Irish Oasis fan left ‘frustrated’ at cancellation by hotel as price row erupts
Maldron insists it was not reselling rooms at inflated levels for gigs
An Irish-owned hotel chain has been accused of cancelling bookings in Manchester that coincide with Oasis concerts and then reselling the rooms for almost quadruple 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 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.”
An Irish fan who booked a room in a hotel in the city in anticipation of seeing the band on its reunion tour has been left feeling “frustrated” after his reservation was cancelled because of the “technical error”.
David O’Gorman (37) booked a room at the Maldron Hotel Manchester City Centre for roughly £90 at 8.03am on Tuesday for July 20 next year with the hope he would also be able to secure a ticket to see Oasis perform in Manchester that night.
However, at 8.15pm on Tuesday, he got an email from the hotel that said: “Due to a technical error, you have received a confirmation for a booking that was not successfully made. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your booking at this time.”
Mr O’Gorman, who works in marketing and lives in Ashbourne, Co Meath, said: “The minute I saw that email from the hotel, I opened up Booking.com and the exact same room I booked is now around £350, so there’s no technical error there.”
He said he was now in “limbo”, adding: “Realistically, I’ll probably be priced out of that date so I can’t go for that ticket as I will also need to book a flight.
“I feel really frustrated and it feels so unfair as I tried to be ahead of the curve; I’m a massive fan (of Oasis) but have never got to see them live, so thought it would be amazing to go to Manchester to see them.”
Recipients of the hotel emails were told they would be sent a “cancellation request” and asked to “accept promptly”.
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”.
The company operates two hotels in Manchester. Yesterday 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.
Maldron Hotels parent company Dalata Hotel Group blamed the incident on technology.
“Due to a technical error with our booking system on August 26 and 27, 2024, substantially more rooms were booked than were available for the nights of the Oasis concerts on 11th/12th/19th/20th July 2025 at Maldron Hotel Manchester City and Maldron Hotel Cathedral Quarter.
“As a result, we are unable to honour all bookings made on these dates, and we are actively engaging with customers regarding their bookings.
“The hotels are currently not taking any bookings while we investigate the issue. This is not an attempt to resell rooms at inflated prices – rather an overbooking issue due to a technical error with our booking systems.
“Additionally, due to the same technical error, a small number of customers were able to book the rooms at a higher price later that evening. We will also be unable to accommodate these bookings.
“We will be honouring all bookings made prior to August 26.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Premier Inn, the UK’s biggest hotel brand, has available rooms in Manchester only at the city’s airport on the nights of the Oasis concerts.
Anothermajorhotelchain,Travelodge, has rooms at its Oldham Chadderton site – 8km 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.