How The FIFA World Cup Turned Los Angeles Into a Hub For The Global Elite
Luxury L.A. hotels, private clubs, and oceanfront venues hosted jet-set travelers for the world’s biggest sports tournament.
As the FIFA World Cup transformed Los Angeles into a global stage, a rare concentration of athletes, prestige brands, and power brokers descended on the California coast, creating one of the year’s most fascinating migrations of influence. A social geography began to emerge—drawn not by freeways or city limits, but by invitation lists, oceanfront hotels, private estates, and the irresistible pull of the Pacific. This summer’s most coveted ticket wasn’t actually inside the stadium at all.
During the World Cup, Los Angeles became two cities at once. There was the version broadcast to billions: the goals, the anthems, the endless procession of cameras following the world’s largest sporting event from one dramatic catharsis to the next. Then there was the other Los Angeles, hidden behind Brentwood hedges and Bel Air gates, where soccer was discussed alongside cocktails, culture, venture capital, and whatever opportunity emerges when such a coveted cohort finds itself sharing the same coastline.
The legendary tournament predictably created its own traveling court. This year, it spanned three host nations for the first time in its history, and the court was wealthier and more mobile than ever. For 39 days, a global social ecosystem followed the spectacle, creating a parallel championship that existed entirely off the pitch.
tends to take the scenic route (Fairmont)
As Santa Monica emerged as one of the World Cup’s unofficial capitals, Viceroy Santa Monica occupied prime territory. Mere blocks from the ferris wheel silhouetted Pier, the hotel’s pool deck and private cabanas serviced by Sugar Palm offered a barefoot version of tournament fever, where matches unfold beneath swaying palms, with chilled international beers and snack baskets stocked with English crisps and Japanese Kit Kats. Less stadium, more salon, it’s exactly the sort of place traveling bon vivants prefer to gather. On select weekends, live DJs amplify the energy as the cabanas evolve from viewing lounges into unofficial clubhouses, where the dress code leans more swimwear than supporter scarf.
And there’s no shortage of energy flowing through the 90401. Michelob ULTRA threw the first flare on June 11, transforming the Santa Monica Pier into a playground salon for the tournament. Kevin Hart brought his signature rapid-fire charisma. Snoop Dogg supplied the swagger. DJ Pee .Wee and Disco Lines kept the energy high while a drone show narrated by U.S. Men’s National Team star Christian Pulisic painted the night sky above the Pacific. The details matter less than the signal it sent. Michelob ULTRA’s Pitchside Club opening bash was a declaration of intent.
The Fairmont Miramar appears purpose-built for everything that followed. This oceanfront hotel and bungalows institution has a habit of becoming part of the story whenever history comes to town. Perched above the Pacific since Hollywood’s golden age, the landmark property splashed matches across oversized screens in the Lobby Lounge.
Soccer may be a global language, but emotional eating remains universal. On standby for penalty shootouts: Korean-style wings glazed in sweet-spicy gochujang and loaded nachos layered with braised short ribs. As the bracket tightened, so did the atmosphere. The culmination arrived at The Bungalow, where the championship match unfolded against sweeping ocean views, craft cocktails, and the sun-drenched coastal energy that makes this one of LA’s most enduring social institutions. For affluent fans traveling for FIFA, the World Cup is a weeks-long social season. Anticipating this, Fairmont delivers for travelers who prefer to experience a global event stylishly, socially, and with a cocktail never far from reach.
Around the official fan zones, a more polished brand economy takes shape. Adidas turned soccer culture into fashion currency at BMO Stadium. Diageo’s portfolio—Casamigos, Don Julio, and Johnnie Walker—fueled a meaningful share of the off-pitch festivities. Around them, the familiar repertoire of luxury houses, automotive marques, and sporting brands commandeered private dinners, suites, rooftop gatherings, and invitation-only celebrations.
At The Maybourne Beverly Hills, the world’s game became a worldly gathering. Executive Chef Damon Gordon’s “All Around the World” special menu turned The Terrace into an edible opening ceremony, with Belgian moules frites, New Zealand venison accompanied by wild strawberries and charred asparagus, and a Swiss mocha roulade of Felchlin milk chocolate mousse and candied cocoa nibs. Cosmopolitan accents mingled while conversations drifted between national rivalries, business opportunities, and summer plans on three different continents. No yellow cards. No VAR reviews. Just the agreeable possibility that the next table over might belong to a past World Cup champion, a movie star, or both. A portion of proceeds benefitted the LA Galaxy Foundation, because every global spectacle deserves a local legacy.
The Sunset Strip has never lacked for mythology. The West Hollywood EDITION brings a distinctly modern chapter to it, with a Forbes Five-Star spa and Ardor’s produce-driven California cuisine. Ian Schrager’s minimalist temple to modern LA occupies a strategic corner where WeHo meets Beverly Hills, pairing scintillating rooftop views with a subterranean nightclub with the sort of scene that turns hotels into characters in the story. This EDITION property has become one of the defining social stages of modern Sunset Boulevard, where hopefuls and headliners pass through with remarkable regularity.
Downtown, meanwhile, plays a different game. Conrad Los Angeles emerged as one of the tournament’s most strategically positioned addresses. As one of the closest five-star hotels to the tournament’s sporting orbit, the property became a natural headquarters for delegations seeking proximity without sacrificing polish. Set within Frank Gehry’s sculptural vision for Downtown, with The Broad, MOCA, and Walt Disney Concert Hall on its doorstep, Conrad defined a more cerebral expression of World Cup hospitality. Between José Andrés dinners and rooftop after-parties, culture becomes a credential in its own right. In a city increasingly defined by movement, Conrad masters the art of staying precisely where the action is. For one feverish summer, Los Angeles became a capital of the beautiful game, and smart money knew exactly where to find it.
Kylian Mbappé knows a thing or two about regeneration.
performance and recovery into a new vision for luxury travel (Courtesy of Fairmont)
The world’s most electrifying footballer lives in the space between peak performance and recovery. Fairmont’s new global “Wellness Without Walls” initiative placed Kylian Mbappé at its center—a philosophy built around movement, restoration, and the quietly subversive idea that travel should replenish rather than deplete.
As LA buzzed with big Cup energy, Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa offers a stylish sidestep through an exclusive partnership with JSX, a hop-on jet service renowned for its private terminal network. “Sky to Suite” allows guests to swap stadiums for the storied fairways of Sonoma Golf Club, geothermal mineral waters, and lingering dinners at Santé. Departing from private terminals in Santa Monica, Burbank, or Orange County, travelers are airborne in short order and soon surrounded by vineyards. Match-day adrenaline gave way to hydrotherapy circuits chased by couples massages. Fairmont Sonoma and Gloria Ferrer have evolved into a hedonistic power couple, pairing the resort’s dedicated Gloria Ferrer Suite with VIP tastings at the winery’s sculptural promontory estate, where the family’s Catalan roots and Carneros bubbles make a persuasive case for extending the victory lap.
If Santa Monica serves as a key social capital of the Cup, Sonoma feels like its recovery room. Jetting from Fairmont Miramar to Fairmont Sonoma may be the ultimate flex: a deft feint away from the circus without ever leaving the game. Think WAG entourages soaking in geothermal pools by breakfast, facials by noon, box-seat polish by sunset.
World Cup winners on a victory lap could do far worse than a Vérité Estate takeover, one of Sonoma’s most compelling new addresses. Beneath the winery, the Armagnac Room feels like the sort of place World Cup captains, Ballon d’Or royalty, and federation power brokers might disappear for an evening and emerge with stories they have no intention of sharing. The culmination of a robust partnership between legendary French winemaker Pierre Seillan and the late Jess Jackson of Jackson Family Wines, Vérité has earned an astonishing seventeen perfect 100-point scores for its Bordeaux-inspired wines over the past two decades.
The estate itself is equally personal: Pierre crafts the wines alongside his daughter Hélène Seillan, while the estate’s striking cathedral-scale architecture was designed by his son, Nicolas Seillan. Rich with hand-hewn furnishings, deep jewel tones inspired by the family’s Gascon roots, the hidden tasting salon feels worlds away from the crowds and cameras.
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Maxim
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