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The likelihood that the FIFA World Cup 2026 will be a cure-all for the U.S. hospitality industry, as once believed, is looking iffier by the day. From ticketing fiascos to tailgating issues and sponsorship problems, the 39-day event has been a headache for a lengthy list of organizers well before the first match — which is scheduled for June 11 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Now you can add hoteliers to that list.
With mere weeks to go, hotel operators around the country are calling the World Cup a “non-event,” according to a report from the American Hotel and Lodging Association indicating that bookings at nearly 80% of the more than 200 hotels surveyed in the 11 U.S. World Cup host cities were “tracking below initial forecasts.”
Visa barriers and geopolitical concerns ranked among the main suppressors of international demand to travel to North America and attend matches. The report also suggests that an over-commitment by FIFA on room blocks “created an artificial early demand signal that has since unraveled,” and notes that “last-minute” state and local costs in the form of new taxes and fees also are impacting travel.
“The hotel industry in the United States has spent years preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, making significant investments to ensure communities across the country are ready to welcome a global audience,” the report’s Executive Summary states.
“Hotels have developed fan-focused activations, strengthened security and transportation coordination with federal, state and local partners, upgraded properties and created tailored offerings. … Despite more than five million tickets sold, this demand has not yet translated into strong hotel bookings. Forecasts show that domestic travelers are outpacing international travelers — an imbalance that threatens the broader economic impact the World Cup was expected to generate.”
Skyrocketing travel costs aren’t helping, either.
“People already have travel wariness thanks to the Iran war … which led to a de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz and has left oil prices elevated above pre-war levels,” Fortune.com reported. “[In April], Goldman Sachs warned Europe’s jet fuel supplies could fall below its key 23-day shortage threshold — though carriers including the Swiss International Air Lines say they have enough supply for flights through the end of June. Still, the average price of a transcontinental flight rose from $167 in late February to $414 in mid-March, according to a Deutsche Bank analysis.”
Not even the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (FIFA PASS) — launched late last year by the Trump administration to expedite visa interview appointments for World Cup attendees from countries that do not currently have a visa waiver agreement with the United States — seems to be helping.
“A State Department spokesperson confirmed … that only around 14,000 people have used the FIFA PASS as of [early May],” The Athletic reported. “This does not necessarily mean that international fans are not traveling for the tournament. The State Department spokesperson added that 55 million foreigners already have visas, meaning that some who are coming for the World Cup may not have needed to apply in any case.
And nationals from 42 countries, including many in Europe, do not require visa appointments due to waiver agreements with the U.S. The spokesperson also said that wait time for visa appointments at U.S. consulates across the world have broadly improved, with 80 percent of locations worldwide limiting wait times to under two months since 2025, perhaps rendering the FIFA PASS less necessary.
For now, as Milos Eric — co-founder and general manager at U.S.-based restaurant and hospitality job platform OysterLink — said in a statement, the hospitality industry is “no longer preparing for a guaranteed surge. … The World Cup will still deliver meaningful business for the industry. But success will depend less on sheer volume and more on how well operators adapt in real time.”
To that end, the AHLA report suggests that “policy restraint and operational transparency can unlock remaining potential. Host cities like Philadelphia, New Jersey and others must avoid tax hikes that compound uncertainty, preserving jobs and revenue for a tournament still poised to deliver if late demand materializes.”
Meanwhile, as of May 11 (one month before the tournament’s start date) thousands of match tickets, many of them listed at “extremely high” prices, remained unsold, according to Front Office Sports, which noted that “the issue isn’t a lack of interest — FIFA said in January it received more than 500 million ticket requests — or a lack of inventory. Plenty of fans are interested in buying tickets, and plenty of tickets are still available for them. FIFA’s problem is that demand does not exist at the prices that are being listed.”
“It would not be hard to sell this tournament, sell every single ticket of this tournament, but the prices are aggressive,” ticketing expert Jim McCarthy told FOS.
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