Taylor Swift sells out Boston H๏τels, trains and brunches

Taylor Swift is coming to Mᴀssachusetts this weekend, and her fans have scooped up H๏τel rooms and sold out commuter trains.

It’s been a long time coming, but Taylor Swift is back in the Bay State and she has completely sold out Boston—even though she’s performing 30 miles away in Foxborough.

Concerts can be great for a local economy. Nationally, concerts and the live entertainment industry generated a total fiscal impact of $17.5 billion in 2019, according to a study done by Oxford Economics. According to the report, if an out-of-town attendee were to spend $100 on a concert ticket, the local economy would benefit from an additional $334.92 in spending, resulting in a total spending impact of $434.92.

When tickets went on sale, general admission prices for the tour started at $49 and went up to $449, and VIP packages started at $199. But the 52-concert tour sold out instantly, leading many Bostonians to turn to the secondary market.

Nahomie Rodríguez-Sastre, 28, got a single ticket through StubHub, a ticket resale company, last week for $945, which came to $1234 after fees.

“Even though I was hoping for less, I went for it because I would’ve been more upset if I had to miss the concert,” she said.

“People were just starving for that experience to be able to go see their favorite artist on stage,” said John Simon, program director for the Business and Entertainment Program at American University’s Kogod School of Business. For Taylor Swift’s fans, it’s a whole other level.

“There’s a small amount of people in this work that can have the effect that Taylor Swift does. People are going to travel to see where where she is, because it’s worth it,” Simon said.

Sold-out H๏τels
Swifties from all over will be attending the sold-out concerts at Gillette Stadium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for her Eras tour.

Mary Lynne Loftus, 24, is traveling from Montreal, Canada for the concert, and her friend Hawa Maiga, 25, is traveling all the way from London, England to see the Eras tour.

“When I purchased the tickets, I was in Bamako, Mali (600 miles from Timbuktu),” Maiga said.

Loftus and Maiga will be staying at a H๏τel close to Logan airport because H๏τels in the city were already booked—Swifties have scooped up many H๏τel rooms in Foxborough and Boston during the already-busy college graduation season.

At the Hilton Garden Inn right near Gillette, rooms have been sold out for all three days for weeks, said Kylee Duah, the front office manager at the H๏τel.

“This is my first time experiencing a concert that’s three days in a row,” Duah said. When artists have stints in Gillette, they are usually one or two night stays. Swift’s three-day stay is affecting the H๏τel’s staffing, as Duah has to have “all hands on deck” for all three days, she said.

In Boston, the Liberty Hotel is fully booked for all three days, said Mark Fischer, general manager at the H๏τel. In celebration of the concert, the H๏τel also has a Taylor Swift-themed menu, with drinks named after her songs like “champagne problems,” a gin-based cocktail with cotton candy on top.

Packed trains, sold-out brunches
Days before Swift’s arrival, transportation to Gillette Stadium has already sold out. The MBTA announced that they would run special commuter trains between Gillette and Boston, as well as Providence on the nights of the concert. The first set of train tickets sold out very quickly, the MBTA said.

Then, last week, the MBTA released a second set of 3,230 additional tickets through its app. The Boston train tickets sold out in less than 90 seconds and the app reached a peak of 20,000 requests per minute to purchase these tickets, according to the MBTA.

Restaurants are also capitalizing on the buzz of the Eras tour. Near Gillette, Scorpion Bar expects to be “wall-to-wall” with customers in its 420-occupancy restaurant, said Joe Mazzei, director of marketing for Big Night, which owns and operates Scorpion Bar.

Summer Shack, with locations in Boston and Cambridge, is hosting a Taylor Swift drag themed brunch on Saturday and Sunday, said Vanessa Bitton director of operations.

The brunches are almost completely sold out, and people are even are seeking resale tickets.

“That’s when you know you’ve made it,” Bitton said.

The restaurant expects 500 Swifties at its Cambridge location and 300 at its Boston location.