Tall Ships rip Off Warning!

EoinHeffernan

im actually totally baffled here. There is a top international event taking place here and yet all that some people do is whinge and moan about food stalls et al. keep in mind all the FREE entertainment being provided over the weekend to the general public and yet ye wonder why prices may be slightly more than normal? Surely a simple economics class should teach the detractors why. Although im not in waterford at the moment i will b back for the festival and unlike some here i will be there to enjoy it.

Dreams aloud

I this some of the negativity on here is typically Irish, not just typically Waterford.

Something good happens i.e. Tall Ships Festival, straight away there are people who want to find some aspect of it to moan about. Prices are generally extortionate for food/drinks at these kind of events worldwide, i think people expect it (Would be nice to be otherwise but...). However, the hotel rates are ridiculous, obviously they want to make money but they're taking too much. Perhaps they should be glad that they'll be full & have extra people around the city that may choose to eat & drink in their bars & restaurants.

Finally,any Waterford person who is concerned with the price of a burger should have their dinner before they go & as a previous poster mentioned, the fast food chains prices will surely be the same as ever so people - both locals & visitors have plenty of options, they're not in the middle of a field like at Oxegan.

This is a special event that will stay in the memories of children & even adults for years to come..so some more positivity people please!

dayshah

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I hate that fcuking smiley. The height of smarm.

:rolleyes:

shaunandelly

Gougers do what gougers do. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.If traders and Councils want to live by the law of Supply and demand then they know what to expect when it goes quiet.

200motels

All events held anywhere in the world always up there prices, as for prices for a stall I think it's an OK price, it's a huge event and we should all welcome the tourists with open arms, yes people are going to make a few bob out of it, fair play to them, I for one hope it's a huge success and if we get a fraction of the people back it will have been well worth putting on.

Asmodean

Lads just cop on and embrace the event for god sake! The same people moaning are the ones who will turn around then and bitch about waterford being dead and blahdiblah!
Dont be so stupid either to think of this price racketing as a 'greedy waterford attitude' etc etc. It happens everywhere! Its the price to pay for the city pretty much being of national/international significance for that weekend.
Every year for race week in galway, or when the volvo ocean race visited there were about 4 threads a week on this exact same type of situation regarding local businesses. If its too dear for you just go enjoy all the other free entertainment youll get that weekend.

Joey leBlanc

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I hate that fcuking smiley. The height of smarm.

You seem to hate a lot things sonny! Why don't you continue to wade through the misery while the rest of us try to enjoy an international festival on our doorsteps. Life is as dull or exciting as you make it. Judging by your comments you are as unwelcome as a dark rain cloud on a scorching summers afternoon. Lock yourself away for the weekend in question. The rest of us will be down town having a whale of a time.

scout353

At €10 per burger, supply and demand will dictate that the number of burgers sold will be significantly lower than if the price was €5 or €6! The Tall ships was a huge success last time it was here but there are a few caveats........

The last Tall Ships came here in the height of the boom!

I was involved in fundraising for a charity and the town was drained of cash during that time. I remember being involved in a golf classic where the price was €250 per team which was the standard at the time. The Tall Ships golf classic was €1500 per team and the organisers squeezed all their mates to enter a team in that. I was talking to a business man who said he couldn't enter a team in our event cos he had used up his charity budget in that one event! He could have entered and supported six local causes for the price of one event!

I'm not knocking the event but a lot of the figures about spend and economic impact are always inflated anyway and in reality what is the legacy? Doesn't Sproai do the same thing for a fraction of the price!

merlante

Dreams aloud wrote: »

I this some of the negativity on here is typically Irish, not just typically Waterford.

Something good happens i.e. Tall Ships Festival, straight away there are people who want to find some aspect of it to moan about. Prices are generally extortionate for food/drinks at these kind of events worldwide, i think people expect it (Would be nice to be otherwise but...). However, the hotel rates are ridiculous, obviously they want to make money but they're taking too much. Perhaps they should be glad that they'll be full & have extra people around the city that may choose to eat & drink in their bars & restaurants.

Finally,any Waterford person who is concerned with the price of a burger should have their dinner before they go & as a previous poster mentioned, the fast food chains prices will surely be the same as ever so people - both locals & visitors have plenty of options, they're not in the middle of a field like at Oxegan.

This is a special event that will stay in the memories of children & even adults for years to come..so some more positivity people please!

I don't have any problem with people being negative where being negative is warranted, but the sort of all-pervading negativity in Waterford is just unreal. You take a thing like the Tall Ships, which is an overwhelmingly good thing and we have a big thread about rip offs, and somebody saying I hope it never comes back, etc. Waterford, on paper, has one of the highest qualities of life of any city anywhere in Europe. But Waterford people just cannot allow themselves to be happy. This is blindingly obvious to people outside the city.

Phrases like 'I hope it fails...' or 'I hope it never comes back...', etc. are phrases that would be completely inexplicable to anyone outside Waterford. The 'logic' goes something along the lines of 'there are people I hate doing things at a hugely positive event that they should be hated for and even though it would hurt me and the whole community to see the event be a failure, it would be worth it to see those people get what's coming to them'. There's a phrase for it, 'cutting your nose to spite your face'.

I don't have a problem with a thread about the pricing of stalls for the Tall Ships. I also don't have a problem with people complaining and commenting negatively about those prices and giving their opinions, but the level of bitterness towards the organisers and scorn poured over the whole event because of it is completely OTT in my opinion. Real bitterness towards an event that will be absolutely fantastic for Waterford.

calvin_zola

We're not exclusively guilty of ripping people off, go to any major event at festivals, croke park, thurles, lansdowne road around the country or UK and the same prices are being charge

Our hotels are some of the cheapest around it was said in recent weeks http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0321/1224292708101.html proving we are not a rip off city, they have a price ceiling they can't break but business sense dictates that they charge high prices now and review the price closer to the event if they aren't meeting their target, then they may reduce the price to suit more frugal tourists.....
I just checked a hotel price checker website(hotelclub.ie) and for the weekend the 6 main hotels in the city center average 93 euro per night for a single and 130 for a double((65 pp)(breakfast included in some places like the Marina))...... So i personally don't see these prices as extortionate....also some of the hotels like the Ramada, Manor Hotel and the Fitzwilton are already sold out so this proves that people are deciding to purchase....And the inner city hotels are usually more expensive in any City


We don't get too many major events in the south east so I have no problem with the pricing. What happens when demand exceeds supply ; prices will go up....Any other major music, sporting event in Ireland is expensive to go to,so we aren't the only ones guilty of making hay while the sun shines....People aren't stupid, they aren't coming to the tall ships thinking their will be cheap auxiliary services, but it is a cheap event as it is free so there is a trade off there.......
I know from my own experiences in life that if I go to a football match in old trafford or anfield that I will be expected to pay an inflated airline fare and inflated hotel cost for them weekends, when the teams are playing an away game the flights hotels in them cities come down....also if I go to a GAA match and want to enjoy the day and get fed and a few pints I won't have much change out of 140€ and that dosen't include a hotel if it was a big game in Dublin..


I myself don't agree with how the city/county is run sometimes, but I have to back them 100% here, the last tall ships was a success and we will now build on that with this one and if exploiting an influx of bodies into the city provides a little boom in the city I have no issues with it.

Tangled

Going back to the original point, as someone who has organised stalls for many different types of events €1800 +VAT seems quite reasonable, considering the numbers attending, promotion and prominence of the festival etc. I know of an event in Dublin who are currently looking for stallholders to sign up at a cost of €3,000 +VAT, plus a percentage of takings would have to be handed over, and obviously nothing like those numbers will be attending.

Fair play to Waterford for organising such an event, wasn't around for the last one but heard so much about it and really looking forward to seeing it this summer.

Speak Now

Surely this €1800 plus vat doesn't apply to regular city traders?
Is it just for those looking to make hay while the sun shines?
What i mean is surely those stalls you see in red square on any Saturday wont be charged as much

rayc

calvin_zola wrote: »

We're not exclusively guilty of ripping people off, go to any major event at festivals, croke park, thurles, lansdowne road around the country or UK and the same prices are being charge

I think some of the people moaning about the cost of hotels for the Tall Ships must never have left their bedrooms to attend any big event. Was at the Heineken Cup in Cardiff a few years ago and the cheapest hotel to be found was over €300 for a night and it was out near the airport. Do I now hold a begrudging opinion that Cardiff is a rip-off city to which I'll never return?

No, because I'm not an idiot.

calvin_zola

rayc wrote: »

I think some of the people moaning about the cost of hotels for the Tall Ships must never have left their bedrooms to attend any big event. Was at the Heineken Cup in Cardiff a few years ago and the cheapest hotel to be found was over €300 for a night and it was out near the airport. Do I now hold a begrudging opinion that Cardiff is a rip-off city to which I'll never return?

No, because I'm not an idiot.

Too right boy, and something else that you know is that Cardiff is a good enough spot for nightlife etc.... might you consider a repeat visit back there in years to come? Maybe..... So hopefullly there may be this kinda effect on our city aswell.......if the tourists like city, surrounding area they may consider coming back on a normal weekend in the future for the Tramore races, Spraoi or for a golfing trip etc etc

fricatus

kkdela6 wrote: »

the tall ships event is a much bigger event then oxegen and electric picnic put together therefore stands can be expected to be sky high, but i dont think paying 6 euro for a burger is going to make people say' jesus im never visiting waterford again, sure i can get a burger for 4 euro in dublin'. Cop on folks and be proud of our county! Spread the good word! Music Fest, Tall Ships, Spraoi, Food Festivals, Bluegrass Festival among so many others. Waterford has so much to offer, and i for one a damn proud to be from here!

Sums up my feelings...

abouttobebanned

Gotta love people who don't have the balls to speak their mind, even if it's not going to be a popular opinion. It's easy to come on here and say things like "Come on guys...down with all this negativity, let's get behind waterford...don't stop believing blah blah blah"

I'd nearly bet my life on the fact that I've done more for this city than all the people that are making me a convenient scapegoat here. So, I'm not a fan of hotels and bars ripping off people when the tall ships comes to town...that makes me a negative person does it? Bands who are ringing me, day in and day out looking for gigs suddenly want more just cause the tall ships are in town? Me thinking that's a bad thing makes me a negative person? I said that I didn't think this music festival was going to work but still got behind the people who were running it.

Positivity is great, but realism is also quite useful.

dayshah

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Positivity is great, but realism is also quite useful.

Well its not very realistic to say the last Tall Ships was no more an event than a sunny day in the park.

abouttobebanned

Aye, if I recall I was a bit drunk when I posted that. Lesson learned. Never post when there are perfect people watching.

MitchKoobski

Lads....its simple....


Make the burgers and the rolls and home, and bring em into town with ye.

Deisekickboxing

Lol
Wlr news today, park n ride. Planning at advanced stage for the expected 80000
Visitors to the tallshipps
Where did this 500k figure come from

dayshah

Deisekickboxing wrote: »

Lol
Wlr news today, park n ride. Planning at advanced stage for the expected 80000
Visitors to the tallshipps
Where did this 500k figure come from

I've seen figures of between 250,000 and 400,000 for the last one.

I assume that's park n ride for 80,000 people rather than cars. Lots of visitors won't be using park n ride. That's just for day visitors. So there are people staying in hotels who can probably park close to their hotel (do Waterford hotels have car parks?), people who will stay at friends/relatives. People who will use public transport.

Plus its 500,000 over 3 or 4 days. 80,000x3=240,000

Deisekickboxing

NO IT WAS 80000 in total
The town couldn't ho,ld more than 20 k a day without health & safty risks

Daysha

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I'd nearly bet my life on the fact that I've done more for this city than all the people that are making me a convenient scapegoat here. So, I'm not a fan of hotels and bars ripping off people when the tall ships comes to town...that makes me a negative person does it? Bands who are ringing me, day in and day out looking for gigs suddenly want more just cause the tall ships are in town? Me thinking that's a bad thing makes me a negative person? I said that I didn't think this music festival was going to work but still got behind the people who were running it.

Oh give over with the whole 'holier than thou' attitude. I don't know what your job is and I bet a lot of other people here don't either. All me or anybody else here can do is read what we see, and when you say things like you have done about the biggest event this city has ever seen you're going to get a reaction, drink or no drink.

But sure what do we know? We're just 'perfect people'.

dayshah

Deisekickboxing wrote: »

NO IT WAS 80000 in total
The town couldn't ho,ld more than 20 k a day without health & safty risks

Well, over 250,000 went last time and I think there has been a bigger advertising campaign this year. So I think 500,000 is optimistic but reasonable.

It all depends on the weather.

abouttobebanned

Daysha wrote: »

Oh give over with the whole 'holier than thou' attitude. I don't know what your job is and I bet a lot of other people here don't either. All me or anybody else here can do is read what we see, and when you say things like you have done about the biggest event this city has ever seen you're going to get a reaction, drink or no drink.

But sure what do we know? We're just 'perfect people'.

Holier than thou? Really?

Surely I'm allowed to have an opinion, drink or no drink. Why should you be so bothered if I don't think a whole lot of the tall ships festival?

Hoffmans

Paying the council bigwigs 2000 odd for what???

Cutting trees, american junkets, all day photoshoots on the plaza, crazy tinkering with roads round town....etc

No thanks keep yer 2000 grand in yer pockets....

merlante

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Gotta love people who don't have the balls to speak their mind, even if it's not going to be a popular opinion. It's easy to come on here and say things like "Come on guys...down with all this negativity, let's get behind waterford...don't stop believing blah blah blah"

I'd nearly bet my life on the fact that I've done more for this city than all the people that are making me a convenient scapegoat here. So, I'm not a fan of hotels and bars ripping off people when the tall ships comes to town...that makes me a negative person does it? Bands who are ringing me, day in and day out looking for gigs suddenly want more just cause the tall ships are in town? Me thinking that's a bad thing makes me a negative person? I said that I didn't think this music festival was going to work but still got behind the people who were running it.

Positivity is great, but realism is also quite useful.

I think people should speak their minds, but sometimes the negativity goes OTT here imho. People saying things like 'I hope it fails..', etc. is too far.

calvin_zola

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Gotta love people who don't have the balls to speak their mind, even if it's not going to be a popular opinion. It's easy to come on here and say things like "Come on guys...down with all this negativity, let's get behind waterford...don't stop believing blah blah blah"

I can't see why people would be negative about this event..... there is so much to be positive about when it comes to the tall ships.

abouttobebanned

calvin_zola wrote: »

I can't see why people would be negative about this event..... there is so much to be positive about when it comes to the tall ships.

It's just about the rising prices.

calvin_zola

abouttobebanned wrote: »

It's just about the rising prices.

its business sense imo