The head of the Irish Hotels Federation has defended supply and demand around the upcoming St Patrick's Day holiday.
It comes as many city hotels are accused of charging high prices for their limited availability.
A two-night stay at Jurys Inn in Dublin's Christchurch - from March 17th to 19th - would cost €1,080 according to calculations from the Irish Independent.
While the same stay at a Jurys Inn in Belfast is priced at €453.
Tim Fenn is chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF).
He told The Pat Kenny Show there is still good value out there.
"What we see at the moment is strong demand for popular tourism destinations and hotels that are offering packages and facilities for families.
"We always suggest that people book early, shop around and see what's available".
He denies that hotels can charge what they like.
"You can't charge any more than your registered rate with Fáilte Ireland - but after that then what happens is it's supply and demand, and people yield, and it goes up and down according to demand.
"But what I think one has to be mindful of the fact is that the hesitation that people are having now is about the last maybe 10% or 20% of the room stock, and these are the last available rates.
"But notwithstanding that, there's still good value out there if people are willing to shop around."
He says people should always approach the hotel directly themselves.
"Go to the hotel's own website, or even ring them, because you might find that the package you're looking for is available.
"Whereas sometimes the online travel agents have used up their allocations, and they may not be showing the prices that are available".
On suggestions that hotels may be trying to make up for ground lost during the pandemic, Mr Fenn says: "We're a trade association, we're precluded in law from making a message to the market on anything to do with pricing.
"What I'm trying to describe here to you today is that fact that there is value out there - and sometimes when we get close to a big event, you might find that some of the rooms that are being quoted are suites or maybe high-end rooms".
