Galway drops in dear hotel rankings as prices slashed

By Dara Bradley

Hoteliers across Galway are continuing to slash room rates as the local tourism industry fights for a slice of the diminishing foreign and domestic holiday markets.

The latest survey of hotel room prices across the country shows that average room prices fell by 12% in Galway in the second quarter of 2010, although local industry sources say the actual fall in four star hotel rates could be as much as 20% compared with a year ago.

The Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI) reveals that it now costs €98 on average per night to stay in Galway compared with €112 this time last year.

In the first quarter of the year, Galway was the second most expensive destination for hotel rooms, second only to Killarney. But this 12% drop means a hotel room in Galway is now cheaper than Kilkenny (€123), Athlone (€113) and Wexford (€110).

Galway prices are now on par with other major cities in the world such as Frankfurt (€98), Sydney (€98) and San Francisco (€98).

Claregalway hotel owner and Chairperson of the Galway branch of the Irish Hotels Federation Paul Gill said the actual average rate for a room in Galway was now €74, not the €98 that is quoted in the survey. This is down from €77 last year.

The survey says Galway is the second most expensive city in Ireland for hotel rooms after Kilkenny. However, Mr Gill says the data is based on the average price per room in each destination and does not take into account the fact that Galway may have a higher proportion of four star hotels than other destinations.

CEO of Galway Chamber, Michael Coyle said that hotel prices in four star establishments in Galway had probably dropped their rates by up to 20% and not 12% as the survey suggests.

Read more in this week's Connacht Sentinel