The World Cup was unhealthy for some companies in Los Angeles

The surge in soccer followers this summer time was unhealthy for some companies in Los Angeles.

World Cup host cities had lofty financial expectations for the summer time event. But town’s accommodations solely received a 1% bump in occupancy, in response to a report revealed this week by Hospitality Education and Research Organization, a mission of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles.

Seventy-two p.c of surveyed accommodations mentioned the event damage their 2026 funds, and 48% referred to as the impression “extraordinarily adverse.” Just 2% mentioned it met projections.

Downtown occupancy reached 66% in June, down from 71% a yr earlier, the report says. Room nights fell between 10% and 12%.

Ahead of World Cup tournaments, FIFA holds massive blocks of rooms. But FIFA canceled or launched as much as 70% of the lodge room blocks it had reserved in host cities, together with Los Angeles.

“We understood that we have been perhaps going to be dissatisfied with attendance going into the World Cup just by the amount of cancellations that got here out of the room block settlement,” mentioned Jackie Filla, president and CEO of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles.

The disappointing turnout led to workers reductions. Of the accommodations surveyed 82% lowered seasonal workers and greater than six in 10 reported lowering worker shifts, scheduled hours, or everlasting workers.

Hotels did increase costs, with the typical each day price hitting $228, the very best of any comparable L.A. occasion in three years. But occupancy was 71%, properly beneath the 83% recorded throughout Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

A customer walks within the foyer of the Hotel Indigo in downtown Los Angeles.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The survey drew 58 responses from 210 accommodations, and the evaluation was achieved by travel-data agency Rove utilizing CoStar and AirDNA knowledge. International guests have been additionally scarce, with Los Angeles welcoming 700,000 global arrivals in June and July — roughly 80,000 guests beneath 2024 ranges for a similar interval, the report says.

“We significantly didn’t see loads of international guests and that’s one thing that was disappointing,” Filla mentioned. “Foreign guests do spend thrice the amount of cash as the typical home traveler.”

Short-term leases, in the meantime, gained. Their demand rose 23% and income 21% versus July 2024, whereas lodge income fell 3.3%. Airbnb, the event’s official fan lodging, provided new hosts $750 incentives.

The metropolis is presently weighing a short lived proposal to ease its short-term rental guidelines by way of the tip of 2028 to accommodate vacationers. “That will actually, really undercut the corporate affairs of accommodations,” Filla added. “We noticed a few of that with the World Cup.”

The fear is carrying over to the Olympic Games, set to be hosted in Los Angeles in 2028. Six in 10 surveyed hoteliers anticipate an Olympic rental surge to harm their bookings and charges, the report says.

The World Cup “gave us false hope to get well from a adverse yr,” one Los Angeles hotelier mentioned, in response to the report. “I additionally really feel [the] identical factor will in all probability occur for [the] Super Bowl and Olympics.”