After over 25 years, Eurovision is returning to the UK. With less than 60 days until the event, hundreds of fans are gearing up to celebrate the competition in Liverpool – but if you’re lucky enough to secure a golden ticket, the accommodation costs may come as a surprise.
Hotel prices have soared for the big event, but it’s not just fans of Eurovision that may pay the price to visit cities across the UK this year. With big names touring in 2023 like Beyoncé, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Harry Styles and more, Creditfix research shows that the price of a concert ticket is only a fraction of the cost.
During this cost of living crisis, affording the travel, hotel and other expenses to go to a concert can quickly add up, and it can be tempting to put it on a credit card, which could potentially lead to long-term debt if you’re unable to repay it.
To work out exactly which artists will have the most expensive accommodation, Creditfix looked at some of the top musicians who are touring this year to find out which hotels are increasing prices around the time artists are touring.
Out of all the big names, Eurovision was the most expensive. Hotels in Liverpool have more than tripled, with the average cost of a night during the event costing £1,019 – whereas the week before for the same dates it was only £270.
Average hotel inflation for the world’s biggest stars
Coldplay headline costly concert line-up
British rock band, Coldplay, took the top spot as hotels in Manchester and Cardiff have doubled in price ahead of the tour, which starts in May. Hotels have increased by 227.53% as the average hotel costs £379 for the night – £258 higher than the previous week.
Rounding out the top 3 is the legendary Bruce Springsteen and P!nk, with fans of both artists seeing the biggest rises in hotel prices in the Midlands and the North.
Hotels have more than doubled on the night of the Bruce Springsteen tour to £370, with fans travelling to Birmingham experiencing the biggest rise in inflation. Similarly, fans of P!nk will be faced with hotel prices of around £333 – with fans going to Sunderland experiencing the biggest rise in prices. On average, the hotel costs for the areas both are performing usually cost around £150 a night – a jump of more than 130%.
After causing the O2 website to crash after her announcement of the ‘Renaissance’ tour, Beyoncé came fourth. Hotels saw a 122.84% price increase including the likes of Cardiff, London, Sunderland and Edinburgh. Originally £157 for the night, the average price for hotels has now surged to £324.
Bringing to a close the top five is Harry Styles with his second ‘Love on Tour’ starting in May. The average hotel price for dates across the UK that Harry’s performing at costs £419 per night – double the usual price, a 112.84% increase.
Fans of Arctic Monkeys, Stormzy, The Weeknd and Madonna may also have to dig deep into their wallets to afford a hotel this year. Each has seen over a 61% increase with hotels costing an average of £226, with the priciest being £332.
Tom Jones, Olly Murs, Dermot Kennedy and American artist John Legend saw more modest price hikes. Interestingly, one of the locations that have seen the biggest rise in hotel prices is Margate which Olly Murs is headlining – proving that open-air concerts are a popular choice this summer.
Music fans falling into debt with Buy Now, Pay Later tickets
Coupled with the soaring price of concert tickets and everyday essentials, the cost of a concert could be a catalyst for debt – especially as more people turn to buy now, pay later providers to spread costs.
More than 17 million people turned to buy now, pay later services in the UK last year, with 32% of Brits saying it allowed them to make purchases not typically in their budget.
However, as figures show that 41% of BNPL users aged between 18-24 (41%) and 37% of 45-54 year-olds miss monthly payments, the reality is more than half of users are falling into debt through these schemes.
If you’re facing debts and feeling overwhelmed an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or a Debt Management Plan could help to support you with this.
With the cost of living crisis and the rising bills, it can be daunting and can be easier to fall into debt. Get in touch with the team Creditfix where we can discuss the options available to take back control.
METHODOLOGY
Using Ticketmaster we found 20 artists touring this year and all of their tour dates in the UK. We used Booking.com to find out the price of hotels during the concert dates in each location and compared them to the same hotel a week earlier. Calculating the average we listed the artists in numerological order to identify which hotels have increased prices around the time artists are touring.
Data correct as of 1st March 2023.
