Hotel beds in Dublin are effectively "sold out" for St Patrick's weekend with the only available properties left charging what have been described as "outrageous prices".
Capacity in Dublin city centre stands at 98% full for the weekend, according to Booking.com, with beds so scare that one hostel in the capital is charging €1,800 for two nights for two, or €450 each a night The Irish Hotels Federation has said that "unprecedented demand" has left the capital "sold out".
A spokesperson said: "Dublin is experiencing an unprecedented level of demand for St Patrick's Day and the circa 22,000 hotel and guesthouse accommodation rooms across the city are almost totally sold out for this period.
"Visitors staying in hotels on these dates 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."
In Association with
It will be a bumper weekend for Irish hospitality, with St Patrick's Day on Friday, March 17, followed by Ireland taking on England in the Six Nations rugby finale at the Aviva Stadium on the Saturday, at 5pm. And to cap things off, Mother's Day falls on the Sunday.
The official capacity for the Aviva stadium is just short of 52,000; however, the game is expected to bring in more tourists from the UK for St Patrick's Day.
Ciara Sugrue, head of Festivals with Fáilte Ireland, has estimated the St Patrick's Festival is worth around €50m to the capital's economy, with the tourism body expecting around 100,000 people to arrive in Ireland that weekend.
But the price of accommodation is causing problems for many in the city. A councillor has called for a potential pay cap or voluntary code of pricing conduct to be introduced to cut down on what he described as "shameless price gouging" in the hotel market.
Danny Byrne, a Fine Gael councillor in Dublin, said that Ireland's reputation for being poor value for money is something that is driving prospective tourists away from the capital.
Prices for the St Patrick's Day weekend, found on accommodation websites such as Booking.com and Trivago, have shown remaining prices for three nights in Dublin city costing upwards of €3,000 in certain areas.
In Dublin 4, only the Herbert Park Hotel in Ballsbridge is available, at €800 for the Friday night for a room for two. But it's a fraction of that price for the Friday night on the previous weekend,
March 10 - at just €191. The Leevin Hostel in Mountjoy is priced at €1,800 for Friday and Saturday night of St Patrick's weekend - but it's €490 for two nights the previous weekend, on March 10 and 11.
A spokesperson for the Department of Tourism last night said that energy and food prices have contributed to higher prices than in 2019. The department said it is a "concern that continued demand for hotel accommodation as part of the response to the crisis in Ukraine is impacting availability of rooms... leading to pricing and competitiveness concerns". It added: "However, it is important Ireland maintains its reputation as a value-for-money destination."
Cllr Byrne described the pricing around the St Patrick's Day Festival as "shameless price-gouging".
He said: "I have been in contact with my own party as well as the [Irish Hotels Federation] about what can be done to fix this mess. Ireland, and especially Dublin, is being seen as a rip-off. The prices we have found around Patrick's Day just prove that.
"I do not know how they can justify these prices. I have written to the Taoiseach about what is happening here... I think maybe a price cap might be too severe but maybe something like a voluntary code of conduct for pricing could be the way to go. These prices are a PR disaster for Dublin."
Elsewhere, Molloy's Apartments in Dublin quoted a €4,373 price for a stay in an apartment from March 16-20. When contacted, a spokesperson for Molloy's said he feels this represents value for money.
He said: "We do appreciate the concerns regarding prices in the industry regarding St Patrick's; however, we feel our rates in general are very competitive. Most of our accommodation accommodates larger groups as we can take six persons in each of our larger serviced apartments. Generally speaking, a lot of the cost goes towards online travel agents."
