30th November 2008

DEFINITIVE ACCOMMODATION GUIDE LAUNCHED
Ultimate tourist guidebook promotes Ireland in 22 countries

Irish hoteliers today joined with Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism, Martin Cullen, TD, to launch the 2009 Be Our Guest Guide and kick start the Irish Hotels Federation’s (IHF) international marketing drive for 2009. Now in its 22nd edition, the Guide is renowned as Ireland’s largest tourist accommodation listing, featuring almost 1,000 hotels and guesthouses from every county. Over 300,000 guides will be distributed in 22 countries in the coming months acting a key marketing tool in promoting Ireland at home and abroad.

Sponsored by Diageo, the Be Our Guest Guide provides potential visitors with a wealth of accommodation offerings closely matching trends towards activity based holidays, including golf, spa and leisure, walking, angling, equestrian, cycling and cultural breaks. The Guide’s online booking facility Irelandhotels.com also provides guests with a speedy facility to access the best deals and special offers across a wide range of hotels and guesthouses, allowing visitors to select the type of accommodation they want to suit their business and leisure plans. New features this year include GPS navigation co-ordinates for every hotel and guesthouse listed to assist motoring visitors locate properties easily; detailed categorisation of Spa & Leisure facilities and inclusion of a ‘Food for Kids’ logo for hotels participating in the IHF’s healthier kids menus initiative.

Matthew Ryan, President, IHF, states, “Ireland will play host to an estimated 7.5 million overseas visitors this year, and the quality of product and experience here is fundamental to the continued prosperity of the sector. As an industry, hotels and guesthouses in Ireland continue to deliver the highest standards of service in a highly competitive market. In the current economic climate, it is essential we continue to invest in targeted marketing initiatives to ensure the sustained competitiveness of the industry.”

“Over 10 million people have used and read the Guide since it was first published in 1986, and there is no doubt that it has developed and expanded as the sector has grown over the last 20 years. The Internet has now become an extremely important tool for marketing online, and this is particularly evident among Irish hotels and guesthouses that have been quick to exploit the versatility and convenience of online booking facilities to augment revenue. A good example is the Irelandhotels.com website which acts as an online version of the Be Our Guest Guide. We continuously look at ways to attract visitors to the website by providing innovative booking facilities, and this is reflected in the value of bookings through the website which is expected to reach over €5m in 2008,” he continues.

Irish hotels are continuously adapting to the needs of visitors, be it in the range of services on offer or in tailoring facilities to cater for the changing needs of families holidaying together. An important development over the last year is the ‘Food for Kids’ initiative, a children’s healthy eating programme for hotels and guesthouses across the country. The initiative, which is the first of its kind in Europe, sees participating hotels offering parents fun, interesting and healthy meals for kids that reinforce healthy eating habits through a reduction in levels of salt and fat used during cooking and promoting healthier options such as baking, boiling and poaching. This year’s Guide provides parents with details on in excess of 200 hotels and guesthouses taking part across the country.

The 2009 Guide highlights the immense range and quality of activity-based holidays and business facilities offered by Irish hotels and guesthouses. In addition to regional listings, the Guide provides four comprehensive sections on Spa & Leisure facilities, Golfing, Angling and Conference/Meeting facilities. It features 153 properties offering luxury spa and leisure breaks, 260 hotels and guesthouses offering full golfing arrangements to their guests, either on site or by arrangement with local golf courses, while 87 venues cater for the needs of anglers. The ‘Conference and Meetings’ section provides details of 324 properties offering designated conference facilities targeted at business tourism.

Adapting to customers’ needs goes hand in hand with providing excellent customer service, so in association with ‘Les Clefs d’Or’ the Guide now allows visitors to see at a glance which hotels provide internationally accredited concierge services.

Minister for Arts, Sports & Tourism, Martin Cullen, TD, states, “First published in 1986, the Be Our Guest Guide is recognised as an important marketing initiative by owners and operators of registered hotels and guesthouses in Ireland. The Guide gives practical assistance to the tourism industry in Ireland, providing visitors with a message of welcome and a rich store of information. The Guide is an effective ‘shop window’ for the owners of almost 1,000 properties who have the option of including images of their premises and of directing readers to special offers. The circulation of the Guide has expanded from 160,000 in the early days to 300,000 today and its actual readership is a multiple of this figure.”

Dennis Markey, Trade Relations Director, Diageo Ireland, states, "Diageo is delighted to be associated with the Be Our Guest Guide which is recognised as Ireland’s most comprehensive accommodation listing. Guinness is an iconic global brand whose strong heritage is immediately synonymous with Ireland’s tourism offering and enhanced through Ireland’s foremost visitor centre The Guinness Storehouse.”

The Be Our Guest Guide is designed for people to easily access information on the area they wish to visit, the range of properties available and overnight rates. In addition, it shows the GPS co-ordinates for every property making it much easier for locating specific premises. It also provides road maps, notable places to visit, festival details and other regional information of interest to visitors. The Guide continues to be highly regarded internationally as the ultimate Guide to accommodation in Ireland by both individuals and tour operators.

In the domestic market, the Be Our Guest Guide is distributed by Fáilte Ireland, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and the Regional Tourism Offices through their tourist information office network. The Guide is also distributed through car hire companies and leading book stores in Ireland and the UK. It is available through travel agents and tour operators in Ireland, the UK, Continental Europe, North America and long haul markets. In the overseas markets, Tourism Ireland distributes the Be Our Guest Guide from all of their offices to both consumers and travel trade.

ENDS

FOR INFORMATION:

Siobhan Molloy / Eoin Quinn Tel: 01 6760168
Weber Shandwick Mobile: 086 8175066 / 087 2332191