The chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has said the launch of Ireland’s first short-term letting register will help alleviate disruptors that “add nothing” to Ireland’s tourism spend.
CEO Paul Gallagher was speaking at the IHF’s annual conference in Killarney this week when he called out some of the “very large” short-term letting operators, which he said many hoteliers would argue “operate unfairly.”
Fáilte Ireland’s short-term letting register will launch in May this year, which will require all hosts who offer short-term lettings to register their units every year.
“The benefit of the register is that we will now know where they are and how many there are, because the fact that we don’t have any idea, really, is not satisfactory,” the CEO said.
Mr Gallagher said that he was not interested in preventing small-scale “mom and pop” short-term lets from operating in Ireland, but called out larger operators, which he said contribute little and add to already high rent prices.
“There are very large players in the market, operating multiple units. They add nothing to the tourism spend, they invest nothing in marketing, and they are a disruptor in the private rental market,” Mr Gallagher said in a panel discussion at the INEC.
The chief executive also said that large short-term letting operators have made it difficult for hotel staff to find housing, which is having a broader adverse impact on Ireland’s tourism industry.
“There is an absolute frenzy of growth in rent in Ireland, which is putting us at a tipping point. You will never be able to save for a mortgage if the rents keep rising. Will people be 90 years of age, still working and paying rent?”
The chief executive noted that while short-term letting operators were not at fault for that, “clearly, there is something wrong.”
“We need our hotel staff living near our hotels. There is no point in running a hotel in Dublin when all your employees live in Clane, Naas, or Dundalk. It is simply not reasonable to expect people to commute so far.
“We want these people to stay in the industry, so we need to be able to find accommodation for our staff close to our businesses.”
