ROOM RATES:KILKENNY, ATHLONE and Wexford have the dearest hotels in the country, though prices almost everywhere are falling, a new survey reveals.
The three locations were the only ones to break the €100 barrier for average room prices in the latest hotel price index from hotels.com; Kilkenny came in at €123, Athlone at €117 and Wexford at €110.
In contrast, bigger tourist locations, such as Galway and Killarney, offer better value thanks to steep price falls prompted by keen competition between rival operators.
The average room price in Galway now stands at €98 while Killarney is even cheaper, at €93.
Prices rose slightly in Sligo, Castlebar and the surrounding area in Co Mayo, but elsewhere they fell, by as much as 16 per cent in Killarney.
The prize for best value in Irish hotel rooms goes to Dublin, where the average price fell 7 per cent to €73 by the middle of this year. Dublin now offers the cheapest hotels in western Europe and the ninth cheapest of the 76 destinations included in the survey. This was in spite of a 2 per cent rise in the price of five-star hotels in the city.
Monte Carlo, where rooms cost an average of €180, topped the global list, followed by Geneva, Rio de Janeiro and New York.
The cheapest destinations were Riga, capital of Latvia, and Christchurch, New Zealand, where just €58 will get you a room.
Switzerland emerged as the most expensive country in Europe in which to stay in a hotel while the average cost of an Irish hotel room, at €79, was cheaper than anywhere else bar the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.
Overall, hotel prices around the world increased slightly for the first time since 2007, giving rise to hopes for a recovery in the sector. The main factor driving this stabilisation of prices has been the return of corporate travel, especially in North America, according to hotels.com president, David Roche.
Prices in Ireland fell by 4 per cent, much less than the 21 per cent drop recorded last year.
Irish travellers and overseas visitors both named Dublin as their favourite domestic destination, followed by Galway and Cork, according to the survey.
A report published earlier this year said Irish hotel rates had fallen back to 1999 levels and stated that one-third of hotels were having difficulties meeting interest repayments on their loans.