/// HOTEL UPDATE - BOOKED UP/ RATES DOUBLE///

Quoted from U2tours.com

"Dublin hotels double rates for U2 weekend

February 13, 2005

Source: Sunday Business Post

Niamh Connolly

Some Dublin hotels are more than doubling their room rates on the weekend of June 24-25, when U2 play two concerts in Croke Park. Up to 160,000 fans will attend the concerts, putting pressure on hotels in Dublin.

Many hotels contacted by The Sunday Business Post this weekend were already booked out.

The three-star Regency Hotel close to Dublin Airport is charging EU300 per room and is already booked out with four months to go. The standard rate quoted was EU130 per room for a Saturday night.

The three-star Ashling Hotel on the quays in the city centre, which is also fully booked, is charging EU240 per night, almost twice the hotel's regular room rate at the weekend.

A hotel website was charging EU476 for the two nights at the Academy Hotel off O'Connell Street, compared to the standard rate of EU318 for two nights. Bewleys hotels charge a flat rate of EU99 per room. The six Jury's Inns, which are also booked out, maintained their standard rate of EU130 per room.

John Power, chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation, said that “everywhere in the world where you have fairs or sports events and concerts you will have pressure on hotel rooms, and this can lead to increased rates. That's the operation of the free market.”

© Sunday Business Post, 2005."