Hotel chief slams royalties ruling

A RULING by the European Court of Justice requiring payment of royalties for the use of TV/radio broadcasts by guests in hotel bedrooms has been slammed by hoteliers.

A RULING by the European Court of Justice requiring payment of royalties for the use of TV/radio broadcasts by guests in hotel bedrooms has been slammed by hoteliers.
Lahinch hotelier Michael Vaughan is President of the Irish Hotels Federation and said there was amazement at the decision. “We’re more than shocked at the particular ruling because the hotel bedroom has always been considered a private space, for private hire by guests. Even when we go back as far as the smoking ban, the hotel bedroom was exempted at the time because of considerations for the privacy of guests.
“The broadcasters are already paying a hefty licence fee to broadcast, into what is essentially a private room. Nationally, it would mean about €3 million in extra charges that would be levied.”
He said the impact of the ruling on individual hotels would need to be worked out. “It would have to be negotiated. The whole case is being referred to the Commercial Court for arbitration. It will have to make its ruling and I’d assume that after that, some form of negotiation would have to occur. There would be a fee paid, for instance, to the Irish Musical Rights Organisation already, so I assume it would be similar to that.”
Mr Vaughan said hotels are under pressure as it is. “It’s certainly very unwelcome at a time when so many costs are being imposed. There really is no particular value to hotels; it’s just another tax. It’s something we’d be quite angry about, it’s not coming at a time that’s opportune and we believe there is no case to answer in relation to hotels.”
The federation’s chief executive, Tim Fenn, also criticised the finding. “It’s ridiculous to classify the use of a television or radio in a hotel bedroom as being a public performance and thereby subject to royalty payments. Hotel bedrooms are not public areas and should not be treated as such. Hotels have always considered guest bedrooms to be the private space of their guests and this should be the case in relation to this type of charge.”