COMPETITION in the Galway hotel industry has intensified with the arrival of Holiday Inn Express, a new 100-bedroom hotel which has opened for business on one of the main entrances to the city at Headfort Road. It is the first Holiday Inn in Ireland. The current rates are £39.95 for a room which sleeps four people the equivalent of less than £10 per person. The price includes Continental breakfast and will vary according to the time of year. The sales and marketing director of the Galway hotel, Paul Fletcher, says that even at this stage 40,000 guests are booked in for the remainder of the year.

Holiday Inn Express is also to open a hotel in Cork on August 1st and work is already under way on a similar facility along the Naas Road in west Dublin.