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Vitaly Malakhov, of Theatre on Podil, had secured the support of a private sponsor and wanted to know more about the Fringe before deciding whether to bring his company over.

After weighing up the pros and cons he decided to come and asked me if I could help find accommodation in the city for him and his theatre group, to which I readily agreed.

My first port of call was to speak to the then director of the Fringe, Hilary Strong, who advised me that her office maintained a register of available accommodation, all of which had to be within a modest price range.

So, armed with a handful of addresses I embarked upon an inspection exercise to see if any of them met my requirements. One in particular caught my eye as it was able to accommodate up to eight people- or so it claimed.

Situated in a city centre mews it seemed ideal, quiet, secluded and within walking distance of the space where the company was due to perform.

Imagine my surprise when the landlord showed me around this modest sized flat and when I questioned the number it was able to accommodate he indicated that there was sufficient space for four people to sleep on the floor. This was his way of maximising his income as he charged per person per night.

Suffice to say I declined his offer and advised Hilary accordingly, who immediately removed that address from the Fringe register.

Around the same time I met with a representative of the Edinburgh hotel industry in the City Chambers and when I questioned the policy of some hotels hiking their prices up by indefensible amounts when the Fringe was on, he remarked that these tariffs reflected the normal nightly rates and that hotels actually dropped their prices outwith the summer months - all with a straight face!

I say all this because it was clearly evident that accommodation costs were massively inflated during the summer festival season, with performers and visitors quite literally paying the price - a practice which is still unfortunately the case today.

Yesterday’s Evening News covered this year’s Fringe Festival in some detail, highlighting that it has been a resounding success, but it also carried a note of caution from the chief executive of the Fringe, Tony Lankester.

He said that, “For 79 years, the Fringe has thrived because of the creativity, grit and resilience of the Fringe community” and “what we all agree on is the need to keep the Fringe affordable for artists, venues and audiences - protecting its reputation as a global marketplace.”

While the introduction of the visitor levy should help (if the monies accrued are channelled in the right direction) more needs to be done to level out the playing field on overnight accommodation.

But if hotels and landlords continue to ignore the warnings from festival stakeholders, there is a real danger that they might kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

The best time to take stock is when you are on top. Edinburgh’s festivals are too important to the city for them to be threatened by complacency!