Travelodge sees hotels sell out ahead of Taylor Swift tour amid concert boost

The budget chain said half-year underlying earnings leapt 48% to £104.5 million, buoyed by demand surrounding big name events.

Taylor Swift is helping boost demand for Travelodge rooms, according to the hotel group (PA)

Budget chain Travelodge said hotels have already sold out near venues for next year’s highly anticipated Taylor Swift concerts across the UK as it benefits from a boom in demand for big-name performances.

The group said its hotels in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Cardiff are already sold out, while a number of sites close to Wembley are also fully booked ahead of the dates next summer.

It comes as the firm is being boosted by superstar tours, with this year’s sell-out concerts from Beyonce and Harry Styles helping it notch up a record set of half-year results, with earnings jumping by nearly 50%.

The group said its hotels were sold out across most of London during Beyonce’s five performances at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for her Renaissance World Tour.

Travelodge added that Styles’s concerts in venues across the UK for his Love On Tour were also a big driver of sales nationwide, with revenues across the group jumping 22.4% to £478.7 million in the six months to June 30.

Swift’s upcoming 2024 Eras Tour is already set to smash records, with fans clambering to snap up tickets.

The group said: “We have seen very strong demand from all corners of the UK for our hotels that are close to the venues where Taylor Swift is playing next year.

“Locations such as Edinburgh, Liverpool and Cardiff are literally sold out. Our London hotels close to Wembley are literally sold out.

“As tickets for the Eras Tour are like gold dust, Taylor Swift fans are certainly willing to travel miles across the UK to attend what is expected to be the highest grossing concert in history.”

Its interim results show underlying earnings leapt 48% higher to £104.5 million, buoyed by demand surrounding concerts and events bookings, with the group expecting full-year figures overall to be higher than 2022.

The Six Nations rugby matches, the Grand National and the London Marathon were also big drivers of sales, according to the group.

Revenue per available room – a key performance measure for hotel firms – surged 20.7% to £54.92 over the half year.

Travelodge said it is seeing “good momentum” in the second half of the year so far, with the industry benefiting from a strong bounce-back in demand as travel and events have been firmly back on the agenda following the pandemic.

Jo Boydell, Travelodge chief executive, said: “Leisure guests used Travelodge as a base to enjoy friends and family get-togethers, and sports and music events including the Six Nations rugby, the Grand National, and Eurovision.

“This is alongside business guests returning to trade fairs, and looking for affordable, and quality accommodation for their day-to-day business needs.

“We are continuing to invest in our UK hotel portfolio, with a quarter of our room estate on track to be upgraded to our new design by the end of this year as part of our most significant transformation to date.

“As we look ahead, we see significant opportunities for further growth and have identified more than 300 sites for new Travelodge hotels across the UK, as well as opportunities to grow our operation in Spain.”