{"id":186368,"date":"2026-05-07T17:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/186368\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:13:07","slug":"philadelphia-area-hotels-rentals-still-open-for-world-cup-as-fans-mull-attendance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/186368\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia-area hotels, rentals still open for World Cup as fans mull attendance"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than half the Philadelphia area\u2019s short-term rentals \u201cremained available during the World Cup\u201d as of Wednesday, \u201cincluding on game days and game-day eves,\u201d according to Eric McCarthy of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The figure comes from AirDNA, which analyzes Airbnb and Vrbo data, with the market containing more than 8,600 Airbnb and Vrbo listings, though not all properties are open for booking every day. Some soccer fans have \u201csaid they are staying away from the games.\u201d They point to \u201chigh ticket prices<\/a>, increasingly expensive airfare, exorbitant transit costs<\/a> in some host cities, frustration with FIFA as a business, and deep concern about issues that could arise because of U.S. immigration policies<\/a>.\u201d In Philadelphia, the World Cup is also set to overlap with the city\u2019s celebrations of the U.S.\u2019s 250th anniversary, and shortly after FIFA leaves town, the MLB All-Star Game<\/a> will take place at Citizens Bank Park. While there \u201chasn\u2019t been a flood of World Cup reservations, some Philly-area short-term-rental hosts have started to see bookings trickle in.\u201d Hoteliers \u201caren\u2019t faring much better than short-term renters.\u201d Last month, about 80% of hotel operators in 11 U.S. host cities — about 75% in Philadelphia — said that demand for rooms during the World Cup had \u201cnot met expectations\u201d (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5\/7<\/a>).<\/p>\n

LACKLUSTER EFFORT: In Boston, Serres & Silverman noted all over Philadelphia, \u201cfrom Lincoln Financial Field to busy Schuylkill Expressway, there are billboards and colorful signs heralding\u201d the World Cup. If preparing for a World Cup \u201cwere itself a soccer match, with host cities competing on the pitch,\u201d then Philadelphia \u201cwould be trouncing much of the field.\u201d On the streets of Boston, \u201cWorld Cup fervor is decidedly more subdued.\u201d Apart from a \u201ccountdown clock outside Faneuil Hall and some digital billboards at Logan Airport, there are few visible signs that seven internationally televised games and a projected 2 million tourists will descend on Boston starting in just 35 days.\u201d In Philadelphia, the marketing rollout has been \u201csmoothly run, well funded, and notably drama-free.\u201d Organizers have raised $65M in corporate and philanthropic funding, \u201croughly tripling Boston\u2019s haul, while landing more than twice as many local sponsors.\u201d To some, Boston\u2019s \u201clackluster preparations for the World Cup reflect a deeper funk settling over the region.\u201d But the \u201csense of malaise could yet lift.\u201d Two weeks ago, Boston organizers acknowledged \u201c\u2018some bumps\u2019 on the road to the World Cup, but predicted the city will shine in the end\u201d (BOSTON GLOBE, 5\/6<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than half the Philadelphia area\u2019s short-term rentals \u201cremained available during the World Cup\u201d as of Wednesday, \u201cincluding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[31173,2233,69,71,70,11868],"class_list":["post-186368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-fan-experience","tag-fifa","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}