Vancouver short-term rentals scored big cash on FIFA World Cup match days
With the FIFA World Cup officially over, new data reveals that Vancouver short-term rentals garnered close to an additional $24 million in revenue during the tournament period.
AirDNA, a platform that analyzes data on short-term rentals, recently published an analysis on how short-term rentals fared across all 16 host cities.
They found that while revenue went up for most, occupancy rates actually declined over the course of the soccer tournament.
For example, Vancouver saw a 33 per cent year-over-year increase in short-term rental revenue. But the majority of this (nearly $22.9 million) came from rate increases. Only about $840,000 was from additional nights.
“The 2026 World Cup was a win for short-term rentals, but not the one many expected. The tournament didn’t flood host cities with a wave of incremental guests; instead, it gave hosts pricing power,” wrote AirDNA in a report.
This means that while Vancouver short-term rental hosts didn’t necessarily book more nights, they earned more per night.
“Despite demand gains, the World Cup did little to lift occupancy due to significant supply growth leading up to the tournament,” the report reads.
In Vancouver, occupancy rate actually dropped by 15 per cent year-over-year, as the surge in short-term rental supply met “muted demand,” according to an email from an AirDNA spokesperson.
In January of this year, Vancouver saw a 130 per cent year-over-year increase in applications for short-term rental licences. Airbnb also started an incentive for new hosts, offering them $1,015 if they listed their home and hosted their first guests by July 2026.
Breaking down the data by matches
On match days and evenings, booked rates for Vancouver short-term rentals shot up. However, the city saw “rate growth fall short on surrounding dates.”
In line with most of the other host cities, Vancouver’s short-term rental performance was best in the early rounds — not the later knockout games.
The later-stage matches didn’t outperform the earlier rounds, which AirDNA says is due to booking behaviour.
“Because group stage matchups were determined well ahead of time, fans who wanted to see specific teams could plan and book far in advance, pushing up occupancy and rates,” wrote AirDNA.
“For knockout rounds, however, fans were more reluctant to commit when the teams wouldn’t be known until days before match day, and last-minute bookings weren’t enough to make up the difference, resulting in weaker gains despite the higher stakes.”
The first World Cup match in Vancouver on June 13, between Australia and Türkiye, saw the highest short-term rental booking rate of 56 per cent year-over-year, and a five per cent occupancy decline.
AirDNA data showing year-over-year change for game day and evening STR bookings.
Two matches tie for second place: the June 21 game of New Zealand vs. Egypt and the June 24 game of Canada vs. Switzerland, both seeing a 45 per cent year-over-year increase in booked rates.
Occupancy rates fell by seven per cent for Canada vs. Switzerland, and 11 per cent for Egypt vs. New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Vancouver’s two knockout rounds saw a much more stunted revenue growth compared to other matches.
Switzerland vs. Algeria, a round of 32 game held on July 2, had a 27 per cent year-over-year increase (with occupancy rate down by 19 per cent).
And Vancouver’s last match, a round of 16 held on July 7 between Switzerland and Colombia, had a booked rate growth of 35 per cent. Occupancy was down nine per cent from the year prior.
Note: AirDNA provided Daily Hive Urbanized with the numbers in USD, which we converted to CAD using the Bank of Canada currency converter.