A DONEGAL couple who were charged more than normal by a leading hotel when they tried to book a weekend away are now planning to take their break overseas in protest.
Brendan and Anne Dunnion from Ballybofey booked two nights in the Radisson SAS hotel in Galway for the August Bank Holiday weekend with a €440 voucher bought for them by their son Joe.
However, after trying to make the reservation, a staff member rang them back asking for an extra €130 per night when they realised it coincided with the busy Galway Race Week.
A spokesman for the hotel admitted they “exceeded the parameters” of the terms and conditions of the Dunnions’s voucher.
Mr Dunnion, a businessman and developer, says the catchy ‘‘Highs and Lows’’ soundtrack on the latest Discover Ireland ads needs to be tweaked to allow for “rip-off Ireland”.
“If €440 wasn’t bad enough for two nights’ BB and an evening meal, they [the Radisson] turned around and asked us for another €260 when they realised it was race week. That’s a total of €700 for two nights.
‘‘This is another example of rip-off Ireland.
“There are fancy ads on TV trying to persuade Irish people to holiday at home but, how can they ask people to stay at home if the hotel industry is hiking prices on busy weekends,” Mr Dunnion said.
He accused the hotel of admitting they “ripped people off” on Galway Race Week.
“There were no terms and conditions on the voucher we have. Anyway, the issue here is that they are ripping off people when things start to get busy.
“This is total rip-off Ireland. What kind of message is that sending out to Irish people? We want our money back for the voucher and we will spend it on a cheaper holiday abroad instead,” he concluded.
Chief Executive of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland Dermott Jewell said Fáilte Ireland and the hotel industry need to “start living in the real world”.
“If Fáilte Ireland want Irish people to holiday at home in future then they need to be more realistic,” Mr Jewell said.
“This would have been a perfect goodwill gesture if the voucher had been allowed to stand. The tourist industry here really needs to move with the times if they want us to stay at home,” he said.
According to Fáilte Ireland, minimum and maximum rates for the hotel industry are laid down in October of each year for the following year.
Allowances would be made for increases for special events such as sporting events and festivals. The Galway Races would come under that.
However, a spokesman for the Radisson SAS hotel said: “In this case we exceeded the parameters of those specific terms and conditions and tried to accommodate Mr Dunnion by offering the monetary value of the voucher against his booking request.”