Everyone said the 2026 FIFA World Cup would be impossible to afford. I've been saying the opposite for months. The data is finally catching up.

Before founding Perks&Rec, I spent years in government and politics. That background gave me a specific lens: when a massive international event collides with a difficult geopolitical moment, the crowds don't always show up the way organizers expect. When FIFA and the Olympics were announced for the US, I started telling colleagues in the travel industry to watch the demand numbers carefully. Coming to the States isn't a simple proposition for international travelers right now.

This morning, a Gothamist newsletter landed in my inbox with a headline about soft hotel demand in Manhattan for FIFA. And, the AHLA released their World Cup Hotel Outlook, surveying hoteliers across all 11 US host cities, and found that nearly 80% are tracking below initial booking forecasts. In Kansas City, 85 to 90% of hotels are running below expectations and below what a normal summer would bring. In Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle, hoteliers are describing the tournament as a non-event. More than 60% of New York City operators pointed directly to international travel barriers and geopolitical concerns. All of it tracked almost exactly with what hotel contacts had already been telling me privately.

None of this surprised me. It tracked almost exactly with what hotel contacts had already been telling me privately. Hotels expected a flood of international visitors. That flood isn't coming. When hotels have empty rooms, they deal. Right now, they're dealing.

FIFA has also been releasing contracted room blocks back into the market across North American host cities: 15,000 rooms in Vancouver, 800 of 2,000 in Mexico City. Inside the US, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle have seen up to 70% of contracted inventory released back to the open market. There are rooms available that weren't available six months ago, at prices hotels wouldn't have offered six months ago.

The nervousness among hoteliers is real. But nervousness has an expiration date. As the tournament gets closer and domestic interest picks up, those deals will tighten. The window is open right now.

If you want to go to the 2026 World Cup, this is your moment. And if you need help finding the right room at the right price, this is what we do.