Kansas City ‘sleeping a little better now’ with more World Cup hotel occupancy
Turns out, games were needed to help fill hotel rooms at the FIFA World Cup in Kansas City.
As fans arrived, mostly from Argentina, for the defending World Cup champion’s game on Tuesday, occupancy rates increased, according to figures provided by VisitKC.
Tuesday marked the first World Cup game in Kansas City, Argentina vs. Algeria, and for Monday and Tuesday of match week, hotel bookings in the Kansas City metro show about an 111% increase over this time a year ago.
The KC metro counts about 36,000 rooms and more than 300 hotels.
For the Round of 32 game on July 3, the nights before the match and match day are seeing a 99% increase over last year.
For all six matches, the night before the game and night of the game, reservations are up 32% for those 12 nights.
In May, the American Hotel and Lodging Association reported that Kansas City was the U.S. host city most affected by FIFA of block-booking far too many hotel rooms, creating false demand for its own use.
The AHLA reported 88% of Kansas City’s hotels were underperforming, highest among the 11 U.S. World Cup cities.
FIFA released most of the rooms, creating an abundance of availability and hotels are trying to catch up.
“We’re seeing the numbers and sleeping a little better now,” said Kathy Nelson, VisitKC president and CEO.
That doesn’t mean rooms couldn’t be found around Kansas City on Tuesday. Marriott and Hilton properties showed availability as of 3 p.m.
No matter the numbers, Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said the stories and images he’s seeing on social media, told by visitors, speaks uplifting messages.
Among them, the friendship forged by the people of Lawrence and the Algerian team and visitors.
“People are discovering new parts of America,” Freeman said, “feeling immensely welcomed by the American people and telling their friends, family and the followers that they have to check this out, too. So, so far, so good.
“This is going about, I think, as well as we could have hoped in terms of the way people are being turned on to this country, the way they’re promoting this country, the excitement that’s out there. This is what we hoped this event would do.”