StubHub Launches FestProtect to Compensate Fans Who Face Issues at Festivals

StubHub, the major secondhand ticket market, has introduced FestProtect, a new element of its FanProtect Guarantee specifically geared towards music festivals. Attendees who purchase festival tickets through StubHub will be able to request benefits if the event faces significant issues.

How it works:

• Issues relevant to FestProtect include weather cancellations, artist dropouts, overlapping set times, long lines, and overcrowding.

• These issues are designated with a tier system.

• The most severe issues, like major artist dropouts, are in tier 1. If this happens at a festival, fans can receive future tickets to the festival or tickets to a show from the artist who didn’t perform.

• Tier 2 includes moderate issues such as overlapping set times, which can lead to remediation of tickets attached to conflicted artists.

• Commonplace festival issues, like blocked views, are in tier 3. Requests made in this tier could receive practical benefits, such as ticket upgrades to the current event.

• Claims are made through the FestProtect platform with a proof of purchase and evidence of the issue, such as a social media post announcing an artist dropout.

• No requests are guaranteed to receive any benefits.

Why it matters:

• With the rise of social media, festival issues are becoming far more widely known, which creates much greater pressure on promoters to address fans' concerns.

• For example, Griztronics issued refunds to everyone who camped due to extremely long entry lines.

• Bonnaroo offered full refunds to 2025 attendees after canceling the entire festival due to weather

What they said:

• Jill Gonzalez, StubHub’s Head of Consumer, Product and Tech Communications: “You should never feel bad about crossing this [festival] off your bucket list or seeing the artists you’ve been waiting to see for years. You should be happy with that experience through and through. It’s about showing up for fans.”