Minnow in World Cup win
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A FAMILY firm based in Cheadle Hulme near Manchester has won a pounds 200m contract to organise all the accommodation for next year's football World Cup in the US, writes Jason Nisse.
The contract involves up to 1.75 million bookings in nine cities across North America, taking in accommodation for the 24 teams and more than 10,000 people from the media. The bookings from the official travel clubs of the teams and all tour operators are also being routed through the tiny company.
The World Cup Accommodation Bureau, which has established an office in Los Angeles, is run by two Anglo-Mexican brothers, Enrique (pictured right) and Jaime Byrom, their wives and their two sisters. Before the contract, it had just 12 staff.
It was set up when the Byrom brothers - through a contact of their grandfather's in the Mexican FA - won some contracts to organise travel and accommodation for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. They followed this up with bookings at Italia '90 and have been consultants on logistics for the World Cup USA '94 Organising Committee since 1989. Robyn Byrom, Enrique's wife, said: 'We were working towards gaining some sort of contract. We did not envisage dealing with all the accommodation.'
To handle the work, the firm has had a software package developed for it by Sema Group, which built up booking systems for the Barcelona Olympics.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments