Despite the hype surrounding the FIFA World Cup coming to Philadelphia, there hasn’t been much of a spike when it comes to hotel bookings in the city, writes Mike D’Onofrio for AXIOS Philadelphia.
According to a recent member survey report from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, roughly 75 percent of Philadelphia-area respondents said hotel bookings were lower than expected, compared to typical summers.
The report also found that most of the U.S. host cities are facing concerns, such as visa uncertainty and higher airfares resulting from rising jet fuel costs. This is playing a large part of the lessening international travel demand.
FIFA also recently cancelled about 2,000 hotel bookings in Philadelphia, a majority of which were in hotels in Center City.
Meanwhile, Mayor Cherelle Parker has proposed a 2 percent increase in hotel tax to help fund more shelter beds and reduce the city’s homelessness problem.
This proposal, however, would interfere with the city’s full economic benefit from the World Cup games, and also lead to job losses and fewer bookings.
With the start of the World Cup just over a month away, it will be interesting to see if bookings go up.
Read more about the lack of bookings Philadelphia hotels are getting and why that may be the case at AXIOS Philadelphia.
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA Today in May 2026.
