World Cup demand in US falls short as FIFA cancels hotel bookings in Kansas City

FIFA has reportedly cancelled about 75 percent of the hotel rooms it had booked in the World Cup host city of Kansas City, Missouri, following weaker-than-expected demand in the US.

According to the Kansas City Star, FIFA initially reserved up to 5,000 hotel rooms per night for officials and partners during parts of the tournament. However, as the World Cup approaches, the organization has significantly reduced those bookings.

Visit KC, the organization that worked with local hotels to coordinate arrangements with FIFA, confirmed that the governing body cancelled roughly 75 percent of its reserved rooms. A spokesperson for the organization said that the cancellations were “abnormally large,” adding, “We recognize that it has put many of our hotel partners in a difficult position, but we are optimistic as we start to see more positive travel data for Kansas City.”

The cancellation comes amid reports of a broader slowdown in hotel bookings across the United States in the weeks leading up to the tournament. The Sun reported that several historic cities are seeing lower-than-expected reservations compared with previous years.

Kansas City is scheduled to host six World Cup matches. The tournament is set to begin this week, with the US co-hosting alongside Mexico and Canada.

Opening matches are set to begin on Thursday, with the first matches being Mexico vs. South Africa and South Korea vs. Czech Republic. The US will see its first game against Paraguay on Friday. As of Monday, tickets of the US' opening match were still not sold out.

A total of 48 teams will compete in the new World Cup format.