Hospitality industry expected record occupancy, raised prices and banked on billions in tourism, but soaring ticket prices, less attractive teams and Trump-era politics have left rooms empty as fans seek cheaper motels and Airbnbs outside citiesThe host cities for the World Cup, which kicks off next month in the United States, Canada and Mexico, needed some convincing to take on this major headache. In the end, what did the trick was the lure of the promised economic incentive. The largest World Cup in history, with 48 participating teams, will bring 104 matches, and when FIFA President Gianni Infantino promised those cities "104 Super Bowls," that was enough. 3 View gallery Donald Trump (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)The Super Bowl brings the host city about $1 billion in profit on average and gives it a major prestige boost, so what city would not want to host three or four Super Bowls in a single month? In all, FIFA promised, the World Cup is expected to generate an unprecedented $30.5 billion in economic output.Eleven American cities jumped on the bandwagon, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas and San Francisco, and thousands of hotels began sprucing themselves up. But just before kickoff, fears of an economic flop for everyone are becoming real. Actually, not for everyone. FIFA still expects unprecedented revenue for the organization, between $11 billion and $13 billion, compared with about $7.5 billion from the last World Cup in Qatar, mainly from partnerships with the world’s largest corporations and broadcasting rights. But the encounter between FIFA’s greed and American capitalism in its most distorted form has produced a World Cup for the rich only. At the moment, at least, they should have no trouble finding a hotel room.The tense political atmosphere, the war against Iran, the cost of living, gas prices and the endless abundance of events competing for Americans’ attention have all combined in recent months to create a sense that the World Cup is not taking off in the United States. 3 View gallery FIFA President Gianni Infantino (Photo: AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)Nearly 80% of hotels in the 11 U.S. host cities told a survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association that bookings are below original forecasts. According to the AHLA report, bookings are not merely low, they are "far" below expectations in almost every host city. AHLA is the largest hotel association in the United States, representing more than 80% of all hotels, and its report said "the current situation does not align with FIFA’s statement that more than 5 million tickets have been sold, and creates a risk that the expected economic success will not materialize."A study commissioned by FIFA and published last year predicted that the World Cup could create 185,000 jobs in the United States and add $17.2 billion to gross domestic product. Hotels planned according to those estimates, but now it seems that will not happen, partly because of FIFA, a cynical and greedy organization, and apparently not a particularly smart one either.As before every tournament, FIFA reserved large blocks of rooms in various hotels for organization staff, media personnel and other stakeholders. As the tournament approaches, FIFA adjusts the bookings according to demand. This time, it turned out that demand was not especially high, and FIFA began canceling rooms en masse. According to AHLA, nearly 70% of FIFA’s room reservations were canceled in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle.The problem is that FIFA’s original bookings in all the cities shaped hotels’ revenue forecasts and preparations, created artificial demand and concealed the fact that the flow of tourists would be lower than expected. The AHLA report does indeed place at least partial blame on FIFA. "Hotels spent years preparing and made significant investments based on FIFA’s official projections," the report said, arguing that soccer’s global governing body created false demand. That move, AHLA says, led to artificially high hotel room pricing, and FIFA's cancellation of a large number of prebooked rooms has left a massive vacuum of empty rooms. So far, those rooms are not being filled, either because they are too expensive or because tourists simply do not want to come to the United States right now, not even for the World Cup.FIFA rejected AHLA’s claims and said it had acted according to agreements signed with hotel chains. According to the organization, all room releases followed the contractually agreed timelines with the hotels, a standard practice for an event of this scale. FIFA also said that in many cases, rooms were released earlier than required in response to requests from hotels. That response is ridiculous and once again proves that FIFA does not understand that it is the major problem in the event it is responsible for.Hotels that took part in the AHLA survey said ticket prices, travel costs and the tense political situation in the United States are deterring visitors. Some described the tournament as a "non-event." In four major host cities — Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle — nearly 80% of hoteliers said bookings were weak even compared with a typical summer. About two-thirds of hotels in New York are also reporting bookings at the level of a "regular summer."In Los Angeles, more than 65% of respondents said room bookings were below estimated demand, and even lower than in a normal summer. According to the report, FIFA canceled thousands of hotel rooms in downtown Los Angeles, a city in particular need of this kind of lifeline. Los Angeles is in a tourism crisis and was counting on the World Cup-2028 Olympics combination to pull it out. Last year, tourist spending in Los Angeles fell for the first time since 2020, due to wildfires, raids by immigration and customs agents and political tensions that deterred tourists, including the masses of Canadians who traditionally flock to Palm Springs and other Southern California cities during the winter months.The number of international travelers to Los Angeles County fell by more than 30% from August to November 2025. Ralph Posner, AHLA’s chief communications officer, told the Los Angeles Times that the Los Angeles market is facing several challenges weighing on hotel performance expectations. He said those problems are being compounded by FIFA’s overcommitment, which created artificial demand, along with concerns over visa barriers and operating costs. Los Angeles, he said, should be a flagship host city, but the market is showing a gap between expectations and reality.Hotel prices in all host cities surged after the group-stage draw, when fans learned where their teams would play. Since then, there has been a gradual decline, but it may now be too late to entice fans to fill the rooms. Even today, hotel prices in cities such as Boston are still above $300 a night, and most fans are working with a much lower budget.3 View gallery Akron Stadium (Photo: Marco Ugarte/AP)Chris Hancock, an England fan who has attended four World Cups, told the BBC that he is traveling as part of a group of five fans, with a lodging budget of $75 per person per night. They will rent a car in each city and stay in a mix of motels and Airbnbs up to an hour’s drive from the stadiums. Hancock said cheaper deals can be found outside city centers, so the group may not stay in central Dallas, Boston or New York, but for now is even managing to remain under budget.Many international fans do indeed intend to skip expensive downtown hotels and opt for cheaper options outside the cities. That is also why the World Cup is expected to be the largest event in Airbnb’s history, surpassing the Paris Olympics.Despite all this, the hotel industry still hopes things will turn out fine and that hotels will fill up in June and early July, including with fans of teams that reach the decisive stages. It is hard to ignore the sense that the group stage is not especially attractive from a sporting perspective because of the many smaller teams that qualified for the tournament, such as Jordan and Curaçao. Posner said the industry expects bookings to pick up in the coming weeks and that hotels are prepared to welcome guests and provide the best possible experience. He added that the hope is for momentum to build.That depends greatly on the atmosphere during the first week or two of the World Cup, and perhaps also on the stabilization of hotel prices. Even now, there is still strong demand for hotels in attractive match areas. For example, the Renaissance hotel in Seattle, located within walking distance of the stadium, is renting a room for less than $300 on the weekend before the World Cup. But on the weekend of June 19, when the United States plays Australia in Seattle, the price for the same room jacks up to more than $1,000.All of this, of course, comes after paying hundreds of dollars for a match ticket. Even the cheapest tickets for small group-stage matches begin around $500 and from there soar into the thousands. So far, more than 5 million tickets have been sold, because there are enough people in the United States and around the world who can afford it. But the tourism wave of average, regular soccer fans, those who save for four years for the experience, has so far failed to materialize.Journalist and author Simon Kuper, who writes about soccer economics, told the Los Angeles Times that ticket prices for this World Cup are unimaginable compared with previous tournaments and described it as an entirely new phenomenon. The best ticket still available for the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey costs $32,970. The best remaining ticket prices for the two semifinals start at $11,130 and $10,635. There is no shortage of people who can afford those prices, but it is so absurd that even Donald Trump said he would not pay that much.