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FIFA reduces hotel room bookings in World Cup cities, including Boston
Meet Boston says it anticipated the move for months.
FIFA is reducing hotel room bookings in World Cup cities this summer, including in Boston.
Boston is one of 16 cities hosting the World Cup. Seven matches will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough — temporarily rebranded Boston Stadium — between June 13 and July 9.
“Like all US host destinations, Boston has seen a reduction in the size of the hotel room blocks that FIFA originally projected,” Meet Boston, the city’s regional tourism bureau, wrote in a statement. “This stems from several factors, including the fact that original estimates from 2-3 years ago were inflated.”
Meet Boston did not provide the number of Boston hotel rooms released by FIFA. According to a report in The Boston Business Journal, Boston hotels for the FIFA World Cup were projected to generate $100 million in tax revenue.
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“We don’t see these blocks as being canceled but rather released,” Meet Boston said in the statement. “This means the rooms can be sold to transient visitors and fans, which they will be and in some instances this is actually more advantageous for our hotel partners.”
FIFA has canceled about 800 of 2,000 booked rooms in Mexico City that were slated for operational staff and hospitality programs, according to Mexicobusiness.com. In Philadelphia, FIFA canceled about 2,000 of 10,000 booked rooms intended for operational and technical staff, teams, and referees, reported WPVI-TV.
Meet Boston says it has anticipated this reduction for months and has developed a sales and marketing strategy to ensure that those rooms are reserved.
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“Big picture, there were 7 million tickets for sale across all host cities for 104 matches and there were over 500 million applications to purchase those tickets. The demand is unprecedented,” Meet Boston wrote.
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