Irish hotels ‘pay highest insurance costs in EU’

Eddie Cassidy

The hospitality sector in Ireland is paying up to four times more than hoteliers in Holland, an Oireachtas committee heard.

The Irish Hotels Federation acknowledged a substantial improvement in the downward trend of insurance charges, but the federation's chief executive, John Power, told the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business that Ireland still ranked as a high-cost centre for insurance premiums.

A traditional 50-60 bedroom hotel is paying in the region of €50,000-€90,000 on insurance premiums.

The charges are significantly higher for hotels with leisure or nightclub facilities.

"In the period from April to October 2003, premiums in the hotel and guesthouse sector continued to increase at an average of about 7%," said Mr Power.

"Between November 2003 and February 2004, average renewal premiums in the sector showed a reduction on average of 19% and, by March 2004, serious reductions in premiums averaging 46% were experienced.

"Although substantial improvements were made in the insurance environment in the past year, premiums in Ireland were still at best 50% higher than those in Britain and four times that of the Netherlands," said Mr Power.

The federation, he said, was hopeful the provisions of the Civil Liabilities and Courts Bill which proposes substantial fines or jail for false claims will further improve the insurance claims' environment in this country.