How You May Advertise Your Nightly Rate: Irish Price Display, Hidden Fees and Discount Claims for Holiday-Let Owners

What the guest must be told before agreeing, not afterwards

In distance selling, which an online listing or telephone booking is, the CCPC adds your email address and online contact channels, payment and performance details, delivery arrangements, cancellation terms for contracts without a fixed length or that auto-renew, deposit conditions where applicable, and whether your pricing is based on consumer profiling or online behaviour. The CCPC also states that for online, mail order or telephone sales, prices must be shown near the product description, and that additional charges must be disclosed before purchase.

Six things to settle before your next rate change

• Price the stay, not the room. Build every unavoidable charge into one total for the dates chosen, shown before the guest commits.
• Name every genuine extra. Cot hire, late checkout, pet fees and firewood should appear with prices, never be discovered on arrival.
• Be able to defend your lowest figure. Keep a note of the dates on which the rate you advertise is actually bookable.
• Record your own prices daily. A dated log of your rates is what lets you establish a prior price before announcing any reduction.
• Keep one total across channels. Your own site, each platform and your emailed quotes should agree to the cent.