World Cup Week 1: Boosting Hotel Revenue, But Occupancy Lags

One week into the World Cup, hotels are seeing a healthy boost in revenue per available room, with CoStar data showing RevPAR up anywhere from 24% to more than 100% during the first three match days.

But the findings suggest host city hotels are largely benefitting by charging more, not filling more rooms.

While San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles saw an increase in occupancy, the remaining six host markets tracked by CoStar saw declines ranging from 4% in Boston to nearly 35% in Guadalajara.

“A week in, the gains for most of our clients are based on ADR [average daily rates] rather than occupancy and smart rate plans are driving that,” said Shearly Reyes, director of media for Cendyn, a tech company that runs booking engines for hotels. “Occupancy is still tracking below where our properties hoped it would be at this point.”

The largest rate increases among Cendyn’s clients are in New York, with ADR up n