Hoteliers Await 'Best Summer Philly Has Ever Seen' With World Cup, MLB All-Star Game

This year is shaping up to be a big one for greater Philadelphia’s hospitality sector, largely due to a convergence of major events it is hosting in the spring and summer.

In addition to six World Cup matches, the MLB All-Star Game and celebrations for the nation’s 250th anniversary in June and July, a few March Madness games and the PGA Championship in Delaware County will bring a surge of visitors to the region.

This is expected to provide more juice to a hotel sector experiencing a post-pandemic recovery, and hospitality executives hope it can improve Philly's reputation among tourists and create long-term momentum for the region's hotel demand. 

“This year, with those particular events, is going to be the best summer Philly has ever seen from a hotel sector perspective,” said Hersha Hotels and Resorts Senior Advisor Ashish Parikh, whose firm has several locations in the city.

High demand for hotel rooms is a foregone conclusion. Now, the industry is waiting to see how much it can charge.

“We’re definitely going to sell out. It all depends on what kind of pricing pressure we can get during those months,” Parikh said.

CoStar projects 5.1% revenue per available room growth in the Philadelphia market this year, up from the 1.1% growth the company calculated for 2025. Average daily rates are expected to balloon 4.3%, well above the 0.3% uptick seen last year. 

Parikh is confident occupancy at his Philadelphia properties, including the Westin Philadelphia and the Rittenhouse Hotel, will be above 90% this summer. But he said it is too soon to know exactly how much revenue Hersha’s hotels will squeeze from the season.

Booking windows have become shorter in the era of online reservations. It is also unclear who exactly is going to visit and how high room prices can go before potential patrons decide to commute in for events or nix their trips altogether.

Parikh recalled the 2014 Super Bowl outside of New York City, which he said wasn’t much of a boost for the area’s hotels since most attendees lived nearby.

But international fans supporting soccer teams from nations such as France and Brazil will make their presence known in Philly for the World Cup matches in June, which is expected to be a particularly strong month.

The region’s average daily rates are projected to rise 8.1% year-over-year in May, 17% in June and 14.2% in July, according to CoStar. Occupancy is expected to be up about 3.5% compared to 2025 for all three months. 

“The entire region will benefit,” Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association CEO Ed Grose said.

After Center City hotels fill up, Grose expects overflow guests to pursue options near the airport and then properties in the suburbs and other outlying neighborhoods.

The 76.3% occupancy and ADR of $195.18 CoStar expects for Philly in June are a sea change from the same time in 2021, when those metrics sat at 59.8% and $122.95, respectively.

But the city is still not back to where it was before the pandemic.

“It has been a little slower to recover than the other urban markets on the East Coast,” CoStar Director of Hospitality Market Analytics Didio Pequeno said. “2026 is expected to be that year where we finally get to that point.”

That isn't exclusively due to the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations and the sporting events Philly is hosting this summer.

Grose said much of that energy is because of a robust 2026 schedule at the Pennsylvania Convention Center just north of City Hall, which includes everything from the Philadelphia Auto Show starting Jan. 31 to SneakerCon in April. 

Philly’s 22 citywide events are projected to draw more than 1 million visitors this year, roughly double last year’s total, according to the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hotel stays in Philly are roughly evenly divided between business travel, leisure travel and group trips — often based around conventions — Grose said. The group and leisure segments are carrying more weight than they did in the past.

“There’s not as much business travel as there used to be, but it’s still pretty close to the same,” he said. “We are definitely a convention city. We rely on our convention center.”

Philly has a leg up on nearby markets when it comes to value.

“Rates in Philly tend to be a little bit cheaper,” Pequeno said. “Having somewhat cheaper rates helped draw demand to the market.”

He and Parikh see 2026 and the events it will bring as an opportunity to improve the city’s public image and build long-term hospitality sector momentum. While Philly’s 2025 homicide rate dropped to its lowest level in 60 years, it is still known for crime and blight in the minds of many Americans.

“The number one thing Philly needs to do is improve its reputation as a safe place for people to visit,” Parikh said. “There are a lot of people who are like, ‘I don’t want to come there.’”

Getting the city streets clean and addressing the homelessness situation in Center City would go a long way in setting it up for success beyond 2026, he said.

“It’s that momentum,” Pequeno said. “Philly is going to get a lot of momentum.”