It's the end of an era — the conclusion to a love story that hoteliers know all too well.
Taylor Swift's global Eras Tour came to a close this weekend on the West Coast of Canada, wrapping up a run of 149 shows in five continents that started in March 2023. The tour was wildly successful, becoming the first to gross more than $1 billion by the end of 2023, and hitting a grand total in excess of $2 billion.
Hoteliers were among the biggest "Swifties," enjoying outsize growth in occupancy and rate along Swift's tour stops. Cities such as Indianapolis, Warsaw, New Orleans and Toronto saw rates increase more than 100% year over year when the Eras Tour came to town, according to CoStar data.
Cody Bertone, general manager of the Virgin Hotels New Orleans, said his property saw year-over-year increases in occupancy of 47% and rate at 173%. Swift performed three shows from Oct. 25-27 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The kind of hotel performance success generated by a high-demand concert or event won't likely be recreated anytime soon, he said.
"I would say it's a singular event," he said. "Having Friday, Saturday and Sunday, three concerts, allowing people to book one-night stays at a high amount, I don't think we'll repeat that. We won't have those types of rates until the Super Bowl in February here in New Orleans."
Kelsey Fenerty, manager of analytics at STR, said she hadn't seen anything like the success of Swift's tour, and it has potentially started a trend around concert tours.
"She kind of started a new phenomenon," Fenerty said. "There's always been big tours and popular tours. But I feel like this is the one that changed a lot of things."
Why the Eras Tour was successful
Swift is one of the most popular musicians worldwide, so her tour being a success is far from surprising. But what made it one of the most successful tours of all time was the schedule of the concert dates.
Most artists will perform one night in a city before trekking on to the next one. Swift's tour, however, had at least two performances in back-to-back nights at each location, with the majority of her stops having three or more shows.
"Part of the reason for her success with our industry especially is that traditionally you tour and you do every day or every other day, and you just hit city, city, city. You maybe take a couple weeks off here and there, but it's just that day or every other day," Fenerty said.
The days of week also played a factor. Of the 149 shows, 89 of them took place on the weekend — Friday and Saturday. An additional 44 shows took place on shoulder nights — Thursday and Sunday.
"She's done almost like mini residencies in every market and done two or three nights, primarily over weekends," Fenerty said.
This is even more applicable to Swift's stops in the United States. She toured in 23 U.S. markets, and each market had both a Friday and Saturday show. Of her 63 performances in the States, 46 came on the weekend, 13 were on shoulder nights and just three fell on a weekday.
The vast majority of the shows coming either on the weekend or immediately before or after the weekend added up to the ideal dynamics for both the tour's success and hotel performance.
Hotels were able to raise rates significantly to match the incredible demand. Fenerty said during the 2024 tour dates, most markets had an occupancy between 85% and 95%.
This allowed for year-over-year increases in rates of at least 31% for all markets in 2024, excluding Paris and London. Fifteen of those markets enjoyed rate increases of more than 50% compared to last year.
In the hotel industry, those rate increases will be the lasting legacy of the Eras Tour.
"People were just so excited to do it that they were willing to pay," Fenerty said. "That's going to be what people remember from the tour."
Maximizing the event on property
Around the world, hoteliers were fearless about making the most of the experience for fans and ticket holders along the way.
Singalongs, bar and restaurant activations and other Swift-themed events helped hoteliers capture the intense lodging demand generated by the tour. Those events also meant others could experience the party even if they weren't hotel guests.
Back in June, Derek Sumpter, general manager of Reverb by Hard Rock Downtown Atlanta, told Hotel News Now that the hotel hired a Swift cover band to play in the lobby during the Eras Tour's Atlanta run.
“It was very easy for us to not only get the hotel guests into the hotel, but other people that just wanted to hear Taylor Swift music before the concert started, so we were able to capture an amazing food-and-beverage revenue,” he said.
The food-and-beverage numbers were what really stuck out to Sumpter, more so than the high RevPAR, ADR and occupancy; the Reverb had a 500% increase in food-and-beverage revenue week over week on the weekend of the concerts.
Bertone said his hotel made sure to be the first in the market to promote its activations. The Virgin Hotels New Orleans had a Swift-themed burlesque and drag brunch each day of her three stops in New Orleans, and its upstairs bar threw pre-concert parties, including a DJ set and Swift-themed cocktails.
"Really just given the hype with our guests and outside guests that wanted to check us out during the tour, the things that my team experienced was just the joy and the happiness of all the guests. Even though the rates, the tickets, everything was very expensive, but everyone enjoyed it. It was just one of these events," he said.
Hotels and cities putting on events related to the tour helped boost performance as well, Fenerty said.
"It was a good move that hotels and cities got so involved and ... they did themed drinks, they did the cutesy little notes in rooms," she said. "That really added to the phenomenon."
Finding the next Eras Tour
Swift will likely take some significant time off before hitting the road again, so the question on many hoteliers minds is: Can this be replicated with another artist or band?
Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour last year had a significant economic impact in the U.S., but its effect on hotel performance was inconsistent.
In 2025, all eyes are on Oasis' reunion tour in the United Kingdom and Ireland. HNN's Terence Baker reported in September that the band's shows could surpass the revenues and profits of Swift's performances.
The Gallagher brothers' tour is much smaller in scale, totaling 41 shows across 13 countries.
Fenerty said she could see the success of Swift's tour replicated to some extent, and tours such as Oasis' and Coldplay's will be closely watched in 2025.
"I do think [the Eras Tour] was interesting in that the [fear of missing out] almost snowballed, and it got to the point where it was such a must-see thing that people just wanted to go independent of how big of a Taylor Swift fan they were," she said. "It was almost like a thing, like 'Yeah, I'm going to the Eras Tour.' I think that can be replicated."
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