PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The World Cup is less than a month away and the first match in Philadelphia is set for June 14, but a recently published industry report says hotel reservations aren't where they were expected to be.
Philadelphia is one of 11 World Cup host cities surveyed in April by the American Hotel and Lodging Association, all of which say bookings are below expectations. That includes 80% of the hotels surveyed in Philly.
“Our hotel association has said that from their perspective, that it has been steady and that there has not been a red flag raised,” said Meg Kane, CEO of Philadelphia Soccer 2026. “I know AHLA, they did a study, or some type of survey of the host cities, where several of the host cities reported that they were expecting it to be higher than it was.”
The AHLA report cited several factors, including a growing perception among international travelers that they will not receive a “red carpet” welcome in the U.S. and large-scale booking cancellations from FIFA, including 2,000 in Philly.
“None of those were for fans. They were all for constituent groups, workforce, referee, teams, things of that nature. You have 8,000 of those 10,000 rooms, that's still a very healthy amount over a 39-day period,” said Kane.
“Philadelphia was already hosting two citywide conventions that took hotel rooms off the board. So from an inventory standpoint, we did not hold back rooms just for the FIFA World Cup. We basically left everything open for everything that was going to happen.”
However, the CEO remains optimistic. She pointed to the number of high-profile events in the city this summer — as well as the contingent of fans waiting for high World Cup ticket prices to drop.
“When people are booking a hotel, they're not necessarily booking it raising their hand to say, ‘I'm here specifically for the FIFA World Cup.’ They're booking it where they may have a ticket,” Kane said.
“They may be staying for July 4. They may be staying through July 5 and 6. They may come near the end and they're doing MLB … I think we'll see a late break now, as people turn their attention more toward the summer — as we had a late spring break — and I think that hotels will certainly be full.”
