A hotel chain has been accused of trying to cash in on Oasis shows next year by cancelling bookings customers had made before the reunion tour was announced.
Lily Stroud from Newcastle said she “took a risk ” by reserving rooms on two weekends at the Maldron Hotel in Manchester in July 2025 after speculation about the band’s return.
But the hotel chain cancelled her bookings after the tour announcement due to a “technical error”, with the same rooms now listed as unavailable.
A spokesman for Maldron Hotels said it was “an overbooking issue” and not an attempt to “resell rooms at inflated prices”, adding all reservations made before 26 August would be honoured.
Oasis announced on Tuesday that they would be reuniting for a tour in 2025with the Gallagher brothers confirming dates in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin, though rumours had been swirling the day before after the band posted an image of a date that read “27.08.24” on their social media platforms.
Oasis are set to play at Heaton Park in Manchester on 11, 12 ,19 and 20 July.
The hotel said a technical error with bookings made on Monday and Tuesday led to “substantially more rooms booked” than were available on the dates of the concerts.
The same problem allowed “a small number of customers” to book rooms at a higher price later on Tuesday, he said, adding these bookings would also be cancelled.
An apology has been issued by the hotel, which is not taking any new reservations while it investigates the problem.
It comes after Greater Manchester’s night-time economy adviser Sacha Lord called on the hotel to “do the right thing” after he received numerous complaints.
Mr Lord said he had been contacted by several disgruntled customers on X, some of whom said their bookings had been cancelled by the hotel and were “now back up for three times the price”.
‘Stressful’
Ms Stroud, who described herself as a “massive” Oasis fan, said she and her mum booked the room in Manchester on Sunday after spotting a list of speculative dates for the reunion tour circulating online.
“We thought, if it’s free cancellation, why not, because we know what the demand would be like,” she said.
The hotel then emailed her and scores of other fans after the tour was announced to say the bookings had been unsuccessful.
The 26-year-old said she rang the Maldron Hotel directly, and was told initially her booking was still on the system, before later being told it could not be found.
“We were kind of expecting it,” she said, adding she was “frustrated” as “it’s stressful enough as it is thinking, ‘are you going to get tickets'”.
Emma Cough, 37, from Ulverston in Cumbria, had also fallen foul of the booking problems at the Maldron after making two reservations ahead of the tour announcement.
“Surely they knew how many rooms they had! It’s daft.
“People are disgruntled that they’ve done this early. It’s not fair.”
David O’Gorman, 37, also booked a room at the Maldron for roughly £90 at 8.03am on Tuesday for July 20 2025, with the hope he would also be able to secure a ticket to see Oasis perform in Manchester that night.
However at 8.15pm on Tuesday, he received an email from the hotel which said a technical error meant his booking had not been successful.
Mr O’Gorman, from County Meath, Ireland, said: “The minute I saw that email from the hotel, I opened up Booking.com and the exact same room I booked is now around £350, so there’s no technical error there.”
He said he is “limbo”, adding: “Realistically, I’ll probably be priced out of that date so I can’t go for that ticket as I will also need to book a flight.
“I feel really frustrated and it feels so unfair as I tried to be ahead of the curve; I’m a massive fan (of Oasis) but have never got to see them live, so thought it would be amazing to go to Manchester to see them.”
‘No justification’
George Snape said he was “quite angry and really disappointed” after the bookings he made at the hotel ahead of attending a wedding in Manchester next year were cancelled.
“I think they were just putting up the prices for Oasis,” he said.
Manchester City councillor Pat Karney told BBC Radio Manchester said staff at the council would investigate what had happened.
“If this is the case then they have let themselves down and they’ve let Manchester down.
“We’re not daft, we know prices are going to be high, so long as people in hotels are fair about it.
“There’s no justification for ripping off people.”
Dan, aged 37, from Hull, said he had booked at the Hazeldean Hotel in Salford, which had offered free cancellation ahead of the announcement, but he has now been told he must pay in full by Friday, the day before Oasis tickets go on sale.
“How is this fair and how am I supposed to pay this when I don’t know if I’ll get tickets?
“I’m sure they’re doing this just so they can cancel and then put on for a higher price.
The Hazeldean Hotel has been contacted for comment.
Additional reporting by PA Media.
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