Qatar adds thousands of extra hotel rooms as World Cup nears

Qatar Rail will also deploy 110 metro trains and increase daily operating hours to 21 hours to accommodate a projected increase in passenger numbers during the World Cup.

Fans attending the World Cup in Qatar are now able to reserve thousands of hotel rooms that had previously been sealed off by FIFA 2022 World Cup organisers, according to Bloomberg.

The accommodations had been withheld by FIFA and Qatar’s Supreme Committee in order to give preference to the competing teams, sponsors and their visitors, officials, royal guests, and ticketed fans.

However, according to a person privy to the matter, thousands of unallocated rooms are now being freed ahead of the World Cup’s scheduled start date of 20 November.

Hotel executives have been saying that more rooms would become available in early October in a bid to ease the shortage.

“The availability picture will become much, much broader,” Guy Hutchinson, president and chief executive of Rotana Hotel Management Corp., said in an interview, according to reports.

“A lot of those concerns are going to be answered in the very short term.”

Throughout the competition, he anticipates 90% or more occupancy for his buildings.

The country is on schedule to deliver 130,000 accommodations for the competition and more than 117,000 of those rooms are presently accessible, according to a Qatari spokesperson.

There are a variety of lodging alternatives, including tents, Airbnb-style lodging, at least two cruise ships, and around 4,000 cabins.

The nation has been working continuously to prepare for the event, including overhauling the sewage systems to handle the 1.2 million expected visitors over the course of the month-long celebration, reports detail.

The majority of tourists will arrive during the first two weeks of the competition, and many will stay in nearby nations like the United Arab Emirates while flying in and leaving on the same day. To manage an increase in flights, Qatar reopened a secondary airport to the general public.

The stadiums, which were largely built from scratch, are completed. But with a target completion date of 1 November, at least a dozen hotels, including five-star establishments, are still under construction. Some hotels expect to offer all of their rooms and restaurants in time for the event, while others will only have some rooms ready.

The official tournament website currently lists very little hotel room availability for the first few nights of the tournament. However, the individual booking websites for hotels have more rooms available.

The cost of a private residence, or villa, ranges from QAR 787 to QAR 300 per night.

Studios with twin beds akin to those found in hostels are also available in a number of buildings and properties. There are also tents and other lodging options in fan villages, which range in price from QAR 407 to QAR 1512 per night with a two-night minimum stay.