India, Dec. 11 -- Hotel rates in several FIFA World Cup 2026 host cities are rising sharply. In places like Houston and Kansas City, the spikes are among the highest in the United States. While price surges around mega-events are expected, new analyses suggest the scale of the jump for June 2026 is unprecedented.

According to an analysis by The New York Times, hotel prices across the 16 host cities in the US, Canada and Mexico surged by an average of 328% immediately after the World Cup schedule was confirmed. The study compared prices for two-night stays in mid-June (around each city's opening match) with rates at the same hotels three weeks earlier. Out of 96 hotels examined, the average nightly rate jumped from $293 to $1,013, the NYT...