Fáilte Ireland is planning to cease inspecting most holiday cottages, to their owners' distress, writes Rosita Boland.
What's in a shamrock? If you are the owner of a Fáilte Ireland-approved self-catering property, that famous little emblem means quite a lot. Its proposed removal from certain elements of the self-catering industry has provoked an angry response this week, with some owners of approved properties accusing Fáilte Ireland of abandoning them.
There are 9,982 self-catering units registered with Fáilte Ireland, of which 5,289 are due to be directly affected by the proposed changes. In July, Fáilte Ireland wrote to all owners of registered self-catering properties, informing them that from the end of this year, it would be changing the way it carries out its inspections. Currently, owners pay Fáilte Ireland an annual administrative fee of €300.
The proposed changes would mean individual owners, or registered companies with fewer than eight properties, would not be eligible to remain under the Fáilte Ireland-approved umbrella or to use the shamrock emblem, and would no longer be inspected. However, Fáilte Ireland appears to have made a management and PR mistake by announcing such a major change to a section of the industry that had not changed for many years, without specifying what would replace the existing system .
Many owners were unclear as to what it would mean for their businesses and, in response to requests for clarification, Fáilte Ireland sent another letter in August, which confused matters even further.
Then Fáilte Ireland backtracked, saying the proposed new system would not be implemented until the end of next year. It also said it was in discussion with several companies and associations who were interested in representing owners who would no longer be eligible for its approval.
'THEY ARE NOW trying to patch up a situation which they should have properly consulted their industry partners about," declares Mary Power, chairwoman of the Irish Self Catering Federation (ISCF), which held a meeting in Dublin this week to discuss the proposed changes.
"The shamrock brand is really important to us," Power insists. "One of the key things that Fáilte Ireland has been involved in for the last 30 years has been the inspection, branding and marketing of accommodation. Ireland is such a small country and its uniqueness is that it had a tourist board that was standing over our accommodation product, and that was not benefiting from it, and thus the visitor could trust it."
Fáilte Ireland will continue to be inspect group schemes. These are either individuals who own eight or more properties, or individual owners of houses - such as those in a new holiday village - who form a limited company and give exclusivity for a set period to an independent company to sell and market all the houses.
Does Power think that one of the reasons some of the 5,289 affected ISCF members are so upset is that they are afraid of change?
What is to stop them promoting their houses through another independent body, which Fáilte Ireland has said it will partner in marketing initiatives?
And surely, if you have between one and three properties, which the majority of the affected members do, is it not in your interest to be represented by a body that can promote the special qualities of your properties, as opposed to being marketed alongside new-build tax-incentive holiday villages?
Power admits that the ISCF members who are most concerned about the changes have been in the self-catering business for between 15 and 20 years. "People don't want to lose the shamrock branding," Power states. "It's very important to us."
Fáilte Ireland-approved accommodation is by no means the only self-catering letting option. The simplest internet search will return many independent companies offering all kinds of self-catering accommodation, including specialist sites that focus on old, one-off properties with character, in a rural setting.
One such company is UK-based Shamrock Cottages, which has been in business for 28 years. It carries out its own inspections, but does not have a star-rating system. Standard national classification systems for self-catering properties do not exist in EU countries, apart from Britain, so it's not possible to compare a five-star Fáilte Ireland house with a similar house in continental Europe.
Shamrock Cottages currently has 302 Irish properties on its books. It does not charge owners fees to represent, inspect or market them but, like many such companies, takes a commission from any rentals.
"We try to specialise in remote and secluded properties," explains Tracy Rader-Hoer of Shamrock Cottages. "Most of them are one-off, older cottages. We don't even consider any houses that are in modern holiday villages, for instance. Our customers are looking for the real Ireland. Getting on to our books is quite difficult, because we have high standards, and we keep the business small and visit the properties once a year."
Rader-Hoer is aware of the proposed Fáilte Ireland changes to inspections and branding, because all summer she has had people ringing up trying to get on her books.
ETHNA MURPHY, FÁILTE Ireland hospitality and marketing manager, admits mistakes have been made.
"In view of the increased numbers of new self-catering properties now available, and the fact that potentially there will be yet more houses coming on stream, we knew our inspection system wasn't robust enough to cater for all of them," she says. "In hindsight, maybe we didn't go about it the right way. The intention was right, in that we were trying to communicate the change as early as possible, but what wasn't clear was the mechanics of the new system. We are still in ongoing negotiations with the industry about that."
Whether or not it makes a financial difference to bookings, it appears many owners of self-catering properties perceive the shamrock emblem to represent trusted, high-quality accommodation. Whether that is how the non-domestic market perceives the shamrock brand is harder to define.
"I know the Fáilte Ireland shamrock-approved properties have a very good reputation and are well thought of in Ireland, because that's what the owners of these properties who have been calling us all summer have been telling us. They are very proud of their Fáilte Ireland approvals," says Rader-Hoer of Shamrock Cottages.
"To be honest, that approval system doesn't mean anything to us here. Maybe it means something within Ireland, but it really doesn't mean anything to the general customer outside Ireland."