In just less than two weeks, the world is coming to town.
People from across the country and continent will be arriving for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. They’ll fill the Rogers Centre for six nights and swamp the streets of downtown Toronto. They’ll flood events at the convention centre and trivia nights at bars. And when their night is done, they’ll rest their heads in hotel rooms they paid a small fortune for.
And oh, how much they’ll pay.
For those who haven’t booked their accommodations yet, the price is expectedly steep. In some cases, downtown hotels are going for five times as much as the normal rate, meaning — combined with ticket prices and travel costs — the final bill for the Eras Tour experience may end up being the cost of a modest car.
At the Bisha Hotel, located on Blue Jays Way just a short walk from the Rogers Centre, rooms have soared from their normal cost in the mid-$400s to $1,999 on nights of the concert, before adding taxes and fees. At the Fairmont Royal York across from Union Station, the jump is similar.
The Drake Hotel, an artsy hub on Queen West, is listing rooms between $1,039 and $1,350, roughly triple what a night’s stay would cost without the world’s biggest superstar in town. The Chelsea Hotel, one block up from Sankofa Square, has seen prices rise from $297 on Nov. 8-9 to $863 on Swift’s first weekend.
The inflated costs even reach Hamilton. A night at the Homewood Suites, a 2.5-kilometre commute to the West Harbour GO station — from which the Lakeshore train to Toronto runs — rooms have jumped marginally, up to $220 on Swift’s first weekend from $152 on the ordinary prior weekend.
Of course, there is nothing ordinary about Swift’s trip to Toronto. The Eras Tour, the highest-grossing tour the world has ever seen, is expected to add $282 million to Toronto’s economy when it plays the Rogers Centre for six nights between Nov. 14 and 23. The city will add transit service, close roads downtown, deploy extra police officers and activate its emergency operations centre in an effort to keep things under control.
Hotel prices are only a small fraction of the surprises in store — but at a time when so many people will be flocking to the city, the surges make sense, according to economist Thomas Davidoff.
“There’ll be a ton of hotel demand and a ton of Airbnb demand, and you know prices will reflect that demand, and that’s appropriate,” Davidoff, a professor at the University of British Columbia, told The Canadian Press. “If you didn’t have high prices, you’d have more random rationing of units.”
A spokesperson for the Tourism Ministry said the federal government is “concerned by reports of high prices for hotels in Toronto,” but that “consumer legislation remains a provincial responsibility.”
The Ontario government said businesses can’t engage in unfair practices, as stipulated by the Consumer Protection Act.
Alongside the eye-popping price tags, there are plenty of luxury experiences to go around.
The Bisha Hotel said it is transforming all seven floors into a full Swift experience, including a one-bedroom Swift-themed suite. Meanwhile, the SoHo Hotel is offering a “Cornelia Suite Package” inspired by the star’s former New York apartment.
Enterprising locals are getting out of town, instead turning their apartments into short-term rentals going for hundreds a night. While some are spending a fortune, others — like Shekina Plowman, who has listed her condo overlooking the Rogers Centre for $750 — could be making one.
“Lots of people are coming over to Toronto for the concerts, and it’s incredible the prices that they pay for the tickets,” Plowman said. “Toronto brings that side-hustle out of you.”
With files from Ana Pereira, Ben Spurr and The Canadian Press.
