– A man will live here because he lost his original hotel room. The hotel just canceled it and posted it at several times the price.
That's what Uli Stucki says. He is the rental manager at Church of the North in Liverpool and says he has received desperate inquiries from Eurovision fans who have booked hotel rooms at normal rates well in advance.
Ole Stokke rents a room in the basement of the North Church in Liverpool. Here he receives guests who have witnessed that the hotels in which they had booked rooms have canceled them in order to rent them out at a much higher price.
Photo: Havard Blykastad Almas/NRK
It offers a total of ten beds in bunk beds in the basement of the church, which was once the town's Norse sailors' church. It is believed that the city's high hotel prices give Liverpool a bad reputation.
– But you're also doubling prices, NRK points out.
– Yes, but only 25 to 50 pounds per night, he answers.
30,000 for one night
Accommodation prices in Liverpool double when the Eurovision Song Contest final takes place. When NRK searches on Booking.com for accommodation on the night of the final, prices in the city center range between 3,700 and 52,000 NOK. What a night.
The average price for that night at Booking.com and Airbnb is more than NOK 30,000, local newspaper the Liverpool Echo writes.
A night at the Sailors' Church costs £50, double the normal price of £25. It's still cheap in a city where hotel prices have skyrocketed.
Photo: Havard Blykastad Almas/NRK
– We must have paid thousands of pounds for accommodation this weekend, says Jake Liv.
NRK catches up with Beth Owen in Eurovision City a few weeks before the circus kicks off. Yellow Eurovision posters with blue letters decorate the city. Ukraine won last year, but the war makes it impossible to hold the final there.
Therefore, in the second week of May, Liverpool will host the semi-finals and final. But not everyone is lucky enough to join.
Instead the two will have to watch the final on TV at home in Wales.
“I don't understand how they got away with it,” says Beth Owen, frustrated.
Beth Owen and Jake Liv want to experience the Eurovision final in Liverpool, but hotel prices are too high.
Photo: Havard Blikastad Almos/NRK
The hotel staff are desperate
Hoteliers and property owners may be scratching their heads, but not everyone involved believes the price increase is acceptable.
The receptionist at a budget hotel in the city shakes her head when NRK asks about the high price level.
Eurovision posters adorn Liverpool city centre.
Photo: Havard Blykastad Almas/NRK
-I don't think it's fair for people who want to visit Liverpool. Prices were raised due to Eurovision. So to speak, all hotels here do this, he says, which also have to ask guests multiple amounts for the night in question.
Even hostels are expensive. When a bunk bed in a dorm usually costs NOK 450, people paid NOK 1,600 for this bunk bed on the night of 13-14. maybe. But now this too is sold out. The only thing available less than four weeks before the final is a full room for six people priced at over NOK 9,000.
Liverpool are looking forward to it
Stokke is among those who enteredno We look forward to the Eurovision Circus coming to town. But even on rainy days, it's easy to find people who can't wait for it all to start.
Downstairs here, accommodation is offered at a cheaper rate than Liverpool hotels during Eurovision.
Photo: Havard Blykastad Almas/NRK
Husband and wife Annette and David Timton think it is great that the final will be held in Liverpool. On behalf of the city they promise to make a good offer. But they also think it's wrong for hotels to raise prices as much as they do.
– It's not true. David Timton says the event should be tailored to most people.
Around the TikToker's neck Shafin Mahmoud, commenting on A A fake Eurovision Song Contest credential. He interviews people about the tune contest for his social media profile.
-I'm a big fan of Eurovision. “I'm very excited,” he says.
He considers himself happy because he lives in Liverpool and does not have to pay for accommodation.
– It's crazy.
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