Sojern's data shows flight bookings to World Cup host cities are surging while hotel searches are dropping 16%, which means guests are coming but waiting to book rooms. If you're in a host city banking on sustained demand beyond match days, the numbers have a different story to tell.
More than half of Mexico's hotels face structural tech deficiencies with FIFA's opening match weeks away, and the gap between chain-scale properties and independents is widening into a chasm. The question isn't whether the infrastructure gets fixed in time... it's what happens to the properties where it doesn't.
Best Western and Tripadvisor launched an "AI-powered" tool to help soccer fans find hotels near World Cup stadiums. The question nobody's asking is what exactly the AI is doing here that a filtered search couldn't handle in 30 seconds.
