Irish Hotel Prices Drop 26 Percent

The average price of a hotel room in Ireland dropped 26 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2009, according to the latest Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI). This price drop of 26 percent in Ireland is the steepest fall in hotel prices experienced by any European country for this period. Ireland is followed by Norway and Austria which experienced hotel price drops of 24 percent and 23 percent respectively in the first six months of 2009.

The average price of 80 euros paid for a hotel room in Ireland in the first six months of 2009, compared to 108 euros paid for the same period in 2008, also made Ireland the least expensive Western European nation and the fourth cheapest in Europe. The three Eastern European countries of Poland (73 euros), Hungary (71 euros) and Czech Republic (71 euros) recorded the lowest hotel rooms prices for January-June 2009.

European prices were down 16 percent on average with every European country experiencing a drop in hotel room prices for the period of January to June 2009.

The Hotels.com HPI tracks the real prices paid per hotel room rather than advertised rates. It is based on prices actually paid by customers for 78,000 hotels across 13,000 locations around the world.

Dublin hotel prices down 27 percent - steepest price fall of major European cities
The average price of a hotel room in Dublin dropped 27 percent between January and June 2009 to 76 euros, compared to an average of €105 for the same period the year before, according the HPI.

The Irish capital experienced the steepest price fall of any of the major European cities (along with Barcelona where hotel prices also slumped by 27 percent) making Dublin remarkably good value for travellers looking for cheaper stays within the Eurozone.