Greedy Edinburgh landlords are charging tens of thousands of pounds for short-term stays in the capital during the upcoming Fringe festival. Analysis of accommodation on short-term letting sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo reveals a gulf in pricing for stays in the near future and stays for the length of the Fringe, which runs from August 4-28, 2023.
A three-bed flat in the Old Town, at the heart of the capital, carries an asking price of £925 a night - or £24,000 for artists looking for somewhere to stay for the duration of the festival. The price for the flat drops to £183 a night for bookings in March. It is operated by Altido, an agency that snaps up lucrative properties for short-term letting across the world.
Performers lined up for this year's Fringe and the Edinburgh Book Festival, which runs alongside, say the price gouging for Fringe-length stays in Edinburgh is "killing" the festival and scaring away artists.
Author David Fenne tweeted an image of a booking for a two-bed apartment in Edinburgh that sought to charge £140,702 for 28 nights – over £5,000 an evening – for a two-bed "holiday apartment".
He wrote: "Are you actually kidding me? People are asking for £140,000 to stay in Edinburgh during the Fringe? This shameful and predatory price gouging is killing the #EdinburghFringe and bankrupting artists."
The Record has been unable to verify the apartment's quoted rates. However, an Australian comic, Daniel Muggleton, tweeted an image of what appears to be the same apartment, with a quote for £135,697 for 27 nights, in line with the rate quoted to David Fenne.
Muggleton quipped: "Hey @edfringe do you guys know a good UK-based mortgage broker? Thinking of doing the festival this year."
Emily Beecher, a creative director bringing shows to the Fringe, wrote on Twitter: "I really want to know what @edfringe & @Edinburgh_CC are doing about #EdFringe accomodation - I've just been quoted £37,450 and £54,800 for 2 different 4 bedroom flats. That's more than the combined budgets on the 3 shows we're taking!"
West End Producer, an anonymous London theatre insider, shared his own image of a search for a flat in Newington that sought to charge £2,495 a night during the fringe, for a total of £55,074. Thankfully, it included a hefty £9,855 "long stay discount".
He wrote: "For those going to the Edinburgh Festival this year. Good luck. Be sure to take all your life savings for the accommodation. #dear."
Using the Edinburgh Fringe website's official accommodation tool paints a similarly grim picture. Rates for a flat listed on Vrbo, and displayed on the official Fringe website, increase almost tenfold from £267 per night for a long weekend in March to £2,120 per night in August.
Dedicated accommodation such as hotels and serviced apartments are not innocent of hiking prices at festival time – but their greed is much less explicit. A stay at an Edinburgh Ibis hotel in mid-August, sourced using the official Fringe accommodation finder, is £253 a night, up from £103 a night for a four-night stay in March.
Edinburgh City Council became the first Short-term Let Control Area in Scotland last September amid a decline in readily available long-term housing. The scheme requires all short-term landlords to seek planning permission to operate Airbnb-style accommodation.
This applies to those who let out entire properties, and even those looking to let out spare rooms – which festival organisers said last month was an unnecessary overreach. In a letter to MSPs, Edinburgh Festivals said the crackdown on short-term lets would make the capital "increasingly unaffordable and unfeasible for festival participants and visitors".
Edinburgh is home to around 10,000 holiday lets, around a third of all such properties in Scotland. By July next year, every short-term let operator in the country will be required to hold a licence – and to get that they must demonstrate they are responsible landlords.
Councillor Jane Meagher, Edinburgh City Council’s housing convener, said in December that the capital faced "housing pressures like nowhere else in Scotland", saying of holiday lets: "Now, more than ever, Edinburgh needs these properties back as homes – and we want to work positively with those landlords who are ending short term letting but who are considering longer term lease arrangements.
“Overnight we could create 1,000 extra places to live for residents who have no home this winter, if just one in 10 holiday lets switched to Private Sector Leasing (PSL) with the Council. Leasing with us could drastically support capital residents during one of the most financially difficult times on record for UK households.”
A spokesperson for Airbnb said: "These listings are not booked and are not representative of prices on Airbnb. Nearly half of guests say they choose Airbnb over other types of accommodation because it is more affordable.
"Hosting on Airbnb helps to sustainably increase accommodation supply during peak demand periods like the Edinburgh Fringe, and gives locals an opportunity to earn additional income in the face of rising living costs.”
A spokesperson for Vrbo said: “We are operating as a two-sided marketplace, connecting holidaymakers and holiday home hosts, without being part of any contractual agreements between those parties at any time. Vrbo does not set, change or influence the property prices a host chooses, which is driven by demand at peak periods.”
Edinburgh City Council was contacted for comment.
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