Soccer World Cup Fails to Boost Demand as U.S. Hotels Had Expected
Amid economic uncertainty and tensions between countries, international tourism continued to decline during the Trump administration. As a result, the significant revenue boost that many U.S. hotels had anticipated from the World Cup may not materialize. That’s according to CoStar, a well-known firm that tracks the hotel industry.
“We’re seeing much more subdued enthusiasm about hotel results” ahead of the World Cup, Jan Freitag, CoStar’s national director of hotel market analysis, wrote on LinkedIn on Thursday. He also shared a report from his company to better explain what’s happening.
According to Chantal Wu, senior director of hotel market analysis at CoStar, the tournament could help a little. However, that boost would be small. In June, revenue per available room nationwide is expected to rise by just 1.2%. Then, in July, it would rise by a mere 1.5%, she told Forbes.
But this estimate is lower than it was less than a month ago. At that time, CoStar and Tourism Economics projected that RevPAR would grow by 1.7% in June and July compared to the previous year. Even so, that figure already seemed weak. In fact, it was only a quarter of the boost hotels received when the United States hosted the 1994 World Cup.
Then a Sign Appeared that Shifted the Mood
“We’re much less optimistic about the World Cup now than we were three months ago,” Harry Carr, senior vice president of commercial optimization at Pivot Hotels & Resorts, told CoStar. This came after FIFA returned some of the rooms the company had reserved. What’s more, no one had booked a single room for the tournament.
HRI Lodging’s hotels in the Bay Area faced the same problem. According to Lior Sekler, the company’s commercial director, demand for the reserved room blocks was “very low.” In other words, there was almost no interest. In fact, only 15% of the rooms FIFA had reserved were occupied.
Even so, Freitag hasn’t lost all hope. In his LinkedIn post, he noted that June shows few bookings. However, he believes a “two-World Cup story” could unfold. By that, he meant that June might be weak, but July could be as good as or even better than expected if more people decide to travel as the tournament progresses.
The World Cup group stage runs from June 11 to 27. Not everything is decided during that phase. Additionally, twelve teams will participate that will not continue in the competition afterward.
And as the Excitement Builds, the Festivities Change Too
Usually, the excitement builds as the knockout stage begins on June 28. Then, every match matters more. And when a team is still in the running, many fans travel to the host cities even if they don’t have tickets, because they want to soak up the atmosphere, meet up with other fans, and enjoy the outdoor festivals.
But this time there’s another surprise. Although fan festivals were a major part of past World Cups, some U.S. cities are scaling them back or canceling them altogether. For example, New York and New Jersey canceled their festival in Jersey City. And that drew attention because they had previously said it would be open every day of the tournament, according to PBS.
You could also visit: