Irish Hotel Tax Incentive Schemes and their downfall

Irish hotels have benefitted from a myriad of tax incentive schemes which are now seriously affecting the tourism industry as a whole.  The tax breaks were exploited to such an extent that not only were too many rooms added creating massive over-capacity but many hotels were built in ridiculous locations.  Tax break hotels were often built by developers rather than hoteliers and all they cared about was a 7 year tax freebie.  They couldn’t have given a jot about the guest.

The sting in the tail of the tax break is that if a hotel that has benefitted from these tax breaks does not stay open for seven years after the development, the investor will have to repay the tax breaks against their personal tax bills.  What we have now is a situation where unprofitable hotels remain open, reducing rates to ridiculous levels thus seriously damaging those operations that are viable.  The Irish Hotels Federation has calculated that there are 21,000 hotel rooms that fall short of the 7 year requirement (out of a total number of about 60,000 hotel beds in the country).  Another scary figure is that the average occupancy rate over all hotels in Ireland is just 53pct and overseas visitors to Ireland this year have declined by nearly 19pct.

Lywood House, Ardingly, Sussex

Lywood House, Ardingly, Sussex

Lywood House in Ardingly, Sussex is the home of Max and Cleone Pengelley who take  Wolsey Lodge guests.  I had the good fortune to stay with them during my recent visit to Sussex.  This was a wonderfully ‘English’ experience.  Just picture a 14^th century listed timber framed house with a view of a perennial border packed with vibrant colours, sweeping lawns and paddocks with one horse wrapped up in blankets as a fly deterrent.  Outside the front door was the horse box.

It was a sweltering hot day so Max was quick to produce elderflower cordial and lime squash on my arrival.  Cleone cooked a delicious dinner for myself and two other guests – a green salad with egg and thinly sliced prosciutto, fish with broad beans and spinach from the garden and a delicious mousse-like dessert with a strawberry compote – Yummy.   The other guests mentioned that normally they would go abroad but this year they had decided to explore the South East of England.  They gave me some great tips of places to visit including Hever Castle which I thank them for as it was a treat!

Had I remembered my swim gear, I would have been able to take a dip in the pool.  I highly recommend this accommodation.  Thank you to Max and Cleone for a very enjoyable stay!!  I also compliment Cleone on producing an excellent dinner.  We gave up offering dinners a few years ago as it was such hard work.

removal of water marks on ceilings

If you provide accommodation facilities like myself, then you may have to deal with the challenge of removing water marks from the ceiling every now and again when people flood the bathroom.   Having run out of patience painting my ceiling again and again and resisting having to purchase damp block paint which costs a fortune, I resorted to a coat of gloss paint followed later by emulsion and that did the trick!

Water rates even for Churches

The councils have recently extended water rates to a wide array of businesses including churches. A recent water rates bill for a local church included euro 1.95 for water over a six month period plus a six month fixed administration charge of euro 49.50! Some churches don’t even have loos so the water rates cover the water used to clean the chalice and that’s it. Clearly in the States eyes, tough times call for desperate measures and including churches for water rates is a desperate measure.

Failte Ireland registered Bed and Breakfast and Self Catering Accommodation providers now have to pay water rates but the State forgets that there are endless operators existing without Failte Ireland Approval that escape the net. Moreover, there are now countless owners of apartments who are seeking to rent out their accommodation any way they can yet they don’t fall into the water rate regime as they are not registered. What is the difference between renting out an apartment long term and renting it week to week as self catering? Both are businesses and should be taxed equally.

There isn’t a level playing field for this new tax. Tax us all equally or not at all and for goodness sake, leave out taxing churches. If water is such a scarce commodity, why should I look out my window at people washing down their houses, cars, gardens and who knows what else with free water. Even if an accommodation provider only opens for a short season, we are subject to water rates all year around irrespective of whether we are open or not. So to avoid water rates when closed for the season, we either have to use our own wells or move to a private house elsewhere.

A visit to Ballyogan House Bed and Breakfast in Graiguenamanagh

I had a day off from Kilbrogan House to visit some friends in Graiguenamanagh in County Carlow. I spent the night at Ballyogan House, a delightful Country House that offers Bed and Breakfast accommodation a couple of miles outside the town of Graiguenamanagh and just a short drive from Kilkenny. Fran and Robert have been running their guest accommodation for the past 8 years and are doing a brilliant job at it.

My room looked out on a beautiful garden with herbatious borders that were in full bloom. If you are a garden lover, you should definitely stay here. I loved my short visit and would highly recommend Ballyogan House to anybody planning to visit Kilkenny and the surrounding area. My room (The Bluebell Room) was extremely comfortable and breakfast was delicious – even eggs from the hens running around outside. Their website is www.ballyoganhouse.com.

Ballyvolane Country House

I had the good fortune to attend an informal lunch at Ballyvolane Country House in Castlelyons near Fermoy. What a magical place. The house was originally built in 1728 in the georgian country house style with three storeys. The top floor was removed in 1847 to create a two storey house with an extensive west end wing. The Greens have lived here since 1955 and run it as a successful country house guest house.

The gardens around the house include a mixture of deciduous trees, shrubs, both formal and informal areas and a large walled garden with copious amounts of vegetables all planted very neatly. Apparently it takes 9 hours to mow the lawn around the house and the croquet lawn looks absolutely perfect without a hump or bump in site. The garden at this time of year is a dream with bluebells throughout the woods and Rhododendrons, azaleas etc all in full bloom.

For anybody who feels like a quiet country break near the Blackwater, this is the place to stay.