One landlord was charging €20,000 for a two-bedroom apartment for the same weekend.
Pop sensation Taylor Swift has sent Irish music fans into a frenzy with the news that the singer will perform two shows in Dublin next June.
However, given the extreme demand for tickets to the American’s back-to-back Aviva Stadium dates, hotel prices in the nation’s capital have reportedly soared.
Raising the issue in the Dáil this week, Independent TD Thomas Pringle told the chamber that according to popular online booking site Booking.com, that there were no rooms available in Dublin for under €350 on the dates of the gigs.
Describing these figures as “rampant price gouging”, hoteliers were blasted for exponentially increasing prices prior to tickets for Swift’s concerts even being released on general sale.
Mr. Pringle also noted that it was not just the city’s hotels who were culpable of price gouging, adding that one landlord was charging €20,000 for a two-bedroom apartment for the same weekend.
The Donegal South-West TD told Leinster House that he was raising the issue due to the fact that Swift has many young fans who will be unable to travel independently and will require adult supervision and overnight accommodation.
Remarking how this situation was not unique to Swift’s concerts, Mr. Pringle stated that price gouging has become prevalent at “almost every live event that has taken place in recent years, from concerts to Ireland games to GAA finals”.
The issue of price gouging was one which was particularly pertinent to rural fans, according to the TD, who said that it was “yet again an example of the immense greed and selfishness that has taken hold in this country and which is completely unacceptable and unscrupulous during this cost of living crisis”.
Mr. Pringle then called for the coalition government to take action regarding hoteliers’ gaming of the system, instead of simply “talking nicely” to them.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar responded by saying that the issue was becoming more pronounced due to a lack of hotels in Dublin City.
However, the Fine Gael leader added that it was difficult to rectify this due to the on-going housing crisis and the more pressing need to build affordable accommodation instead.
Mr. Varadkar too went on to criticise the practice of price gouging, stating that “It is how your business gets a bad reputation and how your wider industry gets a bad reputation. It does not make good business sense in the long-term”.
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