Outrage as top hotel cancels bookings on Oasis concert nights due to ‘glitch’ – then relists them for ‘triple the price’
A HOTEL chain has been accused of cancelling Manchester bookings coinciding with Oasis concerts, and reselling the rooms for triple the price.
Greater Manchester‘s night-time economy adviser Sacha Lord urged Maldron Hotels to “do the right thing” after he received numerous complaints.
In a post on social media platform X, he wrote: “Hey @MaldronHotels. I’m being contacted by several people who booked your hotel for the Oasis concert, to say their rooms have just been cancelled and are now back up for three times the price.
“I’m sure this is a ‘computer error’… easy to correct. Do the right thing.”
A number of disgruntled customers posted screenshots on X of an email appearing to be from Maldron Hotels, stating that “due to a technical error, you have received a confirmation for a booking that was not successfully made”.
Recipients were told they will be sent a “cancellation request” and asked to “accept promptly”.
The company operates two hotels in Manchester.
On Wednesday morning they both had no rooms available from the start of July next year onwards.
Oasis are playing at Manchester’s Heaton Park on July 11, 12, 19 and 20.
Oasis fan Mark Slinger, 36, from the Isle of Man, said he booked a room at Maldron Hotels in Manchester city centre for July 20.
He made the £90 reservation after the band announced the reunion tour – but says he won’t be accepting the request to cancel and doesn’t believe it was a technical error.
Mark told Sky News: “They realised they can cancel and re-sell at four times the price due to the Oasis gig.”
Fellow fan Lilly Stroud, 26, from Newcastle, also reserved rooms with her mum on two weekends at the hotel across July next year in anticipation of getting concert tickets.
After receiving the error email, 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 told the BBC, adding she was “frustrated” as “it’s stressful enough as it is thinking, ‘are you going to get tickets'”.
Manchester City councillor Pat Karney told BBC Radio Manchester trading standards staff should investigate.
He said: “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.”
HOW LONG CAN IT LAST?
NOEL and Liam’s feuding stretches back 30 years and is among music’s best known. Here’s a recap.
September 1994: Noel temporarily quits after Liam throws a tambourine at him.
Summer 1995: While recording (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, Noel reportedly hits Liam over the head with a cricket bat.
August 1996: Liam pulls out of an MTV Unplugged gig, heckling his going solo brother from the audience.
May 2000: After Liam questions the legitimacy of Noel’s daughter Anais, he quits again. He returned, but did not complete their European tour.
June 2005: At the Heineken Jammin’ Festival in Italy, Liam leaves the stage during Champagne Supernova. Noel tells Spin magazine: “He’s actually frightened to death of me.”
April 2009: Noel calls Liam “the angriest man you’ll ever meet” in Q mag, adding: “He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup”.
August 2009: Oasis pull out ‘V’ Festival gig at the last minute. Liam reportedly had laryngitis but Noel claims he’s “hungover”.
Late August 2009: As the band prepare to play in Paris a row breaks out and, as we reported, Liam wields Noel’s guitar “like an axe”. The tour is axed. Noel states: “It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis.”
June 2017: After the Manchester terror attack Liam slates Noel for not attending the Old Trafford tribute gig. Noel’s camp say he was out the country.
Premier Inn, the UK’s biggest hotel brand, only has available rooms in Manchester at the city’s airport on the nights of the Oasis concerts.
Another major hotel chain, Travelodge, has rooms at its Oldham Chadderton site – five miles from Heaton Park – priced from £190 for those dates.
Rooms at the same hotel on July 26 – a week after the gigs – are available for nearly half the price, at £97.
The Sun has contacted Maldron Hotels’ parent company Dalata Hotel Group for comment.
Have you been affected by this issue? Email ryan.merrifield@thesun.co.uk