Failte Ireland - Ireland Buyers Guide 2018

ACCOMMODATION IN IRELAND Fáilte Ireland aims to provide visitors with easily identifiable symbols and standards of service that they can trust, across more than eight different types of tourist accommodation such as hotels, self-catering, hostels, Irish Home B&B’s, camping sites and Fáilte Ireland’s Welcome Standard (for unusual and innovative styles and types of tourist accommodation).Working with the accommodation providers, we ensure that those standards meet consumer expectations, help your marketing efforts, and support your product development. In 2016 we commenced a standards review, commencing with hotels. Revised Hotel Regulations were introduced in August 2016 and, following on from this, Fáilte Ireland, in conjunction with the Irish Hotels Federation, have implemented new Hotel Classification Criteria, from two to five star. These new criteria provide opportunities for flexibility in the manner in which hotels meet the needs of the modern traveller.With the increase in visitor traffic to Ireland there is demand for both ‘traditional’ hotels and new hotel styles to meet consumer needs. These new regulations and classification criteria provide opportunities for our industry to innovate competitively through new hotel concepts and offerings. In 2018, Fáilte Ireland will be reviewing the standards for both self-catering holiday homes and camping sites with similar objectives to improve capacity and range. In a change of policy, Fáilte Ireland will also seek to work closely with all distribution channels carrying inventories of approved visitor accommodation stock. It is recognised that such distributors may simultaneously carry stock for purchase which is not approved by Failte Ireland, however, such is their importance to the ‘approved sector’ that Fáilte Ireland considers it prudent to engage fully with all such distributors to enhance the promotion and marketing effort. 140