(Source: www.pixabay.com)People looking to book a last-minute holiday stay in Ireland this bank holiday weekend could expect to pay a thousand euro for accommodation and car hire.
Some Dublin hotels are charging over 800 euro for a one night stay tomorrow night, while 96% of hotels in Kilkenny are fully booked out for this weekend.
Car hire prices for a family car for the May Bank Holiday weekend are averaging about €350.
John Brennan, Hotelier at the Park Hotel in Kerry, says the prices reflect living in an open market:
"It's a market-driven economy. If the hotel charges a rate that the market doesn't pay, the hotel goes out of business, it's as simple as that. There isn't one hotel in the country tonight charging a rate that they don't believe they will get."
"There's no gun to anyone's head to say they have to stay in that hotel. They can stay wherever they wish. So people make their own decision and go where they wish."
