Hotels and hostels in Dublin are charging up to €1,664 for a double room on St Patrick’s Day.
Most accommodation in the capital is booked up for March 17 and the remaining rooms on offer are going for hugely inflated prices. One city centre hostel is offering a ‘king room’ with two single beds and three bunk beds for double occupancy for €1,664 for the night.
According to its listing on booking.com the “ground floor snug” has a view of a lake – though it is situated 350 yards from the city centre. The same accommodation is priced at an average of €304 for any other Friday night.
Read more: Dublin City Council accused of St Patrick's Day price gouging
On the Trivago website a double bedroom suite at a docklands apartment is on offer for €1,426 for March 17 – compared to €263 on any other Friday night. A room at one West Dublin B&B will set you back €910 for the night for a double room with a shared bathroom - or €941 if you want an en suite.
The same bed and breakfast is offering the same room for €152 for the following Friday night. Hotels are already at 99% occupancy for St Patrick’s Day according to booking.com.
The 2023 festival is expected to draw crowds of 500,000 and will have Dallas star Patrick Duffy as its guest of honour. Visitors could stay in a superior room at a well known city centre hotel for €618 via Travelup.com.
The cheapest rate on booking.com for March 17 is €459 to stay in an eight-bed male dormitory on the north side of the city – a 400% mark up compared to €109 on March 10.
Earlier this week the Government extended the 9% VAT rate – cut from 13% – for the hospitality sector for a further six months. Consumer champ Dermot Jewell slammed the accommodation prices in the capital as an “absolute disgrace”.
He said: “The level of profiteering, it beggars belief. Something has got to be considered to put an end to this.
“This kind of price gouging and unapologetic profiteering is anything but the basis of which welcoming anyone to Ireland is about. Cead Mile Failte is right... if you have a few thousand to spend. We are running the risk of pricing ourselves out of the market entirely.
"This is the same sector that only this week was given a further ability to hold on to a reduced VAT rate. I don’t think it’s going to sit very well with quite a number of people including the Government.”
In a statement the Irish Hotel Federation said: “Dublin is experiencing an unprecedented level of demand for St Patrick’s Day and the c.22,000 hotel and guesthouse accommodation rooms across the city are almost totally sold out on this night.
“Visitors staying in hotels on this date will have booked their accommodation weeks if not months in advance, and these rooms would have been sold at much lower rates than any last minute, last availability rates.
“Understandably the low level of availability of rooms will impact decisions made by visitors, and some people may decide to stay further out from the city centre. We would encourage people who have yet to book to also consider contacting hotels directly where there may be better value available than via booking engines.”
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