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The Pennyweight Hotel Boston, managed by Stonebridge Companies, is about 35 miles north of Gillette Stadium, temporarily renamed Boston Stadium for the World Cup, in Foxborough, Mass.
into that 30-day window. Once you get to 30 days, you won’ t get that last-minute business because people need tickets and visas and all the other things that go along with this.”
Still, as a global audience of more than four billion tunes in, there’ s a chance that fùtbol fever compels travelers to book late into the tournament.
“ The good news is that
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half of demand is going to be international and they’ re [ not ] going to [ just ] turn around and go home,” said Smith.“ Football fans are pretty diehard. Even though they’ re there to see their team, they’ ll still go to the games.”
THE RIGHT RATE Of the 22 World Cup tournaments held since the first,
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in 1930, the most comparable in terms of data is Russia, in 2018. That tournament featured 11 host cities spread throughout European Russia and though surpassed by North America 2026 in terms of distance, it offers clues to how geography— and geopolitics— could affect hotel rates.
Russia’ s dubious humanrights record and expansionist drive didn’ t discourage international tourism, noted Ryan Meliker, president & cofounder of Lodging Analytics Research & Consulting( LARC).
“ If you take a look at Moscow— granted, Moscow is not the end-all, be-all— but ADR growth in June and July of 2018 was 200 percentage points higher than actual growth in months before and after the World Cup,” Meliker said.“ You’ re seeing triple the ADR on a year-overyear basis versus the prior months. That points to the willingness travelers have to spend on hotels during these types of special events that are effectively once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”
In Meliker’ s view, highvolume properties in host cities shouldn’ t experience drastic
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changes in occupancy, but as travelers begin arriving, they may be willing to pay more. That may send the normal
BE AGGRESSIVE— PUSH ADR NOW, UPFRONT
– RYAN MELIKER, PRESIDENT &
CO-FOUNDER, LARC
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