Cork hotels battle ‘tsunami of rising costs’ but tourism demand from American market has increased

CORK hoteliers are battling a “tsunami of rising costs” but experiencing a stronger industry recovery than expected, chairperson of the Cork IHF branch Joe Kennedy has said.

Mr Kennedy, who has been in the industry for more than 20 years and manages the Maldron Hotel in Shandon, said from a business demand perspective, things are looking up.

“Demand has come back much quicker than the industry expected. Tourism numbers for the summer are looking a lot stronger than anticipated, especially from the American market, along the Wild Atlantic Way.”

Mr Kennedy said the hotel industry has been revamped in recent years to cater for a more holistic outdoor experience.

In relation to the rising costs of living, Mr Kennedy said the reality is the cost of doing business has increased twofold, particularly around utilities.

“In my own hotel, utilities are up 100% from 2019, we are under savage pressure from food costs, utility costs, paper and linen charges, huge tsunami of costs coming at the industry. So it’s great we have the numbers we have because if we didn’t it would be a disaster for hoteliers.” Focusing on recruitment, the IHF Cork representative said the hotel industry was no different to any other industry in some ways.

“Every industry is looking for people, but the difference is we are actually in a rebuild phase.

“We are rebuilding teams, and getting people back to work, it’s a process and it will take time.

“The problem is we are competing with other industries, the unemployment rate at the moment is very low and there are technically more jobs than people, so that is going to be a massive challenge for all industries.” 

Cork Airport is also predicting a strong season ahead.

“Cork is well connected which gives great access,” a spokesperson said.

They added that work is always ongoing to try and secure connectivity to the East coast of the US.

Looking ahead, the spokesperson said Cork Airport is expecting an “extremely strong and busy summer, both outbound and inbound.” “There is a huge pent up demand for travel that has shown in the past month or so, from Patrick’s Day onwards.

“Easter was very busy, 60,000 passengers through Cork Airport.”