The average price of a hotel room in Ireland dropped 21 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest Hotels.com hotel price index.
The average price paid for a hotel room in Ireland in the 12 months from January to December 2009 was €80, compared with €101 paid in the previous 12 months in 2008. This price drop is the steepest fall in hotel prices experienced by any western European country for this period.
Ireland is followed by Norway as the next biggest faller in western Europe with a drop of 20 per cent year-on-year to €113. Overall, European prices were down 13 per cent on average with every European country experiencing a drop in hotel room prices.
The average price of €80 paid for a hotel room in Ireland makes us the least expensive western European nation and the fourth cheapest in Europe. The three eastern European countries of the Czech Republic (€68 per night on average ), Hungary (€70 ), and Poland (€70 ) recorded the lowest hotel room prices in 2009. Switzerland was Europe’s most expensive country with an average hotel room price of €135 in 2009.
The Hotels.com index tracks the real prices paid per hotel room rather than the advertised rates. It is based on prices actually paid by customers for 94,000 hotels across 16,000 locations around the world. The latest index looks at hotel prices for 2009 and compares to hotel room prices paid the year previous.
Dublin hotel room prices have dropped a dramatic 23 per cent from €98 to €76. Killarney is now the most expensive destination to stay in Ireland, knocking Galway off its perch. It is now more expensive to stay in Killarney than major European cities such as Barcelona, Munich, and Madrid.
Prices in Cork and Limerick were down steeply. Cork hotel room prices were down almost a third while in Limerick prices fell 17 per cent. Sligo experienced a price fall of only two per cent, bringing average hotel room prices from €86 to €84 in 2009.
Waterford was ranked as the least expensive city in Ireland where hotel rates were down six per cent from 2008 when compared to the same period in 2009, dropping from €65 to €61 year-on-year.
