Atlanta’s short-term rentals are starting to fill up for the World Cup

Cabbagetown resident Nadia Giordani has an eco-friendly tiny home in her backyard that she rents out on short-term rental platform Airbnb.

The walls are made of birch wood. The mattresses and bedding are organic cotton. The pots and pans are stainless steel.

“A lot of guests specifically stay with us because they feel that their allergies won’t flare up,” said Giordani, a nutritionist who has lived in the neighborhood east of downtown Atlanta for 27 years.

Giordani this month plans to open the booking window for her tiny home during the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Atlanta, when the city will host eight matches in June and July. She is expecting high demand.

Airbnb is predicting about 6,000 guests will stay with local hosts during the World Cup, representing about 45,000 guest nights, according to a study Deloitte completed for Airbnb.

The study assumes 216,000 visitors will come to Atlanta for the global soccer event. But some projections anticipate as many as 500,000 tourists will flock to the city for the World Cup.

As hotels fill up, some guests may seek out short-term rentals such as Airbnb or Vrbo as a more homelike alternative. Many of the rentals are located outside traditional tourism districts like downtown or Buckhead.

“We give people the opportunity to explore Atlanta in a different way,” Giordani said.

Her tiny home is about 2 miles from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the nucleus for the World Cup. But it feels a world away, she said. “Once you’re in the backyard, you only see trees. You hear birds chirping. You hear my neighbor’s chickens.”

Airbnb is predicting that local hosts like Giordani could earn an average of $3,700 over the course of the World Cup events in Atlanta, according to the Deloitte study.

Metro Atlanta short-term rentals are already filling up, according to analytics firm AirDNA. The World Cup could be the biggest short-term rental event that’s come to the U.S., the firm predicts.

AirDNA tracks short-term rentals across several platforms, including Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia and Booking.com. As of November, the firm said metro Atlanta has more than 20,000 individual listings.

But that number could grow. Some people who might not typically host could decide to get into the game.

Cabbagetown resident Nadia Giordani rents out a tiny home in her backyard. (Riley Bunch/AJC)

“I’ve been getting a lot of people reaching out to me who want to be ready for FIFA and would like to host their private homes,” said Giordani, who also serves as an ambassador for Airbnb, helping to onboard new hosts.

“They plan on leaving the city for a while, going to stay with family, or leaving the country, even going on vacation, and putting their homes on Airbnb,” she said.

The booking activity for short-term rentals in metro Atlanta picked up after the World Cup draw this past weekend, which revealed the group stage matchups and other key details about the schedule.

For example, for the first group match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium — Spain versus Cabo Verde on June 15 — about 11% of the available short-term rentals are now booked in metro Atlanta for that date, according to AirDNA. Those units were booked at an average nightly rate of $214.

For the World Cup semifinal held in Atlanta, set for July 15, about 10% of the available short-term rentals have been booked for that date, at an average nightly rate of $230.

The demand far exceeds what is typically seen this time of year, suggesting the World Cup is driving much of the activity, said Bram Gallagher, director of economics and forecasting for AirDNA.

“Atlanta has an exceptionally short lead time for short-term rentals,” said Gallagher, of around 20 to 25 days. “Seeing people book this early is definitely unusual. We’re way ahead of where we were at this time last year.”

AirDNA is showing the short-term rentals still available during the World Cup are now priced on average about $300 per night. That rate is likely to go up.