So much for the land of a thousand welcomes… 

We’ve all been there, inviting a random Italian you met while in France to come stay in Ireland with you (“It’s BEAUTIFUL, you’ll love it!), or connecting with a long-lost American third cousin by chance on social media and telling them they really must come and see the home country their great-grandfather left.

The thing is, we don’t mean it. The Irish are a great nation for the half-hearted offed, but so many other nationalities don’t really pick up on that, and said half-hearted offers are accepted readily and with joy.

It seems we’re finally ready to ‘fess up though, as new research on our attitudes to guests has revealed that almost half of Irish people polled (48%) said they find it stressful having friends or family to stay, and 41% admitted they would prefer if guests stayed in a hotel or B&B. 

According to the Hotels.com survey, cleaning the house from top to bottom, putting clutter up to the attic and buying in special food and drink are just some of the things that stressed out hosts do to prepare for visitors, while almost half (49%) say they feel obliged to organise activities to keep their guests amused.

When asked whether they would consider asking their guests to stay in a hotel, an overwhelming 83% say they wouldn’t, with 44% claiming they wouldn’t want to appear rude and almost 1 in 4 (24%) saying ‘it’s just not the ‘done thing’ in Ireland to ask people to stay elsewhere.

It seems we are all too polite for our own good with over half of those questioned (55%) saying they find it stressful staying over in a friend or family members house and over a third (38%) stay out of politeness and would much rather stay in a hotel or B&B. However, just over 1 in 4 (27%) admit to staying over at someone’s house so they don’t have to pay for accommodation.

The survey also reveals that almost all of us (97%) feel obliged to follow house rules when staying in someone else’s house and are unlikely to laze around in our pyjamas or leave the bed unmade as a houseguest.  When asked how long a guest should stay, both parties were in agreement that between two and three days is the maximum anyone should stay.