The men in black are set to face the Irish at Forsyth Barr Stadium in the second match of a three-test series on July 9, but accommodation across the city is proving scarce ahead of tickets going on sale to the general public next Tuesday.
Online accommodation booking websites checked yesterday did not show any rooms available in Dunedin for the night of the test match.
Airbnb showed three rooms available in the city for the night, two in North Dunedin and one in Abbotsford.
Further afield a room in Mosgiel was available and a campsite in Ocean View.
Dunedin i-Site general manager Louise van de Vlierd said her team had been fielding a steady stream of inquiries about accommodation for the rugby match, but they had been able to provide options to fans.
However, these options were less likely to be in the centre of the city.
"The advantage of being a small city, Mosgiel accommodation is only 15 minutes’ drive away.
"If you were in Wellington or Auckland, or even Christchurch, you would feel like you were in the centre of the city at 15 minutes drive off."
There were also still options available in surrounding areas such as on Otago Peninsula or in Karitane and Waikouaiti in the North.
She had been with the i-Site for many years now, and had never seen an event where Dunedin completely ran out of accommodation options.
"Right to the last minute, and on the day. It might not always be what people want, but there’s always been something, there’s always been a bed."
It was likely that some rooms would open up again in the city, as it was likely that people will have booked rooms before they had secured tickets to the match.
These rooms would likely be cancelled if they were unable to buy a ticket.
Otago Motel Association president Pete Firns, who runs the Great King St motel, said bookings had been very strong for the weekend of the test match at his establishment.
"We have no vacancies left for the Saturday anyway.
"Some will book a Friday and a Saturday, others book a Saturday and Sunday, so the one in the middle gets booked out."
He had turned a lot of potential customers away already, and was maintaining a waiting list, although he had stopped adding new names to this.
"It just gives them false hope."
The rugby match was part of a general rebound of the accommodation sector in Dunedin, with bookings in the domestic and business sectors starting to flow again, Mr Firns said.
Forthcoming university graduation ceremonies over the next few weeks had also been good for motel bookings.
