Hotel criticised for hiking prices ahead of Taylor Swift's Dublin concerts

The US pop star announced on Tuesday she would be performing two dates at the Aviva Stadium in June 2024.

A hotel is being criticised for reportedly hiking prices ahead of Taylor Swift's concerts in Dublin next year. 

The US pop star announced on Tuesday she would be performing two dates at the Aviva Stadium on June 28 and June 29, 2024, as past of the European and UK leg of her tour. 

One hotel has been reported as raising the price of a room from €359 to €999 for the nights of the concerts, which Environment Minister Eamon Ryan has described as "shocking".

Mr Ryan said the price was too high, shocking and "not worth it". 

“We’ve a real problem when you get that sort of pricing — it does a lot of reputational damage to the city and the country," he told Newstalk Breakfast. 

It was difficult for the Government to intervene in cases like this and the Vat rate was not the reason why prices were high, Mr Ryan said. Hotel prices could not be regulated or restricted and changing the Vat level would not make a difference, he added.

Mr Ryan believes this is a "real problem" for the industry. 

He said: “If someone wants to sell at that price, there’s not an easy way you can come in and say, 'You can’t'. But I think for the industry, it’s a real problem because very quickly then you get a reputation of being extortionate and then you lose your business.

“So, I think for the tourism industry itself, I think we have to think how we avoid that."

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has also criticised the reports of price gouging ahead of the Taylor Swift concerts.

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Mr Donohoe said that he takes what the hospitality sector does “pretty seriously” and he called for them to do right by Swift fans.

“I take pretty seriously the need for the hospitality sector to do the right thing by lots of excited fans that are coming to see Taylor Swift play in Ireland.

“I’ve not held back in the past from behaviour I’ve seen in the hospitality sector at a time in which we were trying to get the sector back on its own two feet again.

I think the biggest losers if we see those few nights as an opportunity to make more money, the biggest losers in the long run from that will be our hotels.

A spokesperson for the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) told the Irish Examiner that "the vast majority of Irish hotels do not make rooms online any earlier than one year out." 

"This means that there is currently almost no hotel availability through online booking engines given that the dates for the concerts are over a year away."

"For many hotels, even shorter lead in times apply for listing rooms through online booking engines. This means that people looking to book at this stage should consider contacting hotels directly either through their own websites or by phone to enquire about rates and get the best value," the IHF spokesperson added.