Taylor Swift’s Indianapolis Eras Tour shows drive record hotel, short-term rental demand

Four months out from the final concerts of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, short-term rentals and hotel vacancies are nearly booked for her stop in Indianapolis at the start of November, as out-of-town fans comprise the majority of ticket holders.

In the midst of a potentially record-breaking year for the city’s tourism, Indianapolis hotels and short-term rentals have had extremely high demand throughout the year because of large one-off events such as the NBA All-Star Game in February, the total solar eclipse in April and the Olympic Swim Trials in June.

But no event in 2024 will bring as many visitors to Indy as the hundreds of thousands of Swifties, who will descend upon the city in November for three nights of sold-out shows at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Hotel rooms across the city are virtually sold out for that weekend at prices three times higher than those in 2023, said Chris Gahl, executive vice president of Visit Indy.

“We know 87% of those clutching a ticket to step inside Lucas Oil Stadium for the concerts are from outside the [metropolitan area,] another strong tourism indicator,” Gahl said.

Short-term rental bookings are up 207% compared to last year during the same weekend, Gahl said.

The Circle City has seen a 7,000% surge in searches year-over-year for Airbnb short-term rentals during the first weekend in November, according to an Airbnb report on the impact of Swift’s concerts. In comparison, Airbnb recorded a 2,000% surge in Indianapolis for the solar eclipse.

Search surges give an idea of how many people are considering a trip to a city during a specific date range. Airbnb does not track booking or occupancy rates due to a potential influx of supply as dates get closer. Plus, most short-term rentals can be cancelled just a few days before a stay.

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The statistics show the strength of Swiftie “passion tourism” that drives fans to travel to great lengths to see their favorite performer. Thousands of Americans have traveled to see Swift play in Europe, where tickets tend to be cheaper and more accessible, said Haven Thorn, a spokesperson for Airbnb.

“These are folks that are more interested in the ‘what’ than the ‘where,’ and they’re traveling for Taylor Swift,” Thorn said. “And Americans accounted for more than a third of all the bookings on Airbnb in Europe during her tour.”

All three of Swift’s Indianapolis shows at Lucas Oil, which can hold nearly 70,000 people, sold out almost immediately, meaning upwards of 200,000 fans will be in attendance over the course of the weekend for Swift’s last concert in the United States.

Indianapolis’ search surge is 14 times higher than it has been for rentals in Miami, which saw a 500 percent increase in searches during the weekend Swift will perform in October and twice as high as the surge for the final 2024 dates in Vancouver.

Hotel rooms going for more than $500 a night for Swift concert weekend

The frenzy of visitors booking stays for the concerts has created headaches for even the most meticulously planned trips by Swifties.

Gracie Smith already saw Taylor Swift live last year and the 25-year-old from Atlanta knew she had to see Swift again when she announced more U.S. stops at the end of 2024.

After persuading her sister, cousin and aunt to accompany her to Indianapolis, Smith searched for hotels that were close enough to walk to the stadium, as the group would not have a car over the weekend, and eventually settled on a room at the Sheraton downtown. They booked it for $457 per night, more than Smith’s initial budget.

Then in January, the group’s room was spontaneously cancelled and a review of bank statements showed no charge was ever attempted for the room.

Scrambling, Smith and her relatives called the hotel every day for a month in search of an explanation. Eventually, Marriott offered them a room at another Marriott-owned hotel, the Courtyard Marriott near Victory Field.

Their new room was roughly $120 more per night, making their nightly hotel cost almost $600. Smith said she has seen firsthand how prices to see Swift have soared since her last tour in 2018, when Smith traveled to Dallas for a concert.

“We thought that it was expensive in 2018, but now we look back at it and think ‘Dang, we really should have taken advantage of it,” she said.

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How much would going to a Taylor Swift concert cost?

Any out-of-town fans scoring last minute tickets and travel will face limited options and hefty prices for lodging, though there is still some availability.

On Tuesday, Airbnb search results showed the cheapest price for a two-night stay that November weekend at $188 for a private room in a residence and more than $400 for an entire unit in or near Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, the cheapest hotel room for two people is more than $500 per night after fees, based on prices pulled from an Expedia search on Tuesday.

Currently, the cheapest concert tickets are at least $2,000 apiece on ticket resale sites.

Alysa Guffey covers retail growth and development as well as the economy for IndyStar. Contact her at amguffey@gannett.com. Follow her on X: @AlysaGuffeyNews