{"id":324843,"date":"2025-08-07T09:39:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T09:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/324843\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T09:39:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T09:39:26","slug":"oasis-and-edinburgh-fringe-festival-clash-sees-outrageous-price-hikes-for-hotels-and-accommodation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/324843\/","title":{"rendered":"Oasis and Edinburgh Fringe festival clash sees \u2018outrageous\u2019 price hikes for hotels and accommodation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Eye-watering accommodation prices during the Edinburgh Fringe have long been a challenge for performers and audiences alike \u2013 but this year, a new faction has entered the fight for affordable lodgings: Oasis<\/a> fans.<\/p>\n

The Britpop band\u2019s hotly anticipated reunion gigs <\/a>at Murrayfield Stadium will draw more than 200,000 people to the Scottish capital this weekend \u2013 clashing directly with the opening days of the world\u2019s largest performing arts festival. The result? A city-wide scramble for beds, with prices soaring to unprecedented levels.<\/p>\n

Comedian Marc Burrows has dubbed it \u201cthe Oasis effect\u201d<\/a>, saying it has made the already expensive Fringe \u201ccatastrophically\u201d unaffordable. Hotel rooms have been listed for up to \u00a34,000 a night, with hostels charging hundreds for bunk beds. Several guests told The Independent their bookings appeared to have cost three times the usual price. <\/p>\n

\u201cI started looking as soon as I got the tickets \u2013\u00a0and there were places in Edinburgh city centre costing \u00a3700 a night,\u201d Oasis fan Emily, who lives in Newcastle, tells The Independent. \u201cWe\u2019re all in our late twenties. That\u2019s far, far out of our budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

She eventually found a room for four people at a two-star hotel in Uphall costing \u00a3300. It will take a walk, a tram and a train to get to Murrayfield Stadium, where Oasis are playing, but she considers herself one of the lucky ones. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the only one I could find that wasn\u2019t going to cost half of our mortgage,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m just glad that we managed to get one, because some people I know booked a hotel and it was cancelled, and they tried to get them to rebook it for triple what they originally paid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Oasis<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Oasis will draw over 200,000 fans to Edinburgh this month (Getty)<\/p>\n

She continues: \u201cMy partner\u2019s friend booked a hotel for \u00a390, and the booking was cancelled and then the room resold for \u00a3400.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Independent found prices approaching \u00a34,000 for accommodation. With 92 per cent of hotels and lodgings sold out on sites including Booking.com, Expedia listed one 12-bedroom house at \u00a38,009 \u2013 the cost falling by almost half a month later. Meanwhile, one luxury hotel was charging \u00a33,599 for a suite, with more affordable options no longer available. <\/p>\n

Various chains have seen price increases of 74 per cent, with standard rooms listed at \u00a3343 for Oasis dates, and \u00a3197 the month after.<\/p>\n

One quadruple room in a hostel, with four bunk beds and a shared bathroom, was listed at \u00a3880 for two people, while two pods in a 10-bed female dormitory were priced at \u00a3311 each. Two beds in an 18-bed mixed bedroom with a shared external bathroom (and triple bunk beds) cost \u00a3224 for two people. Other publications have found prices as high as \u00a37,000.<\/p>\n

Property management company Pass the Keys shared data with The Independent that showed that accommodation prices on the dates of the Oasis gigs were 31 per cent higher on average than on the same dates last year, with an average room costing \u00a3253, up from \u00a3192 in 2024. This has led to customers describing the companies online as \u201crobbing bastards\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Amy Albright, 29, is a newcomer to the performance arts event (Amy Albright)<\/p>\n

Axel Mercier, a 33-year-old journalist flying in from Belgium, has travelled across Europe for concerts and says he has never seen anything like it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really shocked by how hoteliers and Airbnb hosts are using dynamic pricing,\u201d he says. \u201cThe prices are completely outrageous and there doesn\u2019t seem to be any limit to what can be charged \u2013 even for small and run-down places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Emily, Axel started looking early \u2013\u00a0but the prices kept getting higher. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome places in the city centre were offering nights at \u00a3600 for a single night in a four-star hotel,\u201d he says. \u201cEven basic three-star hotels, usually considered a budget option, were charging up to \u00a3500 per night for two people. The worst I saw was a dormitory room in a hostel, with 30 beds priced at \u00a3180 for one night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Axel eventually pooled with friends to find accommodation in an Airbnb in Morningside, 30 minutes away from the arena on public transport. It cost \u00a31,085 for two nights and four people. He said that outside of the Oasis dates, the cost is halved. \u201cIf someone wants to book it later in August on a weekend, it\u2019s \u00a3250 per night. For us, it\u2019s almost \u00a3550 per night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

One comedian has been forced to live out of her car (Amy Albright)<\/p>\n

Artists aren\u2019t faring much better. Amy Albright, 29, is a newcomer to the Fringe and has been forced to sleep in her car. She\u2019s taken annual leave from her office job to attend, and is having to take showers at friends\u2019 houses while using the 24-hour toilet in the car park she is sleeping in. <\/p>\n

She tells The Independent that the rise in accommodation prices is \u201cexploitative\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is talking about it,\u201d she says, about the clash between Oasis and the Fringe. \u201cEveryone was really annoyed, because it makes it more expensive for the performers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The costs have a knock-on effect on visitors, too. \u201cAlmost everyone I\u2019ve spoken to has sold fewer tickets at this point than they had at the same time last year,\u201d Albright says. \u201cI\u2019ve seen it in some of the shows I\u2019ve been to. I\u2019d say, on average, there is lower attendance this year.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted Edinburgh Fringe<\/a> and Airbnb for comment. <\/p>\n

Even locals like Gary, who planned to see Oasis with his daughter, say they have been \u201cpriced out\u201d. His plight was made worse when he learnt that in the rush to purchase tickets, he\u2019d been left with a restricted view of the stage, despite having spent over \u00a31,000 on the experience in total. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are having to stay in Livingston because the hotels are absolutely priced out of our budget,\u201d he says. \u201cWith the concert and Edinburgh Fringe at the same time, the prices for the city centre and surrounding areas are ridiculous and well over \u00a3500 for one night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

A street performance area is set up on Edinburgh\u2019s Royal Mile on the first day of the Edinburgh Fringe (PA)<\/p>\n

The council says all precautions have been taken, and that price rises are normal when demand is high.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarket rates affect tourist accommodation during August, as they do Edinburgh\u2019s property prices and rents all year round. This is not new or unusual,\u201d a spokesperson for Edinburgh City Council told The Independent. <\/p>\n

\u201cCentral areas will tend to have higher accommodation prices, but with Edinburgh being such a small capital city, it\u2019s incredibly well connected, for example by public transport. There are varied accommodation options in our amazing communities which are well worth exploring. While the council has no direct influence over market rates, we are pleased to see new hotels open all the time, which is expanding the options Edinburgh has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pass the Keys COO Wesley Brown says general hikes are related to changes in holiday let regulations in the city, which were implemented in October 2023. \u201cThey have done nothing more than raise prices for visitors, potentially damaging the tourism economy that brings millions of pounds in revenue to businesses across the city every August.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Xela, who runs Fringe University (an organisation helping students explore the festival), and has been visiting for over 30 years, says: \u201cI\u2019ve seen lots of students who can\u2019t come. I see a lot of artists who really have stopped coming, or are debating it, or coming for shorter periods.\u201d<\/p>\n

She provides low-cost accommodation for visitors, charging \u00a360 a night for performers. However, she says even that is too much for many artists: \u201cThe rooms are empty, and so it just kind of ruins the finances of the collective to have these nights empty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-324843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114986822224436348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}