Hoteliers in and around Aberdeen should be wary of the dangers of ramping-up prices at peak times, the new chairman of Aberdeen City and Shire Hotels Association (Acsha) said yesterday.
The Granite City’s hotels are notorious for charging high rates at certain times, such as when offshore crew changes take place or during the biennial Offshore Europe (OE) oil and gas show.
Chris McGuinness said Acsha would be urging the area’s hotels to be mindful of the risk they faced in upsetting customers by charging well above their normal rates. But he also said there was a limit to what could be done about inflated prices, adding: “We can only give guidance and make recommendations.”
Mr McGuinness, 39, is general manager of the Aberdeen Marriott Hotel, at Dyce, where room prices range from £64 to £224 a night. It has no availability left during OE 2013, which takes place at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre from September 3-6. Marriott’s new Courtyard Aberdeen Airport hotel, opening next month, is also fully booked for the event.
A check yesterday on a well-known booking website showed many accommodation providers in the area were similarly booked up during OE, with the remaining rooms ranging from £35 a night at Tarland to £390 at the three-star Britannia Hotel in the Bucksburn are of the city.
Britannia’s price, conditional on a four-night minimum booking, is more that double its rate for the previous week. A spokes-man for the Office of Fair Trading said the consumer protection body could only intervene on hotel prices if there were competition concerns, although it was investigating online booking systems.
Mr McGuinness has been general manager of the Aberdeen Marriott since 2009, having previously run the Granite City’s Copthorne Hotel. He has taken over as Acsha chairman from Stephen Gow, of the Thistle Aberdeen Altens.
The appointment comes as a string of new hotels are due to open in the area, including four near the airport – the Courtyard, a Premier Inn, an Ibis and a Novotel – and the £25million De Vere Village Urban Retreat Resort, at Kingswells.
In the city centre, £15million plans have been submitted to convert the former Bruce Millers premises in Union Street into an eight-storey hotel and the Station Hotel is poised for a £6.5million investment to become Aberdeen’s first Crowne Plaza.
Mr McGuinness said he welcomed the extra competition, which would help to ease the pressure on accommodation at peak periods and perhaps stop inflated prices.
- Many of London’s top hotels come in cheaper than the £390-a-night one property in Aberdeen is charging, with a four-night minimum stay, during Offshore Europe.
A quick check on the internet yesterday revealed a raft of five-star establishments charging less that week, including the Berkeley, InterContinental London Park Lane, Park Tower Knightsbridge, Threadneedles, St James’s Kensington, Cafe Royal, Dukes and Metropolitan.
There were many others. A stay at the Ritz is currently available at a mere £285 a night, about £100 less than the Britannia Hotel in Aberdeen is charging for the same date. Pay just £150 more than the Britannia and you can have a night at the famous Claridges hotel in Mayfair.
Alternatively, there are two-week self-catering and bed and breakfast packages to Ibiza or Tenerife available, with flights from Aberdeen, at less than £380 per person.
