Irish hotel rooms filling up but there’s still room at the inn

Irish hotels have experienced a small resurgence in occupancy and the room prices they can charge, but they are still operating with far less custom than at the height of the boom.

The Crowe Howarth Annual Irish Hotel Survey for 2012 found that occupancy in that year rose to 63.8%, 2.4% higher than in 2011. Over the same period, the average room rate increased by €2.05 to €74.72 and food sales rose by 8.3%.

However, Crowe Howarth pointed out that hotel sales levels are still at 76% of their 2007 peak. Furthermore, it found that the recovery in business was occurring much more rapidly in Dublin than anywhere else in the country.