Hundreds of thousands of Taylor Swift fans have secured their coveted tickets for the tail end of the pop singer’s Eras tour in Toronto this fall. But where will they sleep?
For the most part, nowhere cheap, hospitality experts and short-term rental data indicate.
While November has historically been a quiet month in Toronto with fewer events, fewer bookings and lower rates for both hotels and short-term rentals, the “Taylor effect” — a term coined by economists to describe the impact of her concerts on local markets — is already shaking off that reputation with demand for accommodations driving up daily rates.
The Drake, a boutique hotel in the city’s Queen West area that is known for its art-filled contemporary rooms, has sold out for the duration of Swift’s tour dates, despite its posted daily rate more than doubling to $1,009.
The average daily rate of short-term rentals across Toronto is up roughly 70 per cent for duration of Swift’s six-concert residency at the Rogers Centre compared to same time in 2023, according to AirDNA, a company that supplies data on the short-term rental market including Airbnb and VRBO. That translates to roughly $350 per night for Swift’s six concert dates in November compared to $208 for the same nights last year.
Toronto, which is one of only two Canadian stops on Swift’s tour, has seen a 1,200 per cent surge in short-term rental searches linked to the singer’s concert dates, Airbnb reported. The company said it will release more detailed booking and supply data in a few weeks.
City of Toronto preps for a reputation boost
The City of Toronto has seen such a sharp increase in the number of people seeking to register short-term rentals that it’s hired 23 new full-time staff to handle the load of processing these permits and reviewing the sites.
As of this month, city staff approved 8,997 short-term rental permits to date this year, an increase from the 8,147 applications it approved for all of 2023.
All short-term rental companies (such as Airbnb and VRBO) are required to obtain a licence from the city before they can operate in Toronto. Short-term rental companies must pay the city an annual licence application fee of $10,000 and an ongoing nightly fee of $1.50 for every short-term rental night booked through the company. Hosts who use these licensed platforms to book guests must also pay the city an annual registration fee of $55.35, which increases to $375 on Jan. 1, 2025. In addition, hosts incur a 6 per cent Municipal Accommodation Tax on all rental revenues, which is due to the city on a quarterly basis.
The city said its decision to on-board a majority of the new staff in the coming weeks isn’t linked specifically to Swift or a motivation to make more space for Swifties but it’s happy they’re here.
“The City of Toronto is thrilled that Taylor Swift is bringing her record-shattering Eras Tour to our city in November,” said spokesperson Elise von Scheel. “These kinds of events fuel our economy and reputation as a world-class city and destination of choice.”
Record-setting hotel prices to come?
A big question is whether Swift, who holds the title for most Album of the Year wins at the Grammy Awards with four trophies — and has won 14 Grammys overall, will break yet another record before the end of her Eras tour in Toronto on Nov. 23.
The current record for highest average daily hotel rate in Toronto is attributed to nearly 30,000 attendees of a mining convention in March that was put on by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. The event is credited with driving hotel rates to roughly $400 per night citywide and $550 in the downtown core, said Laura Baxter, director of hospitality analytics in Canada for CoStar Group, a company that provides global commercial and real estate data.
Baxter said the company won’t speculate on what November will hold for Toronto but she said The Drake’s rate doesn’t appear to be an anomaly.
“We don’t track rate data in the future but I did have a look through an online travel agent for Toronto hotels on the dates that Taylor is performing. They’re around $1,000 to $2,000 per night.”
She said the average rate will likely be lower once all of the information is analyzed after the concerts have taken place.
CoStar combs through rates for the entire market which includes an aggregation of all types of rooms within a defined geography.
“On a hotel website, they’ll be advertising a rate that’s pretty high. When you go in and see what the market achieved afterward, it’s a blend of corporate rates and group rates that bring the rates down significantly.”
Swifties still in luck
There is some good news for Toronto concert goers who still need a place to crash, says Baxter. There’s still room.
There are 35,000 hotel rooms across 198 hotels, half of which are downtown. CoStar tracks data for the vast majority and reports that as of Aug. 1, while there is an uptick in the number of bookings on the dates of Swift’s concerts — Nov. 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23 — most hotels were roughly half-full.
“Now that we’ve started to see people tighten their belts, the booking window has shortened,” said Baxter, meaning many people who might be willing to pay upwards of $1,000 for a concert seat are taking their time to reserve a room in search of the best deal.
Baxter says people shouldn’t wait too long.
“We do expect a considerable amount of pickup between now and the concert dates,” she said. “We saw a 30 to 40 per cent pick up last year at this time when there wasn’t a Taylor Swift concert.”
