Accommodations scarce in Saskatoon for Garth Brooks weekend

Ever since Garth Brooks announced six concerts in Saskatoon, hotel staff have been swamped with phone calls from concert-goers looking for a room.

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Some early birds were able to secure rooms, but others weren't so lucky according to Courtney Morrison, vice-president of the Saskatoon Hotels Association.

"A lot of people were turned away after all of the concerts were announced for the Friday and Saturday night, and we have extensive waiting lists," Morrison said. "Every single hotel is very busy preparing for a busy weekend in Saskatoon."

She added this is the weekend hotels will likely be heavily staffed, as each hotel expects to see a lot of guests checking in and out over the next four days.

"Many of the guests checking in on Friday are checking out on Saturday, so the hotels are preparing for a full turnover on each day," she said.

"Everything is booked solid but you never know, some people do cancel and things come up, but as it stands right now it seems that everyone is pretty booked up."

Business opportunity

While hotel rooms are scarce, a Saskatoon businessman is taking advantage renting out space at Gordie Howe Campground, where he's made a row of campers available for rent.

Dean Grieman owns Greenlight Camper Rentals, and after hearing about the shortage of accommodations in hotels in the city, he found a chance to make a buck.

"I heard that all the hotels were getting booked up and I thought why not book some campsites at Gordie Howe Campground and rent out some campers that are currently sitting idle right now," he said.

He's renting campers to a family making the trip from Taber, Alta., and another family driving up from Regina.

Grieman said he's heard people are finding hotel rooms outside of Saskatoon as far out as Aberdeen, Sask.