Eurovision mega-fans are furious as Liverpool landlords have been cancelling their Airbnb amidst huge hikes in prices now that the city is confirmed as the singing event's host city for 2023.
The Mirror spoke to multiple fans who've been left livid and disappointed after having pre-emptively booked a stay, only to have it cancelled since the announcement.
One Continental pop enthusiast who's already booked her flights to the UK from Germany feels 'robbed' after her £52-a-night stay was cancelled moments after Liverpool was announced as the host city.
Another woman - who had flats booked in both Glasgow and Liverpool before the winner was chosen - was told her landlord would no longer be in the city next summer to host her, two hours after Liverpool was chosen.
A third Eurovision die-hard fan shelled out £3,200 to book a 16-bed place for an all-weekend pop bender, only to have it cancelled the next morning when the price was tripled to £9,600.
They're just three of many people desperate to enjoy the song contest in its full as it returns to the UK for the first time in 25 years, only for holiday let landlords to aggressively price them out of the market.
Screenshots of booking pages shared online show hotel rooms and holiday flats going for thirty times their usual rate.
Peter Holland booked a huge 16 bed apartment as soon as the announcement was made on Friday, immediately paying a 50% deposit of £1,608 to secure the property for two nights.
"The next morning we received an email from the host saying they had cancelled the booking with no explanation and that our deposit would be returned," the theatre director told the Mirror.
"The property was then relisted on Airbnb at an eyewatering £4,883 per night - totalling £9,765 for the two nights and coming in at £610 per person.
"The property is still listed at this price and available. Airbnb said they can't do anything about it, and the host despite confirming and providing the welcome details wont honour the booking."
Peter is launching a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Liverpool Playhouse on Tuesday evening, and has worked out he could put the whole cast and crew up in the same property for this entire week for £200 less than the Eurovision nights.
"It feels unfair that the host make up lies just to cancel your booking, instead of being honest about the situation," he said.
"I would have understood a certain increase, but the way it is going, everything is going a bit too easy - as in directly cancelling after the announcement just to make more money."
Rebecca L, from Utrecht, booked an Airbnb in Liverpool as soon as the city was announced as the host, only to quickly receive a message saying "this property was accidentally listed, we are not able to host you".
The host then asked her to cancel the booking, meaning they avoided paying cancellation fees while maximising their chances of a big payday by putting it back on the market.
"I felt robbed knowing that staying in Liverpool suddenly was impossible," Rebecca told The Mirror.
"From staying at a rate of €50 a night, to suddenly €5,000.
"And it went like this for every other booking. I had another booking where a host told me, that if she was able to host, she'd have to reset the price accordingly. Aka, she's all in for the price."
As she's already booked her flight, Rebecca is staying in Manchester, "because it is too expensive to book anything in Liverpool with hosts being unreliable and cancelling every time".
She added: "I understand that landlords want to make more money, but I feel like the price increase should be limited to a certain amount - 1,000% extra is ridiculous."
Rebecca will be joined in Manchester by Natalie S, who has her flights from Germany booked in and secured accommodation in both Glasgow and Liverpool for two weekends in May the day before the announcement - knowing the "prices would explode" the following day.
An hour after Liverpool was announced, the landlord message her saying: "Hi Natalie - my partner has clicked ‘accept’ on this but unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be around most of summer next year so I’ll be unable to host you I’m afraid if you could kindly cancel the reservation I’ll refund you in full."
Realising the host was trying to dodge a cancellation fee Rebecca didn't budge, prompting her reservation to be ditched later that evening.
"I’m sure the host was lying - I mean why would she realise her mistake just after the city announced, that would be a big coincidence," Natalie said.
"I was really shocked since I didn’t expect something like this to happen. Also after seeing the prices of other accommodations I was sure I wouldn’t be able to find a place to stay.
"You know I booked flights the second they announced the city being sure I had a place to stay and suddenly I had nothing.
"We found an Airbnb in Manchester now. Of course we would have preferred to stay in Liverpool but it was just impossible to find something affordable there. They surely don't have empathy."
Many other Airbnb guests are feeling similarly hard done by this weekend.
Connor J sent a message from his landlord saying they were "excited" about his stay, before explaining that the room was no longer available.
He claimed that the prices of the accommodation - which he booked back in May - had been increased from £200 to £20,000 for the weekend.
Joelle Watkins explained his prospective host had "luck finding something not too expensive" after cancelling the stay on Friday.
"I booked on Airbnb before the draw, taking a punt on Liverpool," he told The Mirror.
"Landlord didn’t even know when the Eurovision was and cancelled the booking so as to hike the price up… and didn’t let me rebook."
The accommodation problem extends well beyond Airbnb, with the city's hotels and rental apartments completely overwhelmed by the number of visitors.
Booking.com has said that 99% of its hotels were fully booked on 13 May, the night of the final.
Those looking for a place to stay in the city centre for two adults can choose the Aachen Hotel for £695, Eleanor Rigby apartments on Stanley Street for £4,500, or Sgt Peppers Mathew Street Apartments for £4,700 on the platform.
Harry Doyle, a Eurovision fan and Labour Councillor in Liverpool, has hinted that the council may be planning to roll out alternative accommodation on the weekend.
"Be patient with hotel bookings," he tweeted.
"I’m disappointed with some accommodation providers who have hiked prices. That’s normal apparently after the initial announcement.
"We had planned for this and are looking at alternative arrangements including a cruise ship and camp sites."
Director for Marketing Liverpool, Chris Brown, said: “We are disappointed in the minority of hoteliers and accommodation owners who are trying to profit from Liverpool’s Eurovision win which is not in the spirit or ethos of the event.
"However, this is something we did predict, as it happens in cities across the world when major events take place.
“We do have a plan which was part of our bid to ensure we can open up a range of accommodation options for people wanting to come to Liverpool for Eurovision, which will embrace the wider city region as well as Manchester and Cheshire.
“We are going to spend the next few weeks finalising details and working with a wide range of potential providers and will announce more in the near future.”
The owner of the property Peter had booked told The Mirror: "The reason for cancellation was that the guest had an average 1* rating from all of his previous reservations. You can see that we operate 3 houses on Airbnb and our other bookings have been honoured.
"It was also cancelled within 24 hours of his booking."
An Airbnb spokesperson said: “These listings are not booked and are not representative of prices on Airbnb.
"The average price per night of booked accommodation on Airbnb during Eurovision is around £230 and helps local families boost their earnings and benefit from visitors to Liverpool.”
