Hotel cancels Oasis fan booking after confirmation

Frank Southall had reserved a room for £236 but 12 hours later his booking was cancelled due to a "technical error"

A man has spoken of his shock after his hotel booking was cancelled and more than doubled in price after Oasis announced their reunion tour.

Frank Southall, from Worcester, said he reserved a room in advance at a hotel in Cardiff for two nights ahead of the band's concerts in 2025.

But 12 hours after he received a confirmation email, he received another via Booking.com, cancelling his reservation because of a "technical error" and saying it could "no longer guarantee" a room.

A spokesperson for Booking.com said if it were aware of "practices that break our terms and conditions" by partner hotels, then action would be taken.

Mr Southall said he is in "limbo" trying to resolve his accommodation.

"Easyhotel got back said they couldn’t deal with the booking [but] I’ve got confirmation and a booking number from Booking.com, so realistically I could turn up."

The 52-year-old paid £236 and remains unsure whether he is booked or not, but the same room has since jumped to £597.

"I'm aware it's a supply and demand issue but if you're ahead of the game before they've hiked their prices up [I don't understand].

"I see they’re cashing in on it but it's a contract - they shouldn't be able to cancel it," he said.

The band will kick off their comeback tour on 4 and 5 July at the city's Principality Stadium. Tickets will go on sale on Saturday.

Booking.com said it had strict guidelines and codes of conduct and wouldn't hesitate to ask its partners to "act fairly and honour bookings" that had been confirmed to their "mutual customers", or "offer viable alternatives."

It added: "In cases where an accommodation is unable to honour a reservation we will intervene on behalf of the customer as a next step."