Dolan hits out at local hotel prices

A visiting exhibitor at the recent Athlone Agricultural Show was forced to seek accommodation outside Athlone due to the prices being charged by local hotels, a FG councillor John Dolan told a recent meeting of Westmeath County Council.

Cllr Dolan, who is chairperson of the agricultural show, said while he has heard “many stories” of hotel prices in the greater Athlone region this summer he experienced it firsthand when one of the exhibitors at Athlone Show from Northern Ireland was quoted an overnight rate of €240 for a single room in a local hotel.

“I know it is a supply and demand situation, especially during the peak summer season, and many of the hotel rooms locally are taken up by Ukrainians, but it seems to me we have to have a little bit of reality and common sense here,” Cllr Dolan told the Westmeath Independent. “Athlone has a great tourism product but if people feel they are being ripped off they won't come back, it's as simple as that.”

He said the exhibitor in question ended up staying in Bed and Breakfast accommodation “halfway between Shannonbridge and Ballinasloe. which was far from an ideal situation when he was just here overnight to attend Athlone Agricultural Show.”

The shortage of hotel accommodation in the Athlone area is “a massive issue” according to Cllr Dolan, and one which he claims is affecting “every sector of the local economy.”

Cllr Dolan has called on local hoteliers and accommodation providers to show “a little bit of common sense and realism” when it comes to pricing.

He pointed out that accommodation providers were “well looked after by the government during Covid times” and that the tourism sector benefits from reduced VAT rates.

“I know of at least one family who came to Athlone from Dublin and they won't be back because they were shocked at the prices being charged,” claimed Cllr Dolan.

The local Fine Gael Cllr raised the shortage of hotel accommodation in the Athlone area and the experience of the Athlone Show exhibitor at the June monthly meeting of Westmeath County Council and said the shortage – due to many of the hotels being fully occupied by Ukrainians – is causing a major issue because groups are not coming to the town, and other tourism businesses are suffering as a result. He called at the meeting for Government supports for the affected businesses.

Director of Services with the council Barry Kehoe expressed the hope that the hotel accommodation stock would come back into normal use soon, when circumstances change.

The Irish Hotels Federation had not responded to a request for comment at the time of going to press.