Unknowns persist around lodging availability for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, an event that is now just a few months away.
Soccer fans wishing to attend the World Cup finals in Qatar this November and December are confused as to when room availability will be announced, if they can remain in Qatar when there is not a game scheduled that they have tickets for and what exactly will be their logistical and financial journey during the tournament.
The 64-match tournament begins on Nov. 20 when host nation Qatar takes on Ecuador, and the final is scheduled for a month after that, on Dec. 18.
Qatar is the smallest nation by land size ever to have staged the World Cup, which is held every four years. According to the United Nations, the Middle Eastern country had a land mass of 4,481 square miles and a population of only 2.2 million.
Questions also remain as to what the Qatar World Cup’s legacy will be, or what its grand, new stadiums will be used for after the final whistle. According to Sky News, the estimated cost of eight purpose-built stadiums for the games, as well as infrastructure improvements, new hotels and other facilities, is between $200 billion and $220 billion. Meanwhile, the Qatari Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy of the World Cup has estimated the cost of building just the stadiums at $6.5 billion.
Qatari government officials do not want a surplus of fan accommodation following the games. On top of the approximately 40,000 hotel rooms in its existing and pipeline portfolio up to Nov. 20, a further 60,000 rooms in private villas, apartments, cruise ships and temporary tented camps are being added to the pool. Accor has been granted sole management of much of the additional accommodation.
World Cup ticket holders have priority for accommodation. They also need to be in possession of a Hayya digital visa card.
"Everything is connected to the ticket," said Philip Wooller, area director for the Middle East and Africa at STR, CoStar’s hotel analytics firm. "Entry into Qatar is limited to ticket holders. Once you have one, you can apply for a Hayya card, which gives access to accommodation.”
Hotels are closely monitoring the FIFA room allocations before they can finally decide on how much availability they actually have and determine pricing. This is expected to become clearer in the first week of October when bookings should be confirmed or released, Wooller said.
Qatar is typically a short-window booking market, and while the current level of business on the books there is healthy, Wooller said, bookings will jump when these accommodations announcements are finalized.
Wooller also said that once the dust settles and all the rooms are confirmed from sponsors, media and football fans, Qatar may have just got it right with the total amount of rooms to service the entire tournament, at least compared to the previous two World Cup hosts: Moscow, which hosted the tournament in 2018, and Rio de Janeiro, which hosted in 2014.
When asked for comment for this story, Accor issued a statement that said the company's operating portfolio for the World Cup comprises "60,000 guest rooms in residential apartments and villas."
"The services provided by Accor will include reception, check-in and check-out and the upkeep of all the accommodation, as well as the provision of the equipment required for these services," the statement said. "Beyond this service provision contract, the group currently operates six hotels in Qatar and plans to open a Raffles and a Fairmont in [Doha’s] Katara Towers by the end of the third quarter of 2022.”
Abu-Dhabi-based hotel firm Rotana also has new hotels opening in Qatar, which will be ready in time for the soccer matches, said Guy Hutchinson, Rotana's president and CEO.
“To meet [the] increased demand, we are delighted to announce the upcoming opening of two luxury properties in Qatar in [the fourth quarter 2022], Bin Al Sheikh Residences by Rotana and Riviera Rayhaan by Rotana in Doha. These properties will add 688 keys to our existing portfolio in Qatar of 1,108 keys,” he said.
Neighboring Support
Neighboring countries to Qatar are seeing an overflow of the travel demand with the World Cup being held in a small nation.
Due to confusion around when fans can be in Qatar and headaches over accommodations and flights, some fans have decided there is potentially too much frustration to warrant the logistical and financial headaches of making the trip.
Shuttle flights are being organized and increased from various regional cities, namely Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat, Riyadh and Sharjah. Fans arriving on these shuttles must possess a Hayya card and tickets but do not need accommodation.
Approximately 30,000 shuttle seats per day might be available into Qatar, with airports operating constantly, but many of the 1.68 million match seats might not be filled due to logistical frustrations, which gives countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia an opportunity to capitalize on the demand to be part of the tournament at least in some manner. Saudi Arabia, which has eased its visa policy in recent years, has announced a new visa especially for the World Cup.
Dubai-based Varun Ahuja, cluster director of sales at Marriott International, said he has seen exponentially increased demand for rooms across the Emirates. He said his Aloft Dubai South property is preparing to be very busy, since it is located at Al Maktoum International Airport.
“We are already seeing a surge in bookings for November from ticket holders," Ahuja said. "We expect demand for accommodation to spike again this month. The hotel has confirmed bookings from transient individuals and fan groups, mainly coming from Latin America, the United Kingdom and Germany. We have two big groups with 15 and 20 rooms booked, respectively, to stay at our hotel during the group stages."
After the Final Whistle
Wooller said other countries lining up to benefit from the Qatar World Cup comes as no surprise.
“Dubai is the No. 1 market for capitalizing on an opportunity. It has a master strategy for this particular opportunity, with fan zones, specially priced tickets to jump in an out of the UAE, and even though room rates have pushed up, it can still provide an incredible time during the World Cup,” he said.
He added Dubai’s Media City Amphitheater and parts of the Dubai Expo 2020 site will be used to create what he called a “football mega city."
UAE hoteliers expect demand to continue beyond the games, Ahuja said.
“Many ticket holders are using Dubai as a base because it offers a wide variety of options in terms of accommodation, has several tourist attractions if they are traveling with family and [has] the convenience of the daily shuttle service from Dubai to Doha [Qatar] right at their doorstep,” Ahuja said.
Ahuja said he is selling family bookings with "healthy lengths of stay of between five and seven days.”
“The reason for this might be that some members of the family may fly to watch the matches while the rest stay back to enjoy Dubai as a vacation destination and even extend their stay after the World Cup for a holiday together in the Emirates," he said. “Aloft Dubai South is working on a holistic entertainment package for fans with competitive room rates, [food and beverage] offers and a daily shuttle bus service to the airport to make it affordable and convenient for ticket holders to relax and fly for the matches."
Rotana’s Hutchinson said the travel industry is booming in the region, “with hotel occupancy levels expected to soon reach 95% across our hotels in Dubai. With the upcoming World Cup 2022, we expect a vast influx of travelers to the region."
“In Dubai, we also look forward to two new openings under the Edge by Rotana brand, further diversifying our offerings in the city and reinforcing our footprint in the region,” he said.