The Driftwood Capital leadership team thinks it will,
despite ongoing political and visa-related concerns.
MIAMI – Is the World Cup bigger than politics? Leadership at
Miami-based Driftwood Capital think it is. As long as the airplanes can land
and President Trump follows through on his plan to expedite visas for visitors,
they are expecting a 25% to 50% bump in 2026 total gross revenues in June and
July at hotels in six of the 11 U.S. host cities.
“If you have the visas, if you have the planes, people will
come and they’ll have a great time because those communities are excited,” said
Driftwood Capital Managing Director Alinio Azevedo. “So, if you facilitate and
make sure people can get into the country, and in a pleasant way, it’ll be a
home run because the people aspect is there.”
There’s a lot of demand. Everybody’s saying that is the equivalent to 10 Super Bowls. And I do believe that.
Carlos Rodriguez, Sr.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that U.S.
embassies will give visa appointment priority to travelers with tickets to the
2026 World Cup. With the FIFA Prioritized Appointment Scheduling System (Pass),
the State Department is reportedly adding 400 consular officers to process
visas, doubling the presence in certain countries.
But considering the ongoing turbulence coming out of
Washington, D.C., if the Driftwood team has one concern it is related to visas
and what have been wait times extending almost as long as a year for visitors from some countries. But Driftwood Founder,
Chairman and CEO Carlos Rodriguez Sr. said they are convinced solutions will be
managed when the U.S. hosts 78 of 104 fixtures across 11 cities.
“There’s a lot of demand,” Rodriguez continued. “Everybody’s
saying that is the equivalent to 10 Super Bowls. And I do believe that.”
Further confidence comes from Tourism Economics, which
forecasts incremental hotel room revenues related to the World Cup to jump
between 7% and 25% in June 2026, with the sharpest increases around
match days. With July’s games factored in, some cities could see 1% to 5%
annual growth in incremental room revenue.
The questions
With regard to new data from OysterLink suggesting
occupancies remain in single digits for World Cup dates ahead of this Friday’s schedule
reveal, Rodriguez said they have been keeping inventory closed until the
December 5 announcement. They want to see where the teams with big followings
like Brazil, Argentina, the U.K. and Germany will be heading before finalizing
their yield strategies.
You need focus and attention [on revenue management], and then if you do that, you can very quickly execute on the different levers that you can pull.
Alinio Azevedo
But in the meantime, Rodriguez said Driftwood hotels are
doing very well for World Cup dates. Their property in Atlanta is 61% above reservations
pacing from this year. Another in Buckhead (Atlanta) is pacing +214%, while a
property in Perimeter (Atlanta) is only up 20%. In Miami, a Residence Inn is
pacing a whopping 448% ahead of the previous year.
As the group further prepares its strategy for the World Cup
weeks, Founder, President and COO Carlos Rodriguez Jr. said they are having many
spirited meetings to talk about things like how far geographically compression
will extend, the mix of traveler, product positioning and how long to hold
rooms.
For example, they have a property in West Palm Beach, Florida, somewhat nearby the Miami games but not really core when you consider all the hotels
in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, etc. “Are you going to see some compression [in West Palm Beach], and will
people want to get away from what’s happening?” he asked. “And one of the negatives
is corporate travel will be down in a market like Dallas, especially when you
look at airfares, etc. But that’s more than made up for with the demand from
these other groups.”
Rodriguez Jr. said they have been tracking air travel
statistics and it’s mirroring other successful World Cups.
“International travel is one of the big things that hasn’t
been back in the U.S. We’re hoping that the World Cup is the catalyst that
brings it back,” he said. “We’re going to need the right mix of visa policies –
that travel is smooth... This is a time to showcase the U.S. The dollar is a
little weaker, relative to some currencies, than it has been over the last four
years. So, that helps set it up nicely. Can we take advantage and capitalize on
this? We’re seeing encouraging signs and we’re betting the over here on the
ownership side.”
Yes, the political noise is concerning, Rodriguez Jr.
admitted, but those international travelers who come for the games will
stay for extended periods and maybe as long as three weeks, traveling from city
to city to follow their teams.
The dollar is a little weaker, relative to some currencies, than it has been over the last four years. So, that helps set it up nicely. Can we take advantage and capitalize on this? We’re seeing encouraging signs and we’re betting the over here on the ownership side.
Carlos Rogriguez, Jr.
Another strong segment will be corporate group with media
crews coming from around the world. That alone creates a base of demand for as
long as a month or more typically not seen at one-off events.
The other piece of business, according to Rodriguez, Jr.:
U.S. immigrants traveling to represent their homelands.
Managing yield
To drive yield from the windfall, Driftwood has dedicated
two revenue managers to the event.
“You need focus and attention, and then if you do that, you
can very quickly execute on the different levers that you can pull,” Azevedo
said.
They are also initiating minimum lengths of stay and debating
minimum F&B spends.
The other piece to drive yield is tailoring products to
match the audiences.
The Brazilian market, for example, loves cold cuts for
breakfast. If you don’t have ham and cheese, they will complain, Azevedo said.
They also eat and drink late so they will extend F&B
hours.
“Once we know who is going to play where, we’re going to
spend time with the teams to tailor the product to those audiences,” Azevedo continued.
“We can do fun activations partnering with the right local ethnic restaurants
to create special menus.”
The last piece of the puzzle surrounds staffing and
Rodriguez, Jr. said they aren’t as worried about this as they were six months
ago.
“Staffing levels are good. They are solid. Are we going to
need to staff up in certain specific periods? Absolutely. But I’m not seeing GMs
saying we’re not going to have enough people. I think the labor market is
stable, and people understand that they’re going to work hard during this period,
and they’ll be compensated through more hours and tips.”