Hundreds of Liverpool hotels have sold out after the city was announced as the host of Eurovision 2023, with remaining accommodation being advertised for thousands of pounds a night.
On Saturday morning, less than 12 hours after the decision was revealed, the UK’s biggest hotel-booking websites were almost entirely out of places to stay.
Booking.com said that 99% of hotels were fully booked on 13 May, the night of the final but presented three results in the city centre for those seeking accommodation for two adults: the Aachen Hotel for £695, Eleanor Rigby apartments on Stanley Street for £4,500 or Sgt Peppers Mathew Street Apartments for £4,700.
Fans willing to stay slightly further out have the choice of paying £2,750 for a “budget triple room” at the Kensington Guest House, Liverpool. To stay in a comparable room this weekend would cost £35, according to Booking.com.
On Airbnb, meanwhile, one optimistic local is offering his home for £15,000 on the night of the final – or £17,600 including cleaning and service fees. The listing says it sleeps up to 10 people and offers amenities including a hairdryer, shampoo, shower gel, bed sheets, toilet paper and extra pillows.
Another property, described as a “Modern and Stylish 3 Bedroom House in Anfield”, was yesterday being advertised on Airbnb for £11,733, including free parking.
All of the sites had accommodation available on the night of the final for under £100 in Manchester and Southport, both of which are around an hour away from Liverpool on public transport.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will be held at the Liverpool Arena on Saturday, 13 May, with the semi-finals and other events taking place at the same venue earlier in the week.
The news that Liverpool had beaten Glasgow to host the competition was broken on the BBC’s One Show on Friday night by Graham Norton. Twenty UK cities had originally put themselves forward as hosts before the entrants were whittled down to the final two by the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union, which organises the contest.
Eurovision is usually hosted in the country of the previous year’s winner, but the 2022 winner, Ukraine, was unable to accept the offer due to the ongoing war.
The UK was chosen instead because Sam Ryder was runner up with his song Space Man.
The event is expected to give a significant boost to Liverpool’s economy, with director of culture Claire McColgan saying that a predicted impact of £30m was an underestimate for the city, where tourism makes up 47% of the economy. She said things had been “quite bleak” for many small businesses but that the knowledge that Liverpool will be “packed out probably for a month either side of Eurovision” was a “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Bill Addy, chief executive of Liverpool Business Improvement District company, told the PA News Agency that many in the city were waking up with hangovers on Saturday after celebrating the news. “This is such a significant boost, not just the city centre but the whole region,” he said.
The contest will be paid for by a combination of local and national government funding, as well as by broadcasters. More than 160 million people are expected to watch it on TV.
