The 2026 FIFA World Cup is only a few months away, with games scheduled for cities across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico from June 11 to July 19. But as the games draw closer, hotels in host cities are not seeing the expected increases in occupancy and rate—yet.
In mid-March, FIFA canceled “thousands” of hotel room reservations. Ed Grose, the CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, told NBC10 the Association canceled approximately 2,000 reservations from the 10,000 it had previously made in the city.
Demand and Supply
Chantal Wu, a senior director of hospitality market analytics at CoStar, told Forbes that lodging demand in the U.S. during the tournament is expected to boost revenue per available room nationally by 1.2 percent in June and 1.5 percent in July. This is a decrease from February, when CoStar and Tourism Economics projected a 1.7 percent RevPAR increase from the games. CoStar and Tourism Economics currently expect the games to contribute approximately 0.4 percent growth to full-year U.S. RevPAR, down from 0.6 percent in February.
Ten of the 11 U.S. host cities for the World Cup are included in STR’s top 25 markets, underscoring the event’s concentration in the country’s largest hotel markets. As of February, those host markets were expected to see a RevPAR gain of 3.8 percent for the year and 12.7 percent in June/July. For comparison, when the U.S. last hosted the World Cup in 1994, host cities collectively saw June/July RevPAR rise 11.9 percent.
Jan Freitag, CoStar's national director of hospitality analytics, noted that many citywide events book more hotel rooms than they will ultimately need, and release the rooms a few months out. This release—known as “the wash”—was “just a little bit more than people had anticipated” for the World Cup, he said.
AHLA President and CEO Rosanna Maietta said that the World Cup could be a “significant demand driver” for the hotel industry, with forward-looking data suggesting year-over-year increases in both demand and revenue per available room. That said, she acknowledged that some members have reported actualized bookings “below initial forecasts,” and despite “unprecedented” ticket demand with more than 2 million tickets sold, “this enthusiasm has not fully translated into strong hotel bookings. FIFA’s room block cancellations in markets like Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Seattle have offset demand gains and pressured net booking volumes in major host city markets.”
“What we're seeing is a dilution of [average daily rate] since FIFA released all of those blocks back,” Carmen Almos, CEO of Ashburton Hospitality Advisors, told Hotel Management. Ashburton Hospitality has worked with hotels in the markets of Houston, Atlanta and Philadelphia—markets that all will be hosting games once the World Cup kicks off.
Almos noted that hoteliers in host cities had been counting on an influx for the games, making deals and setting budgets around locked demand, strong compression and easy rate growth. Many hotels close to host stadiums implemented length-of-stay policies on guestrooms during the tournament, Almos said, with many requiring bookings of two to three nights with costs as high as $700 per night.
With only a few months to go before the games begin, not only have the night requirements been eliminated, Almos said, but hoteliers are lowering rates, with some downtown properties now asking $300 per night. “I think we'll see more discounts on offer … as we get closer to the games,” she added. “If you were [counting] on the World Cup really bolstering your performance for 2026, it's not going to be a windfall. It's just going to be a tiny bit of gravy.”
Cause & Effect
Almos sees a lack of demand as the overarching challenge, and noted that some hotels in host cities are at 10 percent occupancy for game days. This puts additional pressure on hotels that are farther out from the stadiums, which are less likely to raise their rates until the city-center properties do. “There's just no pickup for the games right now,” she said, musing that ticket prices to games may be keeping potential guests away. “Until FIFA starts dropping ticket prices, we are not going to see demand grow for those gains.”
Along the same lines, Freitag noted that FIFA has reduced ticket prices for games that have not seen “tremendous” demand. “So that's going to be interesting to see—if that, then, ultimately helps drive demand for tickets, and maybe then for some room demand.”
Maietta suggested that some fans are waiting to book until they know where their favorite teams will play. “We have heard from our members that actualized bookings are below initial forecasts, but we expect that to shift as we get closer to the games.”
Almos also expressed hope that demand will improve as the games draw closer. “Revenue management is going to be key, because you need to be shopping in these markets daily to understand what's happening from a demand perspective,” she said.
Maietta acknowledged that the cancellations are “an undesirable development,” especially as the participating hotels had “invested substantial time and resources into securing those room block contracts.” The cancellations also complicate decisions around event-related investments, she added. “Some members had been planning special World Cup activations like fan zones, themed food and beverage offerings, and other FIFA-related experiences. With bookings falling behind expectations, members are reassessing whether those investments still make sense.”
Even with the cancellations, Maietta said the association remains optimistic that the games will boost hotel occupancy. “As the match schedule is finalized and fans learn where their teams will play, we expect bookings to accelerate,” she said. “We are a resilient industry and are able to pivot to adjust expectations on site.”