World Cup hotel bookings are far below expectations

The United States is hosting the World Cup for the first time since 1994. There are high expectations.

The expectations are possibly too high.

Via Rafael Nam of NPR, hotels in most of the cities that will be hosting World Cup matches have experienced bookings “far below what they had expected.”

All U.S. cities hosting World Cup matches also host NFL teams. In Kansas City, hotel bookings for June and July are behind a normal June and July.

The issue, per the report, has arisen from “large cancellations by FIFA” and — surprise, surprise — fewer international travelers than anticipated.

Miami and Atlanta are the exceptions. They’re in line with or ahead of the projections for the World Cup.

Still, it’s hardly an ideal time for American cities to expect a large influx of non-American citizens. Currently, we don’t have the greatest reputation beyond our borders. Presently, the prospect of making a trip from a foreign country to America isn’t nearly as attractive as it has been in the past.

Or, hopefully, as it will be in a future that can’t get here soon enough.