Concern over drop in Cork hotel bookings for the year ahead

THERE is “a lot of uncertainty” surrounding a drop in hotel bookings, the chairman of the Cork branch of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has said.

Cork hoteliers were among those to express concern about rising costs of business and a decrease in bookings for the year ahead, at the federation’s 86th Annual Conference.

“In Cork, a lot of our local restaurants have ceased trading over the last three months, business costs are a major challenge that people are facing across the city,” said Joe Kennedy, general manager of the Maldron Shandon Hotel.

“The restaurants in particular have been beaten badly, and a lot of hotels would be almost more food- and beverage-driven than rooms,” he said, explaining that hoteliers are worried about their own food businesses.

Research

Recent industry research carried out by the IHF shows a drop in levels of optimism across the sector, with only 47% of hoteliers reporting a positive outlook for trading conditions over the next 12 months, compared to 74% at the same time last year.

Hoteliers ranked rising business costs as the most serious challenge this year, with early forecasts indicating further increases of in excess of 8% in operating costs over the year ahead, following a period of already unprecedented cost increases over the last two years.

Forward bookings for the year ahead are now down 4.5% compared to this time last year, with 53% of hotels reporting a net decrease in bookings, the IHF’s research revealed. “There’s a lot of uncertainty there,” said Mr Kennedy.

The IHF also shared that while the domestic market, Britain, and Europe have all seen bookings decrease, bookings from North America are holding up.

“Ireland is very strong on the US market, and it’s a great thing for the country — we have a great relationship with them, that whole Irish-American story holds up for Ireland so well,” said Mr Kennedy.

Outbound traffic

Explaining the lower amount of forward bookings from Irish people, he said “there’s a lot of outbound traffic in Cork Airport — people are taking that holiday to destinations abroad.” He explained that overall, the high price of doing business — wage increases and sick pay as well as higher prices for produce and Vat, was the source of most concern for hoteliers at the conference, which he attended.

“The first quarter of the year is always a bit softer, but with all the impacts of things that came in on the first of January, all elements are under the line, and it all came at once,” he said.

“There’s also a bit more competition coming to Cork, there are more rooms available now,” he said, adding: “If the convention centre ever gets going, that would be key — Cork city is really primed for it.

“We get good concert business in May and June, but other than that, we don’t — we’re not like Dublin where they have concerts all year.”