Six Nations 2027 at Murrayfield for hostsSix Nations 2027 at Murrayfield: a host's guide.

Three home games in five weeks, one of them on a Friday night. Here's the longer version for hosts: the full calendar, who books, how to price it, and how to keep the stair on side.

01Six Nations 2027 calendar for Edinburgh hosts: home and away

The home games are the ones that fill Edinburgh, but the away weekends matter too. When Scotland play abroad, some local fans travel with them, and the city can be quieter than you'd expect for a Six Nations weekend.

The women's Six Nations comes to Edinburgh too

Scotland's women open their 2027 Six Nations against Ireland at Murrayfield on Saturday 10 April, 5pm. They then play Italy on 8 May and Wales on 15 May at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh. These are smaller weekends than the men's games, but they're worth marking in your calendar.

At the time of writing, Scottish Rugby says tickets for the 2027 men's tournament aren't yet on sale, and sale dates will be confirmed later. Guests often book somewhere to stay as soon as they have tickets, so expect enquiries to follow the on-sale dates. If you're a fan rather than a host, our accommodation near Murrayfield page is the one for you.

02Who books an Edinburgh rugby weekend, and what they ask

Rugby guests are some of the easiest guests to look after, as long as you know what they want before they ask.

Who they are

• Groups of friends sharing a home, often four to eight people, who want enough proper beds more than a big living room.
• Visiting fans from Italy, Wales and Ireland, many arriving by train into Haymarket or by tram from the airport.
• Families making a weekend of it, especially for the Saturday afternoon games.
• Scots from outside the city who'd rather stay over than chase the last train home.

What they ask

• "Can we leave our bags before check-in?"
• "How do we walk to the stadium, and how long does it take?"
• "Where can we watch the other games?"
• "Is there parking?"
• "Can we check out a bit later on Sunday?"

Answer these in your listing and your pre-arrival message and you'll save yourself a lot of messages. Say clearly how many beds there are and how they're made up. Groups read that line more carefully than anything else.

If early check-in or late check-out is possible, offer it once you know the cleaning plan works. On a match weekend with back-to-back bookings, it often isn't, and it's kinder to say so up front than to disappoint on the day. Our Guest Message & House Manual Kit has wording for both.

Homes in Haymarket and Dalry, Tollcross and the West End and Murrayfield and Corstorphine feel this demand first, but the Old Town and the New Town fill too.

03Pricing a Six Nations weekend in Edinburgh: step by step

The most common mistake we see on rugby weekends isn't pricing too high. It's pricing like any other February weekend, then being full months ahead at a rate that should have been for a wet Tuesday.

1. Open the dates now. If your calendar only looks a few months ahead, match weekends can't be booked by the people who plan earliest. Open them, but price them as events from the start.
2. Price each night on its own. The Friday before a Saturday game and the Saturday itself are worth more than the Sunday. The Thursday before the Ireland game is worth more than an ordinary Thursday.
3. Set the minimum stay. Two or three nights over match weekends, and Thursday to Sunday as a block for 5 March. Short gaps between bookings are hard to fill in February.
4. Price for the group. If your home sleeps six, set an extra-guest charge so a group of six pays more than a couple.
5. Watch the pace. If a weekend fills months ahead, it was probably too cheap. If it's empty three weeks out, look again.
6. Count the costs. The 5% Visitor Levy, the cleaning fee and platform fees all come off what you keep. Our earnings calculator shows a sensible yearly figure for your home.

We don't quote nightly prices in blog posts, because they change by home and by area. Typical prices by area are on our Airbnb management page.

For homes we manage, every night is priced with PriceLabs and checked by a person, rugby weekends included. If you host yourself, our tools, tips and tricks for self-hosts covers the pricing tools worth using. Either way, the autumn internationals in November 2026 are a good test: look at what booked, when, and at what price, then set February with that in mind.

04The Friday-night Ireland match: planning Thursday to Sunday

Friday 5 March 2027, 8:10pm, is the first Friday-night Six Nations match at Murrayfield. That changes the shape of the weekend, and hosts who plan for an ordinary Saturday game will find it doesn't fit.

How the weekend runs

• Thursday: early arrivals, especially from Ireland. Many will want the Thursday night so they have the whole of Friday in the city.
• Friday: a working day for your neighbours, then a late kick-off. Guests come back late, after midnight for many.
• Saturday: a slow morning, then a day in town. Some groups stay the extra night.
• Sunday: check-outs, often slow ones.

What to do differently

• Sell Thursday to Sunday as a block. A three-night minimum keeps the weekend whole, and stops a single Friday night stranding the nights around it.
• Plan the Friday arrivals. Guests arriving on Friday want to drop bags and go. Clear self check-in instructions, sent ahead, matter more than usual.
• Brief guests about the late return. Friday is a school night for the stair. A short, friendly note about coming in quietly works better than a long list of rules.
• Book the clean for Sunday or Monday. Cleaners are busy across the city that weekend. Confirm early.

Visiting fans usually start at accommodation near Murrayfield and compare walking times, so say in your listing how far you are from the stadium and from Haymarket station.

05Check-in, keys and late arrivals on Murrayfield match days

Match days put pressure on the parts of hosting nobody notices on a quiet week: keys, arrivals and the first ten minutes in the home.

Before they arrive

• Send the check-in details the day before, not on the morning. Trains and flights run late on big weekends.
• Include the walk or tram to the stadium, and how long it takes from your door.
• Say where bags can go if they arrive early, or say honestly that they can't come in before check-in time.
• Add the quiet hours and the guest limit to the same message, calmly and plainly.

On the day

• Self check-in avoids the 'stuck outside in the rain' message. Check the lockbox or smart lock the day before.
• Leave spare toilet roll, bin bags and extra towels where a group will find them. Six people use more than two.
• Make sure the heating is on and the instructions are by the thermostat. February in Edinburgh is cold, and groups come back wet.

When something goes wrong

Something always does on a big weekend: a lost key, a blown fuse, a boiler that sulks. Decide in advance who answers at 11pm. For homes we manage, our guest team answers from 9am to midnight, with an emergency line through the night. If you're self-hosting, it's you, so keep a plumber's and a locksmith's number to hand. It's one of the reasons owners look at handing over some of the hosting.

The what every Edinburgh host should know guide has a fuller list of what to have in place before the busy dates.

06Keeping the tenement stair on side over match weekends

Most homes near Haymarket, Dalry and the West End are flats on a shared stair. The neighbours didn't choose to live next to a rugby weekend, and how you handle it decides whether they see short lets as a problem or a fact of city life.

Before the weekend

• Set the guest limit to match the licence. Your short-term let licence sets the maximum number of guests. Don't let a group of eight squeeze into a home licensed for six.
• Turn on the noise monitor and check it's reporting. It measures sound levels, not conversations, and it lets you step in before a neighbour has to.
• Give neighbours a number. If they know who to call, they'll call you rather than the council.

During the weekend

• Send a short message on the evening of the match, with a reminder about the stair.
• If the monitor flags noise, message the guests straight away. Most groups quieten down once they know someone is paying attention.
• Keep a note of what happened and what you did. If a neighbour does complain, you can show you acted.

After it

Bins out on the right day, the stair clean, nothing left on the landing. It's a small thing, but it's what neighbours remember.

Our page for neighbours of short lets explains how we handle this for the homes we manage, and short-letting a tenement flat in Edinburgh goes deeper on stairs, shared repairs and keeping good relations.

07Licence, temporary exemptions and the levy on rugby weekends

Busy weekends tempt people who don't normally host. It's worth knowing the rules before you list a spare room or your own flat for the Ireland game.

Every short let needs a licence

Since 1 October 2023, every short let in Scotland has needed a licence, even for a single weekend. There are routes for occasional hosting: a temporary exemption or a temporary licence can cover up to six weeks, which can include a big event. Our page on temporary exemptions and temporary licences explains which fits and how long each takes. Leave yourself time; these aren't same-week applications.

If you live in the home and let it while you're away for the weekend, that's home letting. If it's a room in your home with you there, it's home sharing. Both are covered on our licensing pages. A home that isn't your main home also needs planning permission in Edinburgh, because the whole city has been a short-term let control area since 5 September 2022.

The Visitor Levy

Stays in the City of Edinburgh from 24 July 2026 include a 5% levy on the accommodation for the first five nights. A Thursday-to-Sunday rugby stay is well within that, so the levy applies to every night. It doesn't apply in East Lothian. Our Visitor Levy guide for hosts covers how to show it and return it.

08After the final whistle: reviews, cleaning and the rest of spring

The weekend isn't finished when the guests leave. What happens on Sunday and Monday shapes the reviews, and the reviews shape the next booking.

The turnaround

• Check the home properly after a group stay: under the beds, the oven, the bathroom extractor and the bins.
• Photograph anything broken before you fix it. Most damage on rugby weekends is accidental, and platforms ask for evidence.
• Restock for six, not for two, if the next booking is another group.

What comes next

After 5 March the rugby calendar moves away from Edinburgh, and spring city breaks take over. The women's games in April and May bring smaller weekends. Then graduations, the summer and the Fringe. Our blog follows the Edinburgh year month by month, so you can plan the next busy date before it arrives.

If you'd rather someone else did all of this, the pricing, the messages, the stair and the Sunday clean, that's what our short-let management is for. Our fee is from 15% + VAT of net booking revenue, which is 18% with VAT, and the pricing page shows every tier. New owners who sign a one-year agreement by 31 December 2026 pay 10% + VAT for their first four months. If you'd like to see the numbers for your own home first, book a short call or tell us about your property.

Rather talk it through?

Book a 15-minute call with one of the co-founders, or get a free plan for your home: what it could earn, the licence route and every cost.