hotels

Todas las miradas están puestas en los partidos del Mundial que llegarán a Kansas City en menos de un mes, pero la autodenominada “Soccer City USA” también mira hacia 2031, con una candidatura para albergar partidos de la Copa Mundial Femenina.

A trio of Argentinian cyclists biked more than 10,000 miles to Kansas City to cheer on their national team. Hopefully that warm welcome made up for the early-morning thunder and tornado sirens that likely woke up Lionel Messi's squad soon after they arrived in town.

The first match in Kansas City is Tuesday, June 16. The tourism industry expects people to come in droves and spike the local economy. Yet economists will wait for after-the-fact numbers to gauge the World Cup’s impact.

All eyes are on the World Cup games that will land in Kansas City in less than a month, but the self-described "Soccer City USA" also has its eyes on 2031, with a bid to host women's World Cup games.

Nearly 90% of Kansas City hotels surveyed reported that bookings were running below projections — worse than any other host city, and with only weeks to go before the World Cup.

Hotel industry leaders worry that the World Cup's promised "hotel boom" is failing to materialize, while advocacy groups issued a travel advisory warning international visitors of likely civil rights violations by the Trump administration. But so far, Kansas City officials are sticking by their ambitious estimates.

With six months to go before the first matches, there are still reasonably priced rooms in the metro. More homeowners can also rent out their houses after local governments eased rules for short-term rentals.

With more than 6,000 open food service job listings and no coordinated plan to address staffing, Kansas City restaurant leaders worry they won’t be ready for the massive influx of World Cup visitors in 2026.

Hotel rooms, buses, and liquor laws are just a few of the problems that Kansas City will need to figure out in the next year, before the first World Cup games kick off at Arrowhead Stadium next June.

Prairie Village City Council voted 10-2 effectively ban short-term rentals inside the city, requiring all such properties have a minimum of a 30-day stay. Current owners will need to find a new use for their spaces by Nov. 1, 2025, or face fines of up to $500 per day.

The proposals would generate an estimated $6 million in revenue and are part of City Council’s recent efforts to better regulate short-term rentals, particularly after city reports showed an overwhelming majority of Airbnbs are unlicensed and skirt city law.

The audit estimates there are more than 1,800 short-term rentals in Kansas City — the equivalent of two downtown convention hotels — that aren't feeding into the local tax base