory over the Leicester Tigers on April 9th (out on the Friday, back on the Sunday with two bags and taxes) paid €560 and then booked two nights at the Royal Hotel in Cardiff at an identical cost to the flights; there was no match ticket included.

For about €150 less he could have enjoyed two weeks, all inclusive board at the four star Concorde el Salam in Sharm, Egypt on the Red Sea: devotion to Leinster rugby exacts a high price. Over five weeks before the final the Park Plaza hotel in Cardiff wanted £280 (€320) per night based on a two nights, pre-paid and non refundable.

An inquiry on the Cardiff Tourist Information centre website for the night of the European final – the Amlin Challenge Cup between Stade Francais and Harlequins at the Cardiff City stadium takes place the previous night on Friday, May 20th – between the Irish province and the Northampton Saints across hotels, bed and breakfast, guesthouses, campus, hostel, self- catering and serviced apartments failed to yield a single option.

A spokesman for Cardiff and Co, the city marketing company, said when contacted by The Irish Times: “Naturally, at times of peak demand, hotel prices increase compared with times when demand is less acute – the same applies the world over, not just in the hotel sector but also in areas such as air travel, train travel and any other areas where there is a finite supply and high demand.

“That said, there is always a balance to be struck between charging a rate that reflects the demand and not charging too much and I am content that in the vast majority of cases, that balance has been struck. We and Cardiff’s hotels value the Heineken Cup final which is why we will be meeting with the organisers after the event to explore whether there are any measures that we could take in future to improve on the already warm welcome experienced by the vast majority of fans.”

Paddy Baird, managing director of the Killester Travel Group, conceded hotels were asking about double what they normally would, albeit that it is not unusual or limited to Cardiff. The increased costs are obviously a factor but it is the lack in quantity of rooms to cater for the high demand that determines the prohibitive pricing structure. Aside from the Hilton, the next nearest hotel with available rooms for the Saturday night is in Weston-Super-Mare, 18.8 kilometres from the Welsh capital.

Baird pointed out: “There are not enough hotels in Cardiff, certainly not of sufficient quality and that creates a bottle neck in terms of demand.”

He also pointed out that Cardiff airport struggles to cope with the volume of day return flights tomorrow week (the average price is about €450 with a match ticket) when added to their normal Saturday schedule. The 5pm kick-off simply ramps up the pressure again.

Supporters on day return flights availing of coach transfers will be bused into an area of central Cardiff but on their return to the airport after the game will adhere to a strictly regulated protocol that will see all coaches stop at Barry Comprehensive School.

They will be allowed to proceed to the airport according to a strict timetable so as not to have massive numbers in a small regional airport. There are four or five security gates at Cardiff compared to, say, eight at Bristol.

Baird continued: “There are not the same numbers of Leinster supporters travelling as was the case in 2009 (Edinburgh, they beat the Leicester Tigers in the final) based on what we have seen. Obviously that was Leinster’s first final.”

Guesstimating Leinster’s travelling support, he expected it to be in the region of about 15,000 travelling from Ireland.

Many supporters have chosen to take the car and ferry option, with Stena Line confirming yesterday they still have availability on their “Football Special”, an offer that costs €175 for a car and four passengers from Dublin-Holyhead (Friday night or Saturday morning, returning 2.30am, Sunday morning) or Rosslare-Fishguard (Friday night, returning 2.45am Sunday morning), remarkable value when you consider the alternatives.

Dublin hotels just as culpable

It’s not just Cardiff that has substantially elevated hotel prices for a sporting event as some Dublin hotels are equally culpable, trying to cash in on next Wednesday’s Europa League final between Porto and Braga at the Aviva stadium. The supporters of both sides are being asked to stump up a hefty sum to cheer on their respective teams.

A deluxe room in D4 hotels on the night of the Europa League final next Wednesday is being offered at €499 while a similar room on Wednesday, June 1st would set a person back €69. The Four Seasons hotel is less expensive at €355 while a third hotel close to the venue, Bewley’s, is available for a snip at €169; although their normal room rate starts at €59.