Accommodations in Ireland

Your mistake was to buy a tour to English speaking 1st world countries outside of you home town USA; going forward get a travel guide book and organize your own trip online; this forum is geared toward answering questions from do it yourself low end budget to older financially comfortable retired travelers that need clarification or recommendations.
Given that you were a hotel profesional stick to the brands that you know you would like that are available overseas . Avoid booking tours from companies in the USA. Book tours locally through hotel brands that you know you like.

The end of the pandemic brought a surge in tourism in 2023. That drove up the numbers of tourists visiting Ireland which already was seeing huge international tourist numbers. Ireland is popular and it has been for several years now. If you visit Dublin, you’ll notice the city center around O’Connell Street for the most part has the same skyline it had decades ago. Despite the tech boom, housing construction has not kept up with the demand and the same is true of tourist accommodations. This is happening not just in Dublin, but in other cities throughout the country.
Increased demand with a lack of supply raises prices.
Moreover, most visitors want to visit (1) When they can get time off work or school and (2) when the weather is best. That makes June, July and August the most popular months for visitors. And that’s when your trip occurred.
I’m going to Dublin after New Year’s and the mid-range lodging I’ve stayed at in the past is only $75 per night in January. In August that same accommodation ranges between $288 and $426 per night.
If the accommodations you had on your two-week tour cost anything approaching that— adjusting for the hotel markets in the places you stayed at— I’ll bet the cost of the tour would easily be 50% to 100% more than what you paid.

The hotels on RS tours can range from "Not bad" to "very bad." And, unfortunately, you don't know most of your hotels until just before you leave.

In the future, look into Odysseys Unlimited. Same small group philosophy but much better hotels, bellman service, and more. You will know what hotels they use before you book the tour as they are listed on each tour's itinerary.

That is rather a daming statement about accommodation in Ireland. What was wrong with it and why did you feel it was 'really bad'?
Prices since Covid have gone up and being realistic they are unlikely to go down. As a hotel professional you must undertand how hotels need to make a profit to survive.

Maybe you need to lower your expectations. We use our lodging for sleeping, breakfast, showers, and that's all. Lounges or sitting in the room watching TV distract from seeing the local sights, having a pint or dram at a local pub, and finding good music. Travel is all about experiencing something you're not accustomed to.

If the bed is too lumpy or if the room is dirty, we just make a note not to come back, or at least inquire if there's a special circumstance that might explain it. We've never found a show stopper like bedbugs or mice, but we did once find there was someone else already in the room. We did find one "bleech" room, and the elderly owner's wife was in hospital and the husband was too disabled to scrub bathrooms. It didn't keep us from enjoying the area.

In addition to the points others have made, the Ukraine asylum problem has drained many places, and in places like Dublin, the ban on short-stay AirBnB type places caused a huge spike in tourist prices.

Kimberley, I want to be nice but not sure how to word this so it doesn’t sound mean.

First, I have never taken a tour (no interest in not choosing my own lodging and schedule). But I am sympathetic to your dissatisfaction. However, this forum is meant for being helpful and it would be helpful to describe what was terrible. Before I choose my own hotel, I read a lot of reviews and decide if the described pros and cons are relevant to me. Reviews that just say “it’s great” or “it’s awful”, I pass right by - that is meaningless for me. And we are all different, so sometimes what they like or dislike are just not important to me (but it was still helpful for them to have been descriptive).

You have just posted 2 reviews without any information. It makes it sound like you are suddenly venting, instead of passing on information to future travelers.

But yes, lodging prices all over Ireland are high. I spent a month there this year and was surprised at the increase over my last visit in 2019. I’m not sure what that does to a tour company. I guess it’s either stay at less fancy places or raise tour prices. But knowing in advance so I could make my own decision would be key for me.

Kimberley, there are some incredible hotels in Ireland.

On your next trip to Ireland, stay at Ashford Castle, Dromoland Castle, and Adare Manor. And, there is a lovely small inn in Kinsale (red front door) whose name I cannot recall right now. But, some lovely, lovely places!!

Two of the other B&Bs where we also personally stayed were rather modest in comparison (in Doolin and Tubbercury), but we chose to be budget and location friendly with some, allowing splurges with other days/nights.

Do your homework in advance. And, if a tour is "potluck" such that you do not know where you will be staying each night (to research in advance), maybe that tour choice may not be your best, if you want to make sure each night meets a certain level of expectation.

I've provided a response in the other related thread.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/mont-st-michel-over-night