Taylor Swift fan Kelly Corridor was elated when she beat the odds and was awarded three tickets to the Eras Tour in Vancouver.
Then he started looking for a lodge.
Corridor, who lives in Oshawa, Ont., planned to fly to Vancouver with her husband and a friend during the weekend of the Dec. 8 show, but the cheapest room was about $1,200 a night.
“We decided that if just this weekend – just three nights – was going to cost us three to five thousand dollars in lodging, it just wasn't worth it for us,” said Corridor, who is a financial advisor.
Then they did what was previously unthinkable: “We decided to sell the tickets.”
The situation now facing out-of-town Swift fans may be even worse, with some lodge rooms and short-term rentals in Toronto and Vancouver during exhibition weekends costing 10 times more than other weekends. week.
Some fans, like Corridor, are cutting potential losses and selling their tickets, while others are coming up with creative solutions, including bartering leftover tickets for accommodations.
The British Columbia Hotel Association declined interview requests about price fluctuations, and the Greater Toronto Hotel Association did not immediately respond to an interview request.
Some rooms went from $300 to $3,000 per night
Swift begins the Canadian leg of her record-breaking tour this month, with six dates in Toronto between November 14 and 23.
Lodge rooms near the venue during those dates, including the Toronto Marriott Metropolis Center Resort, which is attached to the Rogers Centre, are advertised for around $2,000 per night. That same lodge offers rooms for $240 in early November.
In Vancouver, where Swift closes her world tour with three concerts from December 6 to 8, hotel prices have skyrocketed. The weekend before, rooms in downtown hotels can be found for about $300 a night. The same rooms cost about $3,000 a night while the singer is in town.
With Taylor Swift's Eras tour coming to Canada in a few weeks, Canadian Swifties are being aggressively targeted by scammers trying to sell them fake tickets for a lot of money. A scammer posing as a friend hacked a fan's Facebook account.
Airbnb and VRBO rental costs have also skyrocketed. A Vancouver apartment listed on VRBO that sleeps six people and is within walking distance of the BC Place venue was advertised for $7,500 a night during the shows, which would equate to more than $10,000 after service and host fees.
The same apartment in False Creek, although not listed every week, will be available for rent next August for $820 a night.
The rental host did not immediately respond to interview requests.
Swiftie's Facebook forums are now full of people trying to swap tickets for Toronto and Vancouver due to high accommodation costs, as well as requests for locorregional advice on hotel locations and transportation options to avoid high fees near the venues. concerts.
Swifties exchange tickets for accommodation
American Heather Cox will travel to Vancouver from Atlanta, Georgia, for the December 7 show, after securing six tickets. When one person in his group couldn't make the show, he agreed to trade his leftover ticket for four nights at a fellow Swiftie's penthouse at the city's West Finish.
“Hotel prices were out of control,” Cox said. “So I started looking at Airbnb and, again, the prices were out of control.”
Cox said she and her fellow Swiftie signed a “permitido barter agreement,” as well as a liability form, and intend to conduct the ticket exchange in person. The resident of the apartment will stay with a friend.
Both sides felt it was fair, since the resale price of a ticket and accommodation near the stadium were similar, Cox said. Ticket resale site StubHub offers individual tickets to the show starting at about $3,000.
“I think the one thing about Taylor Swift fans is that they really appreciate other Taylor Swift fans,” Cox said, noting that he has seen others reach similar agreements. “We all want everyone to be able to enjoy it.”
Ken Whitehurst, executive director of the Consumer Council of Canada, said dynamic pricing is often “applied quiebro aggressively” within the travel industry, including by airlines and hotels.
A Taylor Swift fan who had secured accommodation in Toronto for the star's concert in November told CBC's Go Public that Reserving.com abruptly canceled reservations and only offered alternatives that were up to eight times more expensive.
He said a main reason is that provisions on what constitutes price gouging are not well defined.
“There is probably nothing in consumer protection law that regulates that at the federal level, [and] “The Competition Bureau probably wouldn't look at it unless there were indications of price-fixing collusion or price misrepresentation,” he said.
Kristina Prasad of Maple Ridge, BC, is trying to help a fellow Swift fan experience a show in Vancouver.
Prasad, who spent more than $10,000 to buy tickets to the three shows there, said he connected with another fan on Instagram and they met in person during the Eras Tour show in Seattle in July 2023.
Their friendship centers on their mutual adoration of Swift's music, and Prasad has agreed to let the woman stay at his house during the Vancouver shows, although she has not yet secured tickets.
“I don't think I would let anyone stay in my house,” he said. “I think outside of the fandom, it might seem a little strange.”
Ministry of Tourism “concerned” about high prices
Alexander Cohen, a spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism, said the federal government is “concerned by reports of high hotel prices in Toronto and Vancouver.”
However, he added that “consumer legislation remains a provincial jurisdiction.”
Ontario's Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement said companies “may not engage in unfair practices” under the Consumer Protection Act.
The ministry said that includes charging a price that far exceeds the price at which similar goods or services are readily available to consumers. He didn't directly respond to the example of lodge costs during Swift's concert dates.
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