Almost one in ten hotel rooms in the country are being leased to the government.
It comes as the State has put out a request to hotels for more rooms to cope with a recent influx of refugees.
The Department of Children, Equality and Integration has said there is an immediate need to source accommodation for daily arrivals.
Tim Fenn, CEO of the Irish Hotels Federation, says many hotel rooms are already occupied with refugees:
"Indications are that 15% of the room stock in Dublin is contracted to the government for various activities, and around the country it may be about 8%."
