Toronto Blue Jays fans had to first go up to bat to snag World Series tickets, battling against thousands of others to get a seat in the stands at face value.
Then some were hit with a curveball, as resale tickets cost thousands for even some 500-level seats and scams run rampant.
Now, out-of-town fans might strike out searching for an affordable hotel as prices in Toronto soar, particularly for hotels close to Rogers Centre.
For a one-night stay at the Toronto Marriott City Centre hotel for Game 1, the flexible rate for a queen bed guest room costs $1,754, and that price is nearly quintupled for a king bed guest room with a stadium view of Rogers Centre at $8,759. A month from now, when the World Series is over, the same rooms cost $271 and $310 per night.
Field room views started at $3,999 for the World Series and sold out in minutes, a spokesperson for Toronto Marriott City Centre confirmed to CTV News Toronto. For the American League Championship Series, the starting price for those rooms cost $2,999.
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Julie Shorrock, the director of sales and marketing for Toronto Marriott City Centre, said in a statement that pricing is determined by a number of factors, including demand levels associated with events.
“During periods of extremely high demand, like the excitement surrounding the World Series, room rates naturally reflect market conditions. It’s difficult to make direct comparisons between typical pricing and current rates, as hotel pricing ebbs and flows based on availability, demand, and the broader event landscape in the city,” Shorrock said in a statement.
What drives hotel costs is ultimately simple: supply and demand.
It is similar to how surge pricing works for Uber fares or dynamic pricing for tickets, Wayne Smith, director of the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at Toronto Metropolitan University, explained as hotel prices are based on variable pricing.
“As web searches for the city goes up, as the weather forecast, special events like the World Series, every single one of those (searches) is going to start rising the prices,” Smith said, noting artificial intelligence comes into play into how costs fluctuate. “Prices can change by the minute.”
Similar to how the Rogers Centre has limited seats available for baseball fans to catch a game, hotels are working with a set number of rooms.
“Some establishments are based on volume alone—take a look at all the bars and restaurants, they’re not adjusting their pricing, they’re going to make the money on volume,” Richard Powers, associate professor at Rotman School of Management, said in an interview.
“The hotels can’t do that because they have a limited number of rooms. Bars, they don’t have a limited number of drinks, the only thing they do have limits on is capacity.”
Combined with the first two games of the ALCS, Destination Toronto says there was a nine per cent increase in hotel demand compared to the same nights in 2024.
In the context of the World Series, hotels cost more the closer one gets to the Rogers Centre.
Looking through Expedia, a travel booking site, a Friday night stay at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel costs $1,133, Ace Hotel costs $1,151, and the Hyatt Regency Hotel costs $1,593, including taxes and fees.
For Oct. 31, when the Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers could play Game 6 back in Toronto, the same hotels currently cost $559, $703 and $1,699, respectively.
Airbnbs are also a bit costlier closer to the Rogers Centre, with prices starting at $794 for an apartment near Fort York to $1,650 for a place two minutes away from the stadium for Friday night.
The further away from the downtown core, Expedia’s prices appear to pare down with hotels near the airport, for example, costing between $173 and $419 for Friday night.
Powers said Toronto saw this happen when Taylor Swift performed “The Eras Tour” last November, as while downtown prices were costly, hotels outside of Toronto were more affordable.
“We have a very good public transit system, it can work, but you’re not going to get anything convenient to the Rogers Centre… unless you’re willing to pay,” Powers said.
It is unclear at this time whether the World Series will go the distance and whether potential Games 6 and 7 in Toronto will be played, but Smith said it could be worthwhile booking a hotel now that has a cancellation policy.
“You pay a slightly higher price for the cancellation rates, so that’s what I would do,” Smith said. “If you’re taking that risk, pay a slightly higher price, but make sure you have the cancellation rates, you’ll know 48 hours before.”
When it was the ALCS, Toronto Marriott City Centre said rooms are fully refundable if the series is clinched early.
The City of Toronto raised its hotel tax from six per cent to 8.5 per cent on June 1 this year to prepare for the influx of soccer fans coming to watch the FIFA World Cup in the city next year. This tax will stay in effect until July 31, 2026, and impacts both hotels and short-term rentals.
Are you a baseball fan travelling to Toronto to see one of the World Series games? We want to hear from you.
How much did your overall trip cost, from ticket prices to flights to hotels? Are you trying to be cost-effective or are you opting for convenience for where you’ll be staying in Toronto?
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Correction
A previous version of this story broke down Destination Toronto’s data of how high hotel demand for Games 1 and 2 in the ALCS and the ALDS. However, it did not accurately reflect the most up-to-date data for these select postseason games at home.
