{"id":331645,"date":"2026-06-11T04:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T04:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/331645\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T04:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T04:13:07","slug":"north-texas-hotels-see-world-cup-booking-surge-after-slow-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/331645\/","title":{"rendered":"North Texas hotels see World Cup booking surge after slow start"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hotel operators in North Texas<\/a> say reservations are finally gaining momentum ahead of the FIFA World Cup<\/a>, easing concerns after a slower-than-expected start.<\/p>\n

Twenty-one floors above Arlington, Loews Hotels Complex Managing Director Stephen Cummings says the shift has been dramatic.<\/p>\n

“We fully expect 75,000 to 80,000 people to be in this amazing stadium behind us,” Cummings said, referencing the venue known as “Dallas Stadium” during the World Cup regionals.<\/p>\n

Cummings oversees both Loews properties located steps from the tournament site, and he’s feeling the World Cup energy.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got England, we’ve got Croatia, we’ve got Argentina playing here twice, and we’ve got Japan playing here twice,” he said.<\/p>\n

Late booking surge<\/p>\n

The American Hotel & Lodging Association reported in May that about 70% of Dallas-area hotels said World Cup bookings were below expectations. Cummings agreed that early numbers were soft \u2013 until recently.<\/p>\n

“What we do know over the last 10 days is that the pickup and the bookings have been equal to a Cowboys home game,” he said. “The demand has just been off the charts the last seven to 10 days.”<\/p>\n

Expectations vs. reality<\/p>\n

Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau President and CEO Brent DeRaad said early projections may have overshot the mark.<\/p>\n

“We had heard the projections that with nine matches, that meant nine Super Bowls,” DeRaad said.<\/p>\n

But he cautioned that the monthlong tournament won’t translate into a full month of sky-high hotel rates.<\/p>\n

“That may not certainly be the case here. It’s not going to be 31 days of full hotels at astronomical rates,” he said.<\/p>\n

Still, DeRaad emphasized that the region is far from facing a hotel slump. Between FIFA matches and Texas Rangers home games, he expects strong occupancy \u2013 especially from domestic travelers and corporate buyers.<\/p>\n

“The thought was that there was going to be more international travelers coming in. It’s an expensive proposition at this point,” he said.<\/p>\n

Revenue outlook rising<\/p>\n

Visit Dallas reports that hotel revenue projections have climbed 24% for June and nearly 58% for July. International flight bookings into Dallas are running 78% ahead of last year, and overall airline bookings for June arrivals are up more than 24%.<\/p>\n

Cummings believes the momentum will carry through the entire season.<\/p>\n

“This will be the best summer we have ever had \u2013 and it probably will be the best summer we will ever have,” he said.<\/p>\n

One thing still available: the Loews presidential suite \u2013 one of the priciest rooms in Dallas during the World Cup, listed at $15,000 to $20,000 per night.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hotel operators in North Texas say reservations are finally gaining momentum ahead of the FIFA World Cup, easing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[430,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-331645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-north-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}