Ireland's Hotel Discounts

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 30th 2008 at 12:02PM

This might be a great time to enjoy a luxurious getaway in Ireland. The Times Online reports that rooms at many of the nation's five-star establishments are going empty prompting some good deals. The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation told an Oireachtas tourism committee this month that as many as 20,000 of the country's 50,000 hotel beds are vacant at any one time.

The Shelbourne in Dublin reopened last year after an expensive renovation with rooms that started at €315 a night. Now the luxury hotel is one of several luxury hotels in Ireland offering guests free nights as it attempts to ride out the recession. customers who spend two weekend nights at the Shelbourne earn a free third night, with rates starting at €229 a night per person double occupancy. The Four Seasons in Dublin is also offering a third night free with any two night stay between December and April, and rates starting at €225. At the Ritz-Carlton in Powerscourt, Co Wicklow, American Express cardholders who stay three nights in a row get the fourth night for free. The hotel was offering rooms for between €450 and €500 a night but now rates run at €275 for a weekend night and €215 midweek and the hotel is offering value-added packages.

Overall rates in Ireland are at a six-year low and it is believes that hotel occupancy will continue to drop as the global recession continues. The timing is unfortunate, Ireland's recent tourism boom led to the addition of at least 8,000 new rooms overall in 2007 but now many of those hotels are struggling to pay the costs of rapid expansion leading to the discounted rates which will likely be in place for a while.

Tags: hotels, ireland