Transportation expenses<\/span> In some cities, demand was a key factor in being lower than expected. <\/p>\n“I think everyone was expecting a rush of bookings for the game, but there’s a lot going on around the world and the United States is involved, so the event unfolds differently for everyone,” said Michael Black, general manager of Manhattan’s Cloud One Hotel.<\/p>\n
Concerns about lower-than-expected bookings have also spread to Mexico, which is co-hosting the event with the United States and Canada. Hotels in Mexico City, where the tournament will open on June 11, are about 30-36% booked, according to the Ciudad Mexican Hotel Association.<\/p>\n
High price may be a factor<\/h2>\n
Many hotels raised their prices after the tournament schedule was announced, anticipating that soccer fans would pay exorbitant prices if they could get tickets to the matches.<\/p>\n
For example, near MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, a hotel that normally costs about $200 a night was advertising $800 for the nights before and after World Cup games in June. Ahead of the July 19 final, costs will soar to more than $1,300 a night.<\/p>\n
Ronan Ewein, executive director of Germany-based fan advocacy group Football Supporters Europe, said many veteran fans were probably still waiting for prices to come down.<\/p>\n
\u201cFans who are used to traveling for tournaments know this price will always go down,\u201d Evine said. \u201cThere are many examples of hotel owners regretting that their prices were too high and then panicking and lowering prices at the last minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that some may have already secured cheaper accommodation far from the stadium or through Airbnb or other short-term rental platforms. <\/p>\n
In fact, metropolitan areas around Kansas City, Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas\/Fort Worth, and Miami\/Fort Worth all saw an increase in short-term rental bookings compared to the same period last year, according to a recent report from AirDNA, a rental data company that tracks reservations on Airbnb and Vrbo. <\/p>\n
Airbnb announced last week that the number of guests it expects to stay in its rental properties during the Games is higher than initially expected, and is expected to eventually surpass even the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, the company’s biggest event in its history.<\/p>\n
unrealistic expectations<\/h2>\n
More than 5 million tickets have been sold for the tournament so far, of the more than 6 million expected for all 104 matches, FIFA said.<\/p>\n
Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, said many tournament attendees are tourists who require hotel accommodations, but global events like the World Cup tend to shy away from other types of visitors. <\/p>\n
“The general problem is that football tourists and expected crowds, high prices and security concerns are keeping regular business travel and tourism away,” he explained. <\/p>\n
Vijay Dandapani, president of the New York City Hotel Association, said summer bookings at city hotels are up slightly (about 10% from a year ago) but far from the windfall promised by FIFA and other tournament sponsors. <\/p>\n
In Vancouver, Canada, where seven games will be held, hotel occupancy is down compared to the same time last year, but the industry is optimistic that business will pick up closer to the games, said Paul Hawes, CEO of the British Columbia Hotel Association. <\/p>\n
In Kansas City, tourism officials are still trying to maintain record visitor numbers, even though about 90% of American Hotel and Lodging Association survey respondents reported lower-than-expected bookings.<\/p>\n
“Although hotel occupancy rates in Kansas City are not on the trajectory originally predicted by FIFA, there are positive indicators on the horizon for Kansas City,” said Derrick Detter, director of market research at VisitKC.<\/p>\n
John Boltz, CEO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a real estate investment firm that owns dozens of hotels across the country, is similarly upbeat.<\/p>\n
Overall, he said, many facilities in host cities are seeing increased occupancy compared to last year, but acknowledged that cities like Boston, which host more high-profile games, are doing better than cities like San Francisco, which host games that are less in demand. <\/p>\n
“We haven’t seen anything yet that would make us think it’s going to be worse than expected,” he said. “Maybe other people had higher expectations.”<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press writers David Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri, Carlos Rodriguez in Mexico City and Jim Morris in Vancouver contributed to this article. <\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Follow Philip Marcelo https:\/\/x.com\/philmarcelo<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Promised economic benefits world cup I haven’t done it matched expectationsAt least not yet in US hotels. Most of the 11 U.S. cities hosting the world’s most-watched sporting events had fewer hotel reservations than expected. According to the April survey According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. In several cities,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"\n
Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Promised economic benefits world cup I haven’t done it matched expectationsAt least not yet in US hotels. Most of the 11 U.S. cities hosting the world’s most-watched sporting events had fewer hotel reservations than expected. According to the April survey According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. In several cities,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-12T22:37:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/\",\"name\":\"Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F262F8b2Fe0364d56c97d310193e66b6813ad2Fbea44f1e98e74311bb8bb00c432a2eb7.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-12T22:37:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F262F8b2Fe0364d56c97d310193e66b6813ad2Fbea44f1e98e74311bb8bb00c432a2eb7.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F262F8b2Fe0364d56c97d310193e66b6813ad2Fbea44f1e98e74311bb8bb00c432a2eb7.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\",\"name\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","og_description":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Promised economic benefits world cup I haven’t done it matched expectationsAt least not yet in US hotels. Most of the 11 U.S. cities hosting the world’s most-watched sporting events had fewer hotel reservations than expected. According to the April survey According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. In several cities,","og_url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/","og_site_name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","article_published_time":"2026-05-12T22:37:26+00:00","author":"admin_ok9yktt6","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_ok9yktt6","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/","name":"Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F262F8b2Fe0364d56c97d310193e66b6813ad2Fbea44f1e98e74311bb8bb00c432a2eb7.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-12T22:37:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F262F8b2Fe0364d56c97d310193e66b6813ad2Fbea44f1e98e74311bb8bb00c432a2eb7.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F262F8b2Fe0364d56c97d310193e66b6813ad2Fbea44f1e98e74311bb8bb00c432a2eb7.jpeg","width":980,"height":653},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hotel-bookings-are-delayed-in-u-s-host-cities-as-world-cup-approaches\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hotel bookings are delayed in U.S. host cities as World Cup approaches"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/","name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","description":"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9","name":"admin_ok9yktt6","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_ok9yktt6"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/eplvip.com"],"url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}