The Fringe (A Host's Guide)




What is the Fringe?


The Fringe is 'The world's greatest platform for creative freedom'.


Every year thousands of performers take to hundreds of stages all over Edinburgh to present shows for every taste. From big names in the world of entertainment to unknown artists looking to build their careers, the Fringe caters for everyone and includes theatre, comedy, dance, physical theatre, circus, cabaret, children's shows, musicals, opera, music, spoken word, exhibitions and events.


With around 54,000 performances of 3,500 shows in 300+ venues there are quite literally thousands of reasons to visit the Fringe.


 

Who are TheatreDigsBooker?


TheatreDigsBooker is the No.1 online accommodation resource for the UK's theatre industry. Our small team works with more than 7,000+ Hosts across the UK to provide affordable, flexible, reliable and trustworthy accommodation for theatre professionals.


TheatreDigsBooker consists of a small but highly motivated and friendly company led by Phil Barley. Phil is both an actor and a singer, who has toured, on and off, for over eight years. His tours have taken him across the UK, Europe and the USA, experiencing the best and worst of what it is to be a touring company member, along with regular reminders of how important the living situation can be.


See here for more information on: Why TheatreDigsBooker was formed.



What is happening this year in Edinburgh?


TheatreDigsBooker is the official online accommodation partner for this year's Fringe and we have worked closely with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society to help provide affordable accommodation to all participants of the Fringe.


We have created a Fringe digs collection for all our Edinburgh Hosts, new and old, to make it easier for Guests to find affordable digs. Everybody taking part in the Fringe will receive access to this list, resulting in 1000's of potential Guests looking at Hosts' digs listings for the duration of the Fringe.



How do I join the Fringe List? 


New to Hosting on TheatreDigsBooker?


We'd love to have you on board with us! To be on our list, you will first need to Register as a Host


Please see our guide on How to register as a Host.



We advise all our Hosts to look into how we work as we are different from other booking sites. The following are some helpful articles:


How does it work

How does the payment process work?

What about insurance and legal issues?

Why do you charge 10% commission? (For Hosts)



Already an existing Host on TheatreDigsBooker?


To be a Fringe Host, Hosts are required to observe the price-bound rates*. If your digs already meet this criteria, you don't have to do a thing. You will automatically appear on our list so sit back, relax and wait for the potential bookings to roll in!


If you wish to amend your prices for the Fringe, then please Login and click edit digs.  See our help article on How do I set my prices?

 


Short Term Letting Licence


Do I need a Short Term Letting Licence to Host performers during the Fringe festival?  

 

Edinburgh council is allowing applications for temporary exemptions for Short Term Licences for up to 6 weeks at a time which could unduring the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  If you don’t have a Short Term Letting Licence and you still want to offer Digs to performers then you can apply for a full licence or one of these temporary exemptions for the Short Term Lets Licence.  For more information on this please click to Edinburgh Council’s Short Term Lets FAQs and look in particular at Question 8.  To apply for this exemption please visit Edinburgh Council’s Short Term Lets page and apply online. 



Can I continue to be a Host after the Fringe has ended and my temporary exemption has expired?


You can continue to be a Host after your temporary exemption document has expired if you apply for a Short Term Lets Licence.  To see more information about this please visit Scottish Government Short Term Lets: regulation information page. 


To see how to apply please visit the Scottish Government How to apply for a Short Term Let Licence page


Why is there a maximum price requirement?


TheatreDigsBooker was set up to help touring professionals experience safe and affordable accommodation whilst on tour.  As our Guests are travelling for work purposes (and often on a limited budget), we feel that it would be unfair to promote the increase of digs prices during times that are likely to be expensive. For this reason, our Fringe digs collection will only show digs that meet the price-bound rate* criteria.



Will my digs be vetted for the Fringe List?


We do not physically 'vet' or inspect digs ourselves. Even if we could get to all of our 7000+ Hosts personally, a quick visit and look around is nowhere near as good as actually staying for a night or more. 


Instead, we rely heavily on our Guests to provide feedback by writing booking reviews after they have stayed in digs. We also ask for feedback if Guests need to say anything that they don't feel comfortable writing in a publicly viewable review. 


TheatreDigsBooker also tries to call every new Host who lists their digs on the site, which helps us to ensure that our Guests are being provided with clean and safe accommodation. For the Fringe, TheatreDigsBooker will monitor digs that are on the list to ensure they not only meet our sites standard requirements (see here: The Host's Checklist) but also to ensure they meet the price-bound rate* set for this list.


See here for more information on: How do you 'vet' digs?


We have also introduced our own Code of Conduct for both Hosts and Guests to help our Hosts and Guests gain a full understanding of what is expected from each other in order to enhance and improve our service for all.  Our Code of Conduct is based on our key principles of; 
 

Respect, Honesty & Accuracy and Clear Communication. 

For more information you can also read:
Our Code of Conduct (and why we need one).



Why can't I see my digs on the list? 


If your digs do meet the requirements for the Fringe but are not on the list please contact us by emailing support@theatredigsbooker.com.


We are available Monday to Friday, 9am -5pm.


What happens after the Fringe? 


Once the Fringe is over, Hosts will have the option to either remain on our site, (we welcome artists throughout the year), deactivate their digs listing until next year or we can delete you from our lists entirely. We will keep you listed as a Host on our site unless you have manually removed your listing (see here: How To Remove Your Listing) or get in touch with us via email (support@theatredigsbooker.com) to remove you from our site.


*Price-bound rates: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society recommend a rate of between £100 - £200 per person per week (a £300 price cap will apply). 



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