Officials from the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau confirmed Wednesday that FIFA has dropped some rooms from its reserved hotel blocks ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Brent DeRaad, President & CEO of Arlington CVB, told NBC 5 he is still optimistic that the city’s hotels “will fare well with FIFA groups and individual travelers.”
“Group room blocks are preferable due to a longer length of stay, but our hotels will adjust as needed to fill their rooms with FIFA fans,” DeRaad said in a statement.
Arlington is not the only host city seeing FIFA return room inventory.
Hoteliers in the San Francisco area reported “very lackluster” demand for reserved room blocks, according to Forbes.
Demand for hotel room space is one of several indicators tourism officials in North Texas say they are tracking closely.
Officials with Visit Dallas say they are seeing “encouraging demand” for hotels so far, with the average daily rate for rooms in June and July up 46% and 47%, respectively, compared to the same time in 2025.
Additionally, international bookings into DFW International and Dallas Love Field are up more than 100%, officials say, reflecting that travelers are starting to plan for the World Cup.
“We expect Dallas hotel performance to grow as the tournament approaches, as the majority of bookings will likely occur much closer to the event once teams, match-ups and ticket allocations are finalized,” a spokesperson said.
Arlington hosts its first of nine matches on June 14 at AT&T Stadium, renamed Dallas Stadium during the World Cup due to corporate sponsorship considerations.
Tourism officials in Frisco say they are tracking demand closely too.
A spokesperson for Visit Frisco said the officials there said two additional World Cup ticket allotments are still to come, and the city will learn which team will call FC Dallas stadium home as Team Base Camp on March 31.
“We are optimistic that this will induce increased room demand,” Kelly Walker with Visit Frisco said.