Archive for the ‘Neds View’ Category
Property Management Companies A Good Job?
07.03.2009
I know this topic is well away from the world of Hotels in Ireland, but it is a topic that I have lately begun to have direct experience with. I recently bought and moved into an apartment I recently came across the world of management companies and the annual management fees that you have to pay each year in order to maintain the upkeep of your development and protect the investment that you have made in your property.
The question Ihave is do management companies do a good job? I suppose the question what does a management company do firstly needs to be answered? As far as I can make out a management company is formed for every new apartment development and they engage a property management agent to undertake the work that is required to maintain the building.
What work does this entail? As far as I am aware the property management agent duties can range from management of waste removal, to the up keep of common areas, upkeep of the grounds, collection of the managment company service charge, dealing with residents queries, resolving any problems that residents may have. They also look after the management of energy and insurance cost of the development.
The next questions is do the property management companies carry out a good Job?
I suppose in many ways residents are unaware of the work that goes on, this is mainly due to the fact that the majority of work is carried out when most of the residents are at work so the never see it going on. They just see the results such as the well maintained common areas, landscape and their rubbish has been taken away!
I know that there has been mixed reviews about the management companies and property management agents however In the development I live in I have to complement the property management agents they seem to have a good presence and all of the necessary work appears to be carried out!
Maybe I am a lucky one?
Ned
Holidays In Ireland Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
10.07.2008
Holidays In Ireland Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
As Dublin Airport is having major Radar problems it might be a good time to discuss holidaying at home v abroad. I have just returned from a wedding in Florence Italy. As I reckon I am internet savvy I booked Ryanair Cork/Stansted Stansted/Rome. The Cork to London leg went ok but due to technical reasons (I have never heard a Hotel say technical reasons) I spent 2 hours on the tarmac in London.
When I got to what Ryanair says is a Rome Airport the next bus into Rome was not for over another hour & half and because I needed to make train for Florence & because I was wrecked I got a taxi. That was another €60 onto my travel bill. The train from Rome to Florence was €72 for a 100 minute journey. What point am I trying to make?
Travelling was not a straight forward as maybe I thought and Ireland is not the only expensive place out there. I have been lucky to work with many nationality’s and one thing I hear all the time is how expensive Ireland is and I agree with this but anytime I go abroad I cannot seem to find the promised land of cheap prices & certainly Italy is not one of them.
The good points of my trip. The weather was great. Florence is a beautiful & the Wedding was the best I have had the pleasure on been at
Ned
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
R Is Not A Word It Is A Letter!
27.06.2008
R is not a word it is a letter
We are all hearing the R word in the last few days. What is the R word Recession? .
Let us call it what it really is. Recession
It is time to tell you more about me,
I was born in 1962 in Ireland. As I went through my life the 1960s I was told things where better in the 1960s then the 1950s. Then I was told things here better in the 1970s then the 1960. Looking back this was true. We took our 1st holiday (in a caravan) and loved it.
Which brings me to the dreaded 1980s?
What is it about the 1980s that scares people. I WAS THERE. It is not as simple to say world conditions were tough. The U.S boomed under Reagan economics & so did the U.K (some parts) Ireland was tough. By the way I was part of the 20% unemployed & I emigrated but don’t forget. 80% of people worked. People tried to start businesses but never got the chance or the capital. A lot of these people went abroad or gave up.
What is different now?
We now have 2 decades of success behind us; & we have a can do sprit that that is not going to go away overnight,
By the way the 1980s were not all that bad. Ask your BOSS
Pat
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
Family Break Sticky Situation?
26.06.2008
Family Break Sticky Situation?
We all know how stressful planning our Family break away can be. Have there been times when you have chosen the wrong location, Hotel, or mode of transport and this has affected you Family Holiday. Don’t worry help is at hand. www.stickyfingerstravel.com is a new and exciting new Irish company dedicated to providing information to parents who wish to travel with their children. They are a company run by parents and all travel is researched by parents for parents. They provide independent and unbiased advice on family friendly holidays and accommodation, activities with children and things to do and see so that you can plan the perfect family holiday.
The site is a treasure of great information that will make your family holiday less a stress & more a well deserved & fun break. I love where Parents swap their advice on the forums. As the website says it is for parents run by parents. Check it out.
Ned
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
Irish Hotel Booking Trends 2007 - Who is Having Fun?
11.06.2008
The numbers are out for 2007 are it is time to see who is having the most fun.
To start with we made trips 7.9 million domestically last year and spent €1.55 billion in 2007. That is a lot of trips for a small country
Last year, Irish people spent almost one fifth more on travel than in ’06.
Older, Wiser & Living it up??
Astonishingly, the over 50’s took 46% more trips in 2007 compared to 2006. In fact, the number of domestic trips taken by the over 50’s has more than doubled over the past 4 years, growing by almost 2 million. Today the over 50’s account for over half of all domestic trips (55%), compared to just 32% three years ago.
The web has grown in importance and currently accounts for 37% of all pre booked domestic trips. With websites such as www.hotelsinone.ie giving such great offers no wonder?
Will this continue in 2008?
If bookings on www.hotelsinone.ie are any indication yes but then we have some amazing offers. Is it just us???
Ned
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
For Further Information on these figures please visit www.itic.ie
Irish Hotel Break Have You Had The Book Out Blues?
28.05.2008
Ok its time to get into the real secrets of how hotels work. In my experience hoteliers are among the most professional & hardworking of all occupations. It is a tough job dealing with the public all day and can be a very high pressured job but certain things can happen to make this even more pressurised.
Hotel Book Outs What Is It?
Basically it happens when a hotel sells more rooms then it has available. Why do they do this? Like the airlines, hotels will have a certain amount of cancellations each day.
Say for example I am a Dublin City Hotel. I have 100 rooms. Demand is good so I have no problem filling my hotel. The problem is I know from experience that on average 10% will cancel. Some will cancel too late for me to re sell my rooms. With this in mind I decide to sell 110 rooms for this busy day. Is this reckless? Not really I am going on facts and if I don’t do this and 10 rooms cancel and I have 10 empty rooms left for a day I should be full then I am in trouble with the boss.
97% of the time all works out ok and everyone is happy. I overbook 10 rooms and 10 rooms cancel. Yippy.
What if only 7 rooms cancel? Ok I am less 3 rooms than I need, 3 of these guests will have to be booked out to another hotel. How do I decide which 3? It usually comes down to first come first served I am praying that 3 of these 7 people won’t turn up so I give the 4 available rooms to the first 4 guests and sweat it out then. These 3 turn up I have to book them out to another hotel.
How Do You Avoid The Book Out Blues?
If you know it is a very busy day (maybe a concert on in Dublin) give the Hotel a call the day before saying what time you will arrive. This lets the Hotel know you will be 100% turning up.
Arrive as early as possible and check in. The problems will occur for later guests.
Sometimes it is whoever shouts loudest will get accommodated but if the Hotel has no room when you arrive this will not help. They are not going to kick someone out for you!! No matter how loud you shout!
If you are booked out to another Hotel you are entitled to a similar quality Hotel and the taxi fare. Hope this helps? Oh If you need to book a hotel room why not visit www.hotelsinone.ie
Ned
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
Taxing Question for Irish Hotel Bookers?
27.05.2008
Taxing question for Irish Hotel bookers.
Today I would like to pose the question would Irish people prefer Irish Hotels to charge as the low cost Airlines do? Last week I booked 2 flights on Ryanair. 1 from Cork to London and the 2nd leg London to Rome. The prices looked good so here is what happened.
Cork to London.
Total price of the return airfare €27.98. Great. Mmmmmm. Taxes, Luggage & Credit Card charges brought the total to €122.70.
London to Rome.
Total price of return flight €82.98. , Luggage & Credit Card charges brought the total to €153.96.
Total cost of both return flights €110.96. Total charges €276.66.
Maybe I am old fashion but I like to see the price up front and not to spend an hour trying to work it out. Maybe you think different? Would you like to pay to bring your suitcase into your hotel room?
Not me. On www.hotelsinone.ie the price you see is the price you pay. Oh ya you can bring your luggage for FREE
Ned
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
Hotel in Ireland What is A Fair Price?
22.05.2008
Ok I would like to ask the Irish Public what you think a fair price for a Hotel night is and I mean a fair price. Lets say based on a 3 Star Hotel. As everyone here at www.hotelsinone.ie formally worked in Hotels in Ireland there are a few things you should know about hotel prices, before you let us know what you think.
When a Hotel offers a rate there number of costs that have to be removed from this before any profit is made.
- Hotels must pay VAT of 13.5% on what you pay them.
- If the price includes breakfast then there is a cost involved in the food, here is some food for thought food is a loss maker for most hotels.
- There is a cost in cleaning your room & energy prices are gone crazy, as we all know when we fill up of our cars. There is the staff wage cost. Just think of all those staff in the restaurant running the loss making food service??
Why am I saying all the above? I would like people to be realistic and realise that there are a lot of cost involved that a hotel has to take out before any profit is made. If a hotel offers a rate for €49 then give us your reasons and how you think a Hotel cannot lose on this?
We know at www.hotelsinone.ie there is always a great hotel deal to be found in Ireland. This is especially so with the current slowdown. Today I saw on www.hotelsinone.ie the Rock Glen Hotel in Clifden Galway have setup a special 5 Nights B&B and Dinner each night for €350 per person Sun/Thur.
Looks good to me? I am sure you will tell us what looks good to you.
Ned
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
Hotelsinone.ie Offers Bertie Ahern A Break!
02.04.2008
“Bertie - We’ll Give You A Break!”
Hotelsinone offers Taoiseach a “Dig Out” as he prepares for extended holiday in May
As the Taoiseach prepares for an extended holiday from 9th May following the announcement of his resignation this morning, Ned - the face of www.hotelsinone.ie – has denied his appearance at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday was the catalyst behind the Taoiseach’s shock announcement today and, as a sign of good will, offered Bertie an extended hotel break with Hotelsinone.
An Taoiseach looked the April Fool yesterday as Ned – full name ‘Ned Needabed’ – arrived at Dublin Castle as the Mahon Tribunal reconvened to offer “the very thing for the Taoiseach and any close personal friends who may need to lie low for a while”. Ned offered a “one-stop-shop” solution to several current controversies, from avoiding the glare of the media to storing sterling lodgements and a thrifty alternative to housing Celia Larkin’s aunts. He even asked Bertie to poke him on his Facebook page!
Carrying a large sign that read “Hey Bertie, We’ll give you a break! P.S Our prices are in Euro, not Sterling”, Ned made a personal visit to Dublin Castle to mark the launch of Ireland’s newest hotel reservation site, www.hotelsinone.ie. According to Ned, the 120 hotels on hotelsinone provide “a safe haven to anyone who needs to keep the head down after Tribunal disclosures or a value-for-money pampering break for an elderly aunt - saving you, in some cases, up to £30,000!”. Hotelsinone, he added, offers “an oasis of calm where it may be possible to recall the tiniest minutiae regarding sterling lodgements to bank accounts”.
Leaving the Mahon Tribunal – where he was refused entry – Ned said that, at a time when there are accusations of low standards in high places, Hotelsinone guaranteed high standards in all of its locations, quipping “Once you book into a hotelsinone member hotel, you’ll never say, “I just want to go home”.
Now on the day the Taoiseach has announced his resignation, Ned has denied that his dramatic appearance forced the Taoiseach to bring forward his departure date and offered Bertie a complimentary break after 6th May saying ‘Bertie, we’ll give you a bed. Just talk to Ned”.
According to Ned, Hotelsinone is a favourite with Manchester businessmen as its “spacious rooms have wardrobes large enough to accommodate the biggest suitcases of sterling notes and bedside lockers to store pouches of cash.” He conceded, however, that the website’s online booking facility did not deal in cash lodgements and took bookings in euros only, not sterling.
If you want to get your own break! check out www.hotelsinone.ie.
Ned
Remember When You Need A Bed Talk To Ned!
Are you really getting 50% OFF?????
22.02.2008
One question I get quite a lot from my Ned Friends (of which there are to many to name) is that some internet sites say you are getting a massive discount by booking with them. Is this really so??Hmmm
Here is the Inside Track on this.
Hotels have 2 main prices.The RACK rate. This is the highest price a Hotel can sell. It is very rarely sold and you might see it is during very busy times such as maybe the Ryder Cup. The Hotel SELLING price. This is the price a Hotel decides to sell on any give date. It could be €100 it could be €150.Say for example it was €150 & you are told you are getting a 50% discount. This means the Hotels RACK price is €300. Ok so the RACK price is €300 & the price you have just paid is €150. Is this a 50% discount?? These booking sites calculate all discounts off the RACK price.Am I getting a real 50% discount? Now Ned comes across the good people of
As Ned is always saying there is always a deal going on for Irish Hotels. Currently Irish Hotels are great value & provide great service & facilities. Hotelsinone will always be working with our Hotel Partners to bring you the best REAL discounts to you.
Now its is 1010pm and Ned has missed the first 40 minutes of the Late Late so it is time to put the feet (yes I do have feet) up for the night but don’t worry I am always on the look out for your comments.