Fans were left without a place to stay for Taylor Swift’s 2024 Australian tour because Airbnb was charging thousands of dollars for rooms that were already reserved in advance

Fans were left without a place to stay for Taylor Swift’s 2024 Australian tour because Airbnb was charging thousands of dollars for rooms that were already reserved in advance.

Swifties are currently battling avaricious Airbnb owners who are profiting from Taylor Swift tourism in Sydney and Melbourne, following their battles against scalpers, ticket frauds, and malfunctioning websites.

Many fans have experienced losing their rooms at the last minute due to Airbnb owners trying to charge them additional money, even if they reserved their lodging months in advance for the popstar’s Eras tour.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that short-term rental owners abruptly cancelled the reservations of scores of excited concertgoers, only to relist the rooms on Airbnb at a significantly higher cost.

A fan from Gunnedah, NSW, said that she paid $630 to rent lodging close to the MCG for the weekend of February 16–20, but the host cancelled her reservation a week prior to the performance.

According to Jasmine, the 24-year-old was informed that the host intended to “redo the carpets” and would therefore need to cancel her reservation.

Swifties are currently having to deal with avaricious Airbnb owners taking advantage of Taylor Swift tourism in Sydney and Melbourne, following their battles against ticket frauds, scalpers, and malfunctioning websites.

Two days later, Jasmine found the Airbnb owner had relisted the home she had previously acquired for $1,347, while she was still having trouble finding lodging among the already fully reserved rooms and hotels in Melbourne.

The host charged $717 more than what Jasmine was first charged and listed the same four nights as unoccupied.

The host’s obvious price gouging infuriated the Swiftie, who demanded explanations from the property owner.

‘I don’t know why it’s relisted’ is all the host responded, leaving Jasmine scrambling to secure another room just days before her flight to Melbourne.

Despite booking out accommodation months in advance in preparation for the popstar’s Eras tour , countless fans have found themselves losing their rooms at the eleventh hour as Airbnb hosts price gouge them for more money

‘I looked again that night and it was gone, but I assume someone had just booked it at the new price based off how quickly everything was booking,’ Jasmine said.

‘I usually find Airbnb reliable, so I was really annoyed by this. So inconvenient and it made an already stressful time even worse.’

Jasmine isn’t the only fan to suffer from the sudden price gouging of Airbnb hosts, with others claiming their rooms were cancelled for ‘family reasons’ or ‘plumbing issues’ before being relisted just days later for hundreds more dollars.

Airbnb has a host cancellation policy which ‘may impose fees and other consequences such as blocking a host from relisting on the same dates that were cancelled,’ a spokesperson said.

However, an Australian Competition & Consumer Commission representative stated that hosts using Airbnb are not permitted to misrepresent the reasons for a cancellation to guests.

‘Where the failure to meet these consumer guarantees is a major failure, consumers are entitled to their choice of a refund or replacement service,’ they said.

The ACCC representative continued by saying that hosts on Airbnb might even be required to reimburse fair and predictable damages resulting from the cancellation.

After having their Airbnb reservations cancelled, some Swifties might lose thousands of dollars if they can’t locate another place to stay given the price of tour tickets, interstate airfares and costumes, among other things.