Airbnb hosts in Liverpool are being warned not to try to hike prices on stays already booked ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest. Roy Henry said his host tried to raise the price from £465 to £2,046 when they realised his stay was for the event. Airbnb said it had “zero tolerance for this behaviour” and was taking action to stop hosts cancelling bookings and relisting at a higher price.
Liverpool is expecting an extra 150,000 visitors during Eurovision. All tickets have sold out for the two semis and grand final of the international music competition from 9 to 13 May. With only 84 hotels in the city centre, Airbnb partnered with Visit Liverpool to encourage more people to list their properties to help cope with the massive influx of visitors. But both organisations said they were concerned about “price gouging”, where prices are increased to levels much higher than what is considered reasonable or fair.
After securing his tickets Mr Henry, who lives in London, booked an apartment in the city for five nights “for a steal” at £456. But a day later he received an email from the host who asked him to cancel the booking so the price could be amended to £2,046.
Airbnb has since allowed Mr Henry to cancel his stay and is helping him to cover the costs of finding alternative accommodation. Airbnb said his host is not allowed to relist the property for Eurovision. In a statement it said: “We take a range of actions to deter host cancellations, including applying fees, penalties and blocking Hosts from accepting a new booking for the same dates. The average price per night of a booked stay during Eurovision is £260, providing affordable accommodation for guests and helping local families boost their income.”
I was reminded of the IRA bomb scare at Aintree racecourse during the Grand National festival in 1997. 60,000 people were advised to leave the grounds. 20,000 racegoers who had travelled to see the race were left stranded in Liverpool. Many were put up in hotels and emergency accommodation while also receiving offers of a roof over their heads from kind-hearted Liverpudlians.
The first episode of “Hotel”, a fly-on-the-wall documentary series about the Adelphi in Liverpool in the same year, showed manager Eileen Downey taking advantage of the situation and instructing staff to charge more than double the normal rate for rooms with an option to “rough it” on a mattress in on the floor of one of the function rooms for £45.
It led to a deluge of criticism aimed at the hotel for seemingly taking advantage of the situation and people’s misfortune in having nowhere to stay.
Viewers will also remember deputy manager Brian Birchall, who, when during a row with head chef David Smith, he yelled “Just cook will yer!”
