A Eurovision fan tried to book a ‘prison room’ for the contest without realising the listing was a joke made by escape room organisers, Escape Live.
The demand for accommodation skyrocketed after Liverpool was announced as the host city with prices surging to upwards of £700 for a single night. Escape Live, based in Liverpool ONE, decided to make light of the situation by listing one of its rooms on Airbnb, offering the chance to book its Prison Break room for the night.
The room, which normally challenges players to solve a series of clues to escape within an hour, was listed as a place to stay, offering amenities such as a lock on the door and security cameras.
The listing was a dream come true for one fan who decided to make a booking despite the clear admission there was no kitchen, TV, hairdryer or washing machine included and priced at £1,000. Management had to step in to let the fan down lightly and admit, while flattered their room was appealing, it was all in good jest ahead of the contest.
Alex Sandham of Escape Live said: “The level of interest in Eurovision has been incredible and it has led to hotel bookings going through the roof.
“We decided we’d have a bit of fun with it and added our Prison Break room to Airbnb as a bit of a joke. But, within a few hours of it going live, someone had tried to book it for £1,000 for the night.
“Yes, there is a bed in the room but I’m not sure how comfy it would be and there’s also a loo – but it’s just a prop so not one where we’d want to encourage anyone to actually do their business.
“It has been good fun and provided us all with a bit of a laugh but we have to admit that we won’t really be booking it out for the night.
“However, if people who are in the city for a few days around the time of Eurovision want to come and play one of our games – from Peaky Blinders through to Horrible Histories – they need to act fast because we are expecting to be fully booked for the whole weekend.”
