2026 is set to be a year of opportunity for the hospitality industry, as major events—including America250 and the 2026 FIFA World Cup—will bring numerous tourists to the United States, driving strong demand for hotels across the country. The World Cup will be especially lucrative, as the tournament spans 16 host cities from June 11 to July 19. In addition to the hosts themselves, the surrounding areas also stand to gain from the influx of visitors who will flock to the United States for games throughout the competition. While the opportunity is enticing, the World Cup also presents hoteliers with several challenges that arise from dealing with the surge. Driftwood Capital Chief Executive Officer Carlos Rodriguez Jr. and Managing Director Alinio Azevedo recently discussed with LODGING how owners and operators can prepare for the event and set themselves up for success.
Early Signs of Increased Booking Activity
With over 5,000 rooms in ownership and management across 32 properties in FIFA’s U.S. tournament host cities, Driftwood Capital sees the World Cup as an exciting chance to thrive, with the prolonged schedule offering plenty of room for prosperity. Months ahead of the World Cup, data already shows that the U.S. hotels in and around host cities are benefiting from the tournament; according to SiteMinder, these properties are seeing a substantial year-on-year rise in booking volumes and ADRs. Likewise, the data found that hotel booking volumes more than doubled around several high-profile games. Booking volumes for the week of the World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, climbed by 102.10 percent a week after the World Cup Draw in December.
Rodriguez Jr. noted that, with an expanded field, this year’s tournament will bring more fans from a larger group of countries than in previous years, and it will be a “huge boost” for the business, as the World Cup will be held at a time of the summer that’s typically a weaker period. Rodriguez Jr. also predicted that many travelers would stack their trips by visiting nearby cities, e.g., combining Miami and Orlando or Los Angeles and San Francisco. This pattern could significantly augment the growth that hotels will see in their performance throughout the tournament.
Preparation Process
With the opening matches just a few months away, Rodriguez Jr. explained how Driftwood Capital is preparing for the increased demand. “We need to make sure that we’re taking the right revenue management strategies, the right operational tactics for each of the teams coming in, and really thinking about what each of the customer segments is looking for in their hospitality stays and how to target and market to them,” he said. “With the length-of-stay component, we want to be very smart with that and how we’re treating revenue management. Larger group ones are in Dallas, so we’ll have different strategies there for how we layer that business. We want to make sure that we’re layering the right base business for some of the larger properties. So, it’s an asset-by-asset effort. At the same time, it’s getting centralized and making sure that we’re seeing how we can get the right optimization, both in terms of the right markets, the right bookings, F&B spend, etc.”
Tailored Offerings
Azevedo emphasized that the preparation for the increased demand covers two areas. First, from the revenue management and sales strategy perspective, Driftwood Capital can focus on targeting the right clientele for the games now that the schedule for the group stage has been confirmed. He stated that it’s important to recognize how the different countries participating in the tournament communicate and use different channels to buy hotel products, and, from there, maximize Driftwood’s performance. Second, on the operational side, he stated that it was crucial to adapt the hotels and their offerings to the clientele based on the specific games.
“We’re starting to have the local teams work and come up with ideas on how to adapt the product to that type of clientele,” he said. “How do you create activations? How do you make it feel special? And how do you connect the hotel to the ethnic communities of those countries in those locations? For example, Portugal plays two games in Houston. How do you connect and make our hotels feel a little bit more roomy, homier for fans from Portugal? What are the kinds of foods, hours of operation of the outlets? Is there a local community, a restaurant that we can partner with, and music, things of that nature?”
Maximizing Success
Likewise, a key aspect of maximizing a hotel’s success during the World Cup is enhancing and creating revenue opportunities that appeal to the guests. Azevedo described how food & beverage, activations, and experiential offerings are all options for doing so, and he stated that the company needed to ensure that the property teams were ready to execute these revenue-generating ideas.
“If we’re smart about the marketing of this, we’re taking advantage of much more than just the game periods,” he said. “It’s not just the restrictions of a place to stay. We’re going to market the times leading up to it, and after [the games]. We’re going to engage the local community to participate in that, in the festivities, the activities, and the F&B. We’re going to create packages for that local community as well. So, the idea is to extend this from before and after and make this a cultural event, not just a game-driven impact for the hotels.”
In preparing to navigate the challenges that come with a surge in demand, Rodriguez Jr. stated that each hotel must have a clear strategy, catered to its target audience, and the on-property teams need to execute on that. Part of this process is assuring that everyone involved is aligned with the vision, and Azevedo named successful staffing and training as a significant part of it. “The challenge to me is making sure we get the operations right,” he explained. “That starts with training the right people, motivating them, and making everybody feel excited.
With the right sales and operational strategies in place and successful execution, the 2026 FIFA World Cup may be the highlight of the year for many hotels. Azevedo called it a “golden opportunity,” both for the hospitality industry and for the United States as a country, and he also underlined the human element driving all of it.
“One component, which is critical, is that people are excited,” he explained. “Those communities are excited to receive those teams and those guests and those games. I think the human element is there, and it’s critical and important for an event like this. So overall, [there are] very positive feelings and expectations from where we stand and based on what we see so far in terms of data and trends.”
