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 Maldon Hotel 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 2025, with 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 to 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”.
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'”.
George Snape said he was “quite angry and really disappointed” after the bookings he made to attend 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 trading standards staff 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.”
