Brooks to chase the blues away for hotels

Hoteliers and online touts are set to make a killing as a third Garth Brooks date for next July sold out in just 90 minutes.

More than 10,000 people queued around the country for tickets to see the country star, with all of the 240,000 tickets selling out.

Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions said it was the first time an artist had sold out three dates at Croke Park in one day.

“In 52 years of business this is the fastest-selling concert Aiken Promotions have ever been involved in,” he said.

As a result of the enormous demand for the concert, hotels across the capital have jacked up prices for the July weekend when Brooks is in town.

Hotels which normally charge around the €100 to €120 mark for a room were quoting prices in excess of €400 yesterday.

Despite consumers complaining about the price hikes, president of the Irish Hotels Federation, Michael Vaughan, defended hotel pricing, saying rooms were generally heavily discounted throughout much of the year.

“Generally speaking, hotels throughout the year discount completely and utterly down to 50% or 60% of the top rate they could achieve... The thing is we’ve gotten used to in this country is hotels discounting severely from what would be the rack rate. Most hotels would be building and investing in their hotel with intention of getting the top rate they can get and that hasn’t been possible for a very long time.”

He said there were deals still available for the weekend of the concert if people did their research and shopped around.

“We’ve found lately that people are going out as far as Castleknock, Sutton, or out as far as Saggart and they are finding value there so people will find the value that they need I think, even for an event like this.”

However, Fine Gael senator Catherine Noone hit out at what she called the “exorbitant rates” being charged by some city centre hotels for the weekend of the concerts.

“Unfortunately, it seems old habits die hard, and some hotels are very quick to hike up prices at the first opportunity. The hotel industry needs to begin to clamp down on this kind of behaviour, and I believe that tourism bodies should seriously consider putting together a list of recommended hotels who don’t increase their prices wildly in the run up to larger events,” she said.

Labour senator Marie Moloney was also critical of people reselling tickets online for several times the face value.

“I would repeat the call from the promoter for fans not to go to unofficial sources to get tickets — there is simply no guarantee you are purchasing a valid and authentic ticket. While the practice of reselling tickets on secondary sites at sky-high prices may be strictly legal, it represents dishonest and appalling practices and I strongly condemn it,” she said.