Local hotels slash room rates to win tourists over

Local hoteliers expect the hospitality trade to fall by five per cent in the coming season - but state that doesn't mean they are giving up. Instead, they have been slashing room prices in half, changing their ways of marketing - and even redecorating to draw people back into their hotels.For the first time in a long time, holidaying in Ireland is good for the consumer, but the flip side of that is that hoteliers are battling with a saturated market, with hundreds of hotel rooms lying empty all over Ireland.Of course the weather doesn't help much according to John Cochrane of the Greville Arms Hotel, who only last weekend noticed more people coming out and enjoying a few drinks because of the fine weather."The fact that we put serious investment into the hotel towards the end of '09 has made a huge difference to our business," explained John, who has plans to redecorate the James Joyce restaurant, which will complete the refurbishment of the Greville's ground floor."We have seen a big increase in our coffee shop and carvery business, and with the refurbishment of our ballroom, we have lots of bookings for the season ahead for weddings and functions, so we are very pleased with that," he added.But while John is happy with the hotel's position, he admits they have had to slash prices:"We have had to reduce our bedroom rates because we are in a much more competitive market now than before. But we are happy to see the return of our investment. And maybe with a bit of fine weather this summer, this could spell things really being on the up and up," he finished.People are more than cautious with their money nowadays - the first question on everyone's minds is - "Can you do any better than that?" according to owner of the Annebrook Hotel, Berty Dunne."We have had to slash our rates in half since 2008 because people are really looking for good deals," says Berty.As the owner of a relatively new hotel, he says the Annebrook is focusing mostly on the wedding business, and with 22,000 couples tying the knot this year in Ireland, it would madness to ignore it:"Hoteliers have had to change their ways of marketing their business. For instance, we are aggressively marketing weddings and hen parties because the whole leisure business has really fallen back due to the recession and the Irish weather," he explained. "We are growing our business all the time as a wedding destination. It used to be that couples would book their wedding eighteen months to two years in advance, but now they are leaving it till just six months beforehand because they were so unsure of how the recession would fare out. That would never have happened before 2008."The Austin Friar Hotel reopened its doors to the public five months ago after being closed for the past three years and owner James McKeon is concentrating on the food side of things: "We are targeting the family market in our restaurant. We're aiming for a relaxed atmosphere with good food, serving lunch and carvery during the day and turning it into a steakhouse during the evening. Again what we're offering is good quality food at great, so that's the selling point we're working from," said James.But according to Matt O'Connor of the Mullingar Park Hotel, while the past twelve months have been tough, he thinks the market has finally bottomed out:"The problem is we have too many hotels in this country, with many offering rooms at below cost," explained Matt. "People are looking for better value for money, and we are offering better offers to attract them here," he continued."We've got our cost base in line with our sales and we are happy with how the Park is doing, all things considered," he said.All in all, I think I speak for everybody when I say, here's hoping for a good summer!