Airbnb and short-term rentals provide little relief for stretched World Cup travelers

The draw for the 2026 World Cup set off an immediate domino effect.

Ticket prices surged, as did hotel rates. Now, as fans begin mapping out their summer itineraries, the world of Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms has taken center stage.

But if you are planning to attend a match or two, clear your credit card. As you might have heard, this is going to be the most expensive World Cup ever.

The cost for the tournament is illustrated most visibly by its staggering entry prices. There remains record demand, regardless, with millions of fans eagerly waiting to learn beginning Feb. 5 whether they are among those who won FIFA’s random selection ticket lottery. FIFA president Gianni Infantino predicted that a portion of those fans will use resale platforms to sell their tickets for a profit – hiking prices up even further.

Yet getting into the stadium is only part of the package for those making summer soccer plans. You’ve got to get there, and if you’re from out of town or overseas, you need somewhere to stay.

Search increase, demand and outrageous pricing

Platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com promise to alleviate fans’ spending by offering a wider range of options for match goers. However, those prices are determined by hosts, and have already yielded eye-watering charges in some cities.

“It’s really this once in a generational moment,” Nathan Rotman, Airbnb’s director of policy strategy for North America, told The Athletic. “It’s a real opportunity for cities to show themselves off, but also to test out whether they can accommodate fans.”

Following the draw, hotel prices skyrocketed. The rates for a two-night stay at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott near MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., for example, now start at $4,510 per night for a two-night stay during the weekend of the World Cup final – and these rooms are nearly sold out. That’s a roughly 2,848 percent increase compared to weekend rates for a similar weekend in January, which start at $153 per night at the four-star hotel.

Demand similarly shot up for short-term rentals, with pricey Airbnb listings scattered across New Jersey for the World Cup final weekend. One extreme example includes a seven-bedroom home in Short Hills, Essex County, a roughly 30-minute drive from MetLife. The home, equipped with an in-ground pool and spacious yard, is listed for $34,837 for three nights, the home’s required minimum length of stay.

Meanwhile in cities like Los Angeles, where the U.S. men’s national team will play two of its group games, demand for short-term rentals rose by 121 percent, according to data platform Airdna. This summer will also serve as a crucial practice run for when the city hosts the 2028 Olympics.

Rotman estimated Airbnb saw a 160 percent increase in searches in host cities after the draw. “What we’re hearing specifically from legislators, from host committees and destination marketing organizations is a lot of concern about whether or not they’re going to have enough hotel supply for the tourist influx,” he said.

Airbnb on Tuesday released data on travel trends for the World Cup. So far, their data shows that guests from the three host nations account for the most searches for stays during match dates; families and large groups account for more than half of World Cup trips; and a “significant percentage” of available listings in host cities are priced under $500 per night.

Legal pushback on short-term rentals

Airbnb, a FIFA partner since June 2025, has been making a visible push across host cities, lobbying for the easing of restrictions in places where short-term rentals may be limited.

The global company commissioned a study by Deloitte that assessed their potential impact during and after the World Cup. This found that Airbnb is expected to yield $1.2 billion in spending across North America, and Airbnb hosts are expected to earn $212 million across the tournament. In New York and New Jersey, Airbnb hosts are projected to earn an average of $5,700 during the World Cup, the most of any host city.

“We estimated 2.1 million fans (will be) traveling with more than 230,000 staying in Airbnbs throughout the country,” Rotman said. “There’s a really good opportunity, and core to our mission is spreading that economic opportunity beyond the hotels and the tourist centers into neighborhoods. We’re excited to see what that’s going to look like.”

In June 2025, Airbnb was named the “official alternative accommodations and experiences booking platform” as a Club World Cup partner and 2026 and 2027 World Cup supporter. The company also donated $1 million to the NYNJ FIFA Host Committee to fund the construction of five new soccer mini-pitches and two community fan festivals in the Bronx and Queens.

Through the FIFA partnership, the company will be more visible to fans, especially with FIFA’s stringent regulations limiting outside marketing at its competitions. The platform will also offer soccer-centric experiences for its users. For the Club World Cup last summer, fans could pay to join a training session with U.S. men’s national team icon Tim Howard or pay to watch a match with him and fellow former national teamer Cobi Jones.

But some communities in the U.S. have laws severely limiting short-term rentals, or banning them altogether, either to prevent unwanted disruptions in residential neighborhoods or fear that they would limit housing or drive up costs for locals. East Rutherford, where listings are available, was among the many North Jersey towns that enforced municipal bans on short-term rentals nearly a decade ago, when Airbnb first became popular in those neighborhoods.

It is worth noting that the pushback is not limited to the U.S., either. In Spain, the rental platform was fined $75 million in December for unlicensed tourist rentals, as pushback sees short-term rentals as driving up housing costs.

Airbnb has been working closely with leaders in host cities to ease restrictions for the World Cup, Rotman said. Lawmakers in Kansas City recently adopted rules making it easier for residents to host short-term rentals, by declaring a temporary need to prevent potential accommodation shortages. The city recently opened applications for locals to apply for short-term rental registration at reduced costs.

New York still has rules that strictly limit short-term rentals within city limits. In 2023, the city began enforcing a near ban by adopting restrictive rules, which, among other things, require that hosts be present during a guest’s stay, and limiting guests to two people. Airbnb has lobbied for change, backing a bill that would have eased restrictions as recently as last month.

That bill, which was strongly opposed by the hotel industry union, died before reaching the final voting agenda in 2025, as Bloomberg reported last month.

Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s new mayor, in November voiced his opposition to easing short-term rental restrictions, siding with union workers and suggesting any revival of Airbnb’s fight in the city in the new year could be met with similar resistance.

“As we look towards the World Cup, we’re already seeing (hotel) prices up above $600 per night, and that’s going to push people to stay in other places,” Rotman said in December. “So, New York City’s loss will be New Jersey’s gain, and other cities’ gains, because they’re pricing families and regular people out of coming to the city.”

In Boston, a pair of professors from Harvard Business School and Boston University, went as far as urging in an op-ed in The Boston Globe that temporarily relaxing Airbnb rules next summer will give the city “a welcome boost,” as it would help prevent “severe accommodation shortages.”

They argued that short-term rentals increase affordability, pointing to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as a recent example. The tournament helped introduce South America’s largest country to a sharing economy that, at the time, was burgeoning in the U.S. Short-term rentals during that year’s World Cup were significantly cheaper than hotels and helped accommodate a hotel shortage during the competition, helping locals find new ways to turn a profit.

Murky cancellations, then raised rates

When demand for hotels and short-term rentals surged after the draw, some World Cups fans took to social media to air their grievances about last-minute cancellations by hosts. In some instances, hosts turned to community forums for advice on increasing the costs of their rentals to fall in line with the World Cup surge.

At least one social media influencer and Airbnb host claimed they canceled a booking after realizing their prices were not updated to reflect the strong World Cup demand for their three-night stay in Atlanta. They described poor communication from the guest as reason for their cancellation. The influencer, Khaleel Gonzalez, did not respond to The Athletic’s request for comment.

Airbnb said it has rules in place engineered to make host cancellations rare. Hosts must have a “valid reason” for their cancellation, and the cancellation must be timely, according to rules posted on the company’s website. There could be financial consequences for hosts, like a cancellation fee, and the platform reserves the right to block a host from re-listing their home during those canceled dates.

“Hosts set their own prices when it comes to these major games. We think of ourselves, really, as increasing competition, generally,” Rotman said. As far as potential host cancellations, he said, “hosts don’t want to cancel and do that. There are implications on the platform for doing those kinds of things that hurt hosts, (like) overall search. So, for the most part, that shouldn’t be a concern for people.”

Anthony Zoric, a Croatian-American living in L.A., secured tickets for every World Cup match Croatia could play, through to the final. Born in New Jersey and raised in L.A., Zoric’s family has deep ties to Croatia, and he spent up to 30 summers in the coastal city of Zadar, where his father is from. The city is also the hometown of Croatian football legend Luka Modrić, who, at 40, will almost certainly embark upon his last World Cup.

“To be able to witness that live is going to be something very special,” Zoric said.

Zoric plans to travel to matches in Dallas and to Toronto, where he can stay with family. For Dallas, he booked a two-night stay in a two-bedroom condo within walking distance of AT&T Stadium. That proximity was “key” because he will be traveling with young children; however, their confirmed reservation, booked through Airbnb, was canceled a few days after the World Cup draw over a “maintenance” issue.

“I was just kind of shocked when they didn’t even contact me, they just canceled my reservation,” Zoric told The Athletic. “And then I noticed that, like, an hour or two later, it was back up for triple the price. I was a bit disappointed that, first of all, the owners of the place would do that, and second of all, that Airbnb just let it happen.”

The original reservation cost Zoric $327.54, but jumped to $907 for the same two-night window. That specific listing remains available as of Tuesday, but now requires a 5-night minimum stay, which around that window now costs $3,624.

Zoric received a full refund and said he was offered a $150 credit by Airbnb, but declined the offer. He has not yet booked his stay for his trip to Dallas but plans to use a different platform when he does.

Regarding his matter, an Airbnb spokesperson said: “We hold hosts to high standards and encourage them to uphold confirmed reservations to the best of their abilities. Host cancellations are rare, but we know they can disrupt guest plans and undermine confidence in our community.

“We enforce fees and other consequences to deter this behavior, including blocking the listing calendar for the canceled dates so it can’t be rebooked, automated reviews citing the cancellation, impact on Superhost status where applicable and, if warranted, up to suspension or deactivation of their account.”

The spokesperson also said the company has amended its policies to deter host cancellations, decreasing such instances by 30 percent year over year since July 2023.

For John Sear of Birmingham, England, who has tickets to four World Cup matches this summer, his housing plans for the tournament also hit a snag. He and his friend, Kevin Lindsey, from near London, used Booking.com in the fall to secure their stays.

The pair had their trip planned years in advance; they attend international football events together every two years. Their last was to Germany for the 2024 UEFA European Championship. With a limited budget, they follow a meticulous routine: book travel accommodation early, even before games are decided. It doesn’t matter who they see, although they prefer to watch England.

They planned their itinerary around matches in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. “None of these were particularly cheap,” Sears said by email, “but we booked them before the serious price rises kicked in.” It was after the World Cup draw when the owner of the home they booked in Boston messaged; because of a “software glitch,” the host could no longer honor his booking.

“Fair enough, but this ‘software glitch’ just happened to be noticed the day after the World Cup draw took place,” Sears said. “They’d had over 60 days to notice this after our booking. Seems somewhat of a coincidence. Obviously, they’ve seen a way to make money by cancelling the bookings and relist(ing) at twice / thrice the price.”

After exchanges with Booking.com, Sears said he agreed to cancel their booking and re-book on the platform, where prices surged dramatically. They were later offered travel vouchers for $805.26, which he said covered the difference between his original booking and the new, more expensive reservation. Booking.com did not respond to a request for comment from The Athletic.

As the World Cup gets closer, the growing economy around the tournament will continue to build. It happened with the World Cup draw, and will continue with every new phase of the competition. Next week fans will secure tickets through FIFA’s lottery, and again in the spring when the final remaining World Cup slots are filled by the winners of the tournament’s regional playoffs.

“This happens in cities all the time, where we see major spikes during events, whether it’s the U.S. Open (tennis) in New York City, or in Buffalo around Bills games,” Rotman said, referencing the increasing demand for short-term rentals around the World Cup.

“We’ve always played that role where people will share their homes during specific periods of time when there is an opportunity (to do so). We used to call it the Taylor Swift effect, or the Beyonce effect.”

For these next few months, through July 19, 2026, they can call it: the World Cup effect.

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