Atlanta's World Cup hotel bookings not living up to hype, tourism officials say
Atlanta hotel bookings drop significantly
Atlanta hotel rooms booked for the upcoming matches dropped by 83,000 compared to last summer due to delayed ticket distribution, according to tourism officials.
ATLANTA - Hotels across metro Atlanta that have been banking on a World Cup bump say it has not happened yet.
According to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, 240,000 hotel rooms have been reserved in downtown, Midtown Atlanta and Buckhead.
That's 86,000 more than last summer.
Atlanta hotel reservations lag
What we know:
Local hotels are not seeing the massive wave of early bookings they originally anticipated for the soccer tournament.
Hotel reservations across metro Atlanta are pacing behind 2025 numbers, with later ticket distribution resulting in a shortened booking window stifling projections a week before the World Cup, according to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Data from the bureau shows that only 240,000 hotel rooms have been reserved in downtown, Midtown and Buckhead.
Last summer, officials say more than 323,000 hotel nights were booked, when several nights of Beyoncé, several high-profile conventions, and the MLB All-Star Game drew big crowds.
Some rooms in downtown and Midtown were listed for less than $100 a night in the first week of the World Cup.
Tourism officials stay optimistic
What they're saying:
Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO William Tate explained that a delayed ticket rollout squeezed the reservation timeline.
"We ended up in a much shorter booking window, driven by a lot of different decisions. One. FIFA didn't distribute the tickets, complete the ticket distribution until the end of April, and so we had a much shorter booking window than we have for usual major events," Tate said.
Atlanta hotels face softer-than-expected summer demand
With the opening match of the FIFA World Cup kicking off at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in exactly one week, city leaders and tourism executives are confronting a shocking reality. The massive wave of hotel reservations that local businesses were counting on simply hasn't materialized yet.
Officials are also hoping the hotel occupancy numbers will rebound before the tournament concludes, when loyal fans will want to see their teams compete in the semifinals.
Tate added that he does not expect wall-to-wall crowds every single day but anticipates waves.
"People are coming in a couple of days before the game. We peak on the game day, it drops back down, starts to build again and that's how the first five matches look. Then you get to the back end where we have the knockout rounds and the semifinals, in which case we probably are going to have wall-to-wall people," Tate said.
He said it remains to be seen how many international fans will choose last-minute bookings as match days approach.
Local perspective:
After two high-profile violent attacks on MARTA trains and a third on the Beltline, Tate said tourism officials have coordinated and come up with a safety plan of their own.
"We have a great security plan for the World Cup. Over 100 people are meeting on a regular basis," Tate said. "Every or every security person, from an individual security person at a hotel all the way up to Homeland Security and everybody in between."
In nearby Decatur, tourism bureau official Sherry Jackman noted similar economic hurdles.
"I mean, it's been challenging. Based on the hotels' expectations a year and a half ago, it turned out a little differently," Jackman said.
Jackman said local accommodations are now shifting their approach to secure revenue from other areas.
"They did pivot, but they're anticipating a push towards the end of June and July," Jackman said.
By the numbers:
The booking slump extends beyond Georgia, as 80% of hotels surveyed by the American Hotel and Lodging Association report lackluster reservation numbers this summer.
However, some short-term rentals claim to be thriving. A spokesperson for Airbnb told FOX 5 that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will mark the biggest event in its corporate history.
The Airbnb spokesperson said Atlanta currently ranks as the number-two most popular host city for families visiting the games.
While others in the hospitality industry have held their breath, tourism officials hope a surge of fans from major soccer nations like England, Argentina and Brazil will boost the semifinal crowds — if their teams do well.
The Source: This article is based on original reporting by FOX 5's Rob DiRienzo. Data in this story was gathered from Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO William Tate, who provided reservation data and explained the ticket timeline, as well as Decatur Tourism Bureau official Sherry Jackman.