World Cup Accomodations

              Finding accommodations in World Cup cities is always a challenging endeavor. This year, with the entire World Cup staged in one town, the task figures to be even more difficult - or at least, more expensive. 

              Popular hotel booking sites, like Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, and others, currently list all properties as "sold-out." Airbnb has a few rooms scattered around the Doha area for well over $300 per night.

              Meanwhile, the key player remains a wildcard. The FIFA Official Accommodation Agency booking site groups properties into four major categories: Hotels, Apartments, Cruise Ships, and Fan Villages, but as of now, no pricing information accompanies the property descriptions. There is information that suggests booking on the site will begin on March 21 for those who secured tickets in the first round of FIFA tickets sales, and I’ve been told that FIFA is planning a press release this coming week.

A moment of sticker shock is anticipated for fans viewing the site for the first time, but the various lodging options are still likely to fill up quickly. Therefore, despite qualification being incomplete and the final match schedule unavailable until the draw on April 1, there are reasons to educate yourself now…and maybe even make a booking.

Things to consider.

              1. Accommodations are expected to be in higher demand than other World Cups.

              2. Accommodations may be refundable, allowing you to hedge your bets.

              3. All eight stadiums are accessible from all lodging options.

              My recommendations.

              1. Familiarize yourself with the FIFA Official Accommodation Agency: https://www.qatar2022.qa/book

              2. Visit the site on March 21 to see availability and pricing.

              3. If you know the dates you will be in Doha and/or you find refundable rooms -  book early.

              4. Check back here, subscribe, and follow my social media for my regular updates.

Most importantly, don’t let this happen to you…

            My wife, Wonder Woman, and I were married in Hamilton, Montana, on June 22, 1991. So, since 1994, we have been in World Cup host countries for our anniversary every four years, including June 22, 2014 - the night of the USA vs. Portugal game in Manaus, Brazil. Not surprisingly, accommodations were hard to come by in this town on the Amazon, but we arrived on June 20 thinking we had a room reserved for three nights. However, when attempting to check-in, I was informed that only the first and last nights were reserved. The staff apparently thought we were spending the night in-between on an overnight trip up the Amazon. Since there were no extra rooms available, we began a frantic scramble to find a place to stay. The single option online was a place in the jungle about an hour outside the city for $250 a night. Leads from friends and other fans turned out to be dead ends. But the following day, a single room miraculously appeared on Expedia. We immediately made the booking, thinking the place could not be too bad if it was on Expedia and knowing that we had no other viable options.

              That afternoon before heading to the U.S. Soccer Night Before Party, we transferred rooms, and the check-in process was uneventful. With the key in hand, we walked down the hallway of the modest hotel to the room in which we would spend the morning of our 23rd wedding anniversary...a fully tiled, windowless cube with a mattress on a raised concrete slab. The sticker on the wall next to the head of the "bed" could easily be translated from Portuguese to read, "Be Safe, Wear a Condom."