Key Takeaways
- Some Kansas City short-term rental hosts are reporting low interest in bookings
- Multiple first-time hosts report zero bookings less than two weeks before the tournament’s Kansas City opener
- About 13 percent of new listings are only available during the tournament window, creating a short-term supply surge that may leave late-entry hosts competing for the same guests
Less than two weeks before the first FIFA World Cup match in Kansas City, some short-term rental hosts who built their financial plans around the tournament have yet to receive a single booking inquiry.
The city is experiencing a growing frustration among some newly minted hosts who entered the market specifically for the event, according to “National Public Radio Kansas City.”
Maureen Hosty, a first-time host who listed two bedrooms in her River Market home in February, cut her price three times and dropped her minimum stay to two nights, but she still has no takers.
“This has been kind of a bust for me,” Hosty said. “There’s just nothing out there. It’s been very discouraging.”
What Kansas City’s STR supply surge means for World Cup hosts
The vacancy problem has a structural cause.
According to the outlet, Kansas City’s STR listing count grew 43 percent since June 2025, per AirDNA data.
This is the largest increase of any World Cup host city.
Roughly 13 percent of those new listings are available only during the tournament window, flooding a market that was already Kansas City’s smallest among all host venues.
The city’s Neighborhood Services Department counts 398 major-event short-term rentals out of a total 1,100 registered units, with registered STRs up 48 percent since last June.
Related: Atlanta’s World Cup STR boom isn’t materializing
Bryce Langford, a Midtown homeowner who listed his four-bedroom home five months ago, echoes the silence.
“We have not had a single interested person contact us,” he said.
Operators using short-term rental analytics platforms had flagged Kansas City as the most expensive Airbnb host city heading into the tournament — a dynamic that may be pushing price-sensitive fans toward lower-cost alternatives or neighboring markets.
The city still projects 650,000 total World Cup visitors, but that headline figure has not yet translated into platform demand for many individual hosts.
For STR investors treating mega-event demand as guaranteed revenue, Kansas City is a live case study in the gap between projected attendance and actual booking behavior.
