FIFA’s ticket sales practices have been a lightning rod for criticism in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup, with fans, consumer advocates and politicians blasting the organization’s use of dynamic pricing to maximize revenue in the North American market.
But when it comes to hotel rooms, the governing body is taking a different approach.
An analysis of hotel room rates by Sports Business Journal shows that the official FIFA26 Accommodation Bureau is undercutting the open market in more than half of U.S. host cities by using fixed pricing. The data also suggests that markets with less hotel inventory depth are seeing much more significant price spikes for hotel rooms due to dynamic pricing than those with a greater supply.
FIFA’s lodging program is a white-label service operated by Beyond Hospitality, whose founder, Jaime Byrom, has overseen accommodation services for all but one men’s World Cup since the event was last held in the U.S. in 1994. While hotel room prices on the open market fluctuate regularly, the prices offered at the FIFA Accommodation Bureau for a given room will remain fixed.
SBJ’s analysis compared the rates for the cheapest available budget, mid-tier and luxury hotel rooms for two high-demand matches in each of the 11 U.S. host cities. In eight of the 11 host cities analyzed, the FAB’s fixed rates were cheaper than comparable listings on Hotels.com, including seven markets where the gap exceeded 10%. But in three of the largest host markets — New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco — rooms on the open market were at least 20% cheaper than those available through the FAB.
The divide appears to be driven by hotel supply. Markets with less inventory in the urban core, or more fragmented inventory across submarkets — such as Kansas City and Miami — are more susceptible to price spikes as demand rises. Even with the FAB charging a premium relative to typical non-World Cup rates, open-market prices in those markets are being pushed even higher.
Overall, FAB rates were lower in 53% of the comparisons, with the largest gaps occurring at the five-star level. Price differences were also more pronounced for knockout-stage matches, as FAB rates remained fixed while open-market prices rose with demand for higher-stakes matches.
Across the 66 comparisons, the average price per room night through FIFA was $463, compared with $508 through Hotels.com. That’s a 9.7% difference on average.
Hotels.com was used for comparison because it displays all‑in pricing that includes taxes and fees, mirroring how rates are presented through the FAB. Unlike Hotels.com, the FAB imposes minimum‑stay requirements of two nights for most matches, three nights for semifinals and four nights for the final. Hotels.com parent company Expedia Group did not respond to a request for comment on the comparison.
Outside of the FAB, FIFA has also influenced pricing on the open market through its own room blocks, which initially constrained supply before some inventory was released back into the market. While Beyond is not directly involved in booking FIFA’s block, Byrom said overbooking and then releasing inventory based on need is standard practice ahead of World Cups.
There is potential for dynamic pricing to drive prices on the open market back down, particularly with early indications suggesting the robust demand hoteliers are hoping for may not materialize. Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said at a conference earlier this month that the World Cup “doesn’t look as strong as what we had hoped,” though he acknowledged it remains early.
Jan Freitag, the national director of hospitality analytics for CoStar Group, expects stronger demand for matches later in the tournament.
“We’re going to have the tale of two World Cups, so to speak, where the June numbers are going to be a little underwhelming, and the July numbers are going to be on par or close to expectations,” Freitag said, suggesting the expanded 48-team field has created low-interest group matches that are less likely to attract out-of-town spectators.
Byrom said the lack of a central host city for international visitors — such as Rio de Janeiro for Brazil 2014, or Moscow for Russia 2018 — makes it far more difficult to forecast room demand. U.S. host cities are also awash with lodging options compared with previous host locales.
“Every one of the host cities has more overnight accommodation than you may find in many countries in their entirety,” Byrom said.
In addition to operating FAB, Beyond is rolling out a conditional reservation system aimed at supplemental delegations for participating federations. While FIFA is handling lodging for teams and core staff in-house, many federations bring additional personnel, including players’ families, executives and sponsors. The system secures rooms for those groups in various cities in advance tied to their team’s potential progression through the tournament.
Byrom said the need for such an offering is exacerbated by the expanded field and broad geography of the competition.
Said Byrom: “The absolute challenge of this World Cup is logistics.”
