{"id":3870,"date":"2026-06-15T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T17:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3870"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:05:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T17:05:33","slug":"a-world-cup-favorite-is-all-settled-in-at-a-small-town-embassy-suites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3870","title":{"rendered":"A World Cup favorite is all settled in at a small-town Embassy Suites"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Chattanooga, Tennessee, prepared to host star-studded Spain, no detail was too small.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Portugal fans mixed on whether Ronaldo will help or hurt team\u2019s World Cup chances<\/a><\/p>\n

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Chattanooga welcomes World Cup favorite Spain. (Alan Poizner\/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The pillows were going to be an issue.<\/p>\n

As the staff of the Embassy Suites in Chattanooga, Tennessee, prepared to host hundreds of Spaniards this summer \u2014 including the 26 players hoping to produce Spain\u2019s first World Cup title since 2010 \u2014 there were plenty of details to attend to, from the temperature of the steak to the ergonomics of the chairs.<\/p>\n

But first: those pillows. The team wanted fresh ones, never been used, and firm. So 500 new pillows it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are as particular as can be because it\u2019s the comfort of these players,\u201d said Lori Jenkins, regional sales and marketing director for Vision Hospitality Group, which operates the Embassy Suites. \u201cObviously, they want them to feel at home, and that\u2019s where we come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across North America, 48 national soccer teams arrived in recent weeks to settle into temporary digs while they try survive the opening stage of this summer\u2019s World Cup. FIFA, soccer\u2019s global governing body, assembled a list of 62 approved locations across the three host countries, and each team went through its own decision-making process to select the ideal spot.<\/p>\n

At hotels ranging from the the Four Seasons in Boston, where star-studded France is based, to Algeria\u2019s digs at the DoubleTree in Lawrence, Kansas, each stay represents the culmination of months of painstaking work by the cities, federations and on-the-ground partners to ensure each team has exactly what it needs.<\/p>\n

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Spain’s Marcos Llorente arrives at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. (Coral Scoles-Coburn\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Spanish soccer federation considered several sites two hours away in Atlanta, where luxury hotels abound and Atlanta United\u2019s MLS training facilities were an option. But Spain, favorited by sportsbooks to win the 48-team competition, chose an Embassy Suites in the Appalachian foothills. Chattanooga, which started putting together its pitch to FIFA three years ago, offered a combination of privacy, quality facilities and proximity to Atlanta that ultimately won Spain over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like we\u2019re in the middle of nowhere, in a good way,\u201d said Chris Angel, the head of school at Baylor, the college prep boarding school <\/b>where the team will practice. \u201cI think that appealed to the team in a major way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spanish Soccer Federation bought out the 184-room downtown Embassy Suites hotel and has taken over a large portion of Baylor\u2019s athletic complex, including converting the indoor tennis facilities into an off-field training center and a media center to accommodate the 125-plus media who cover Spain. Under World Cup regulations, FIFA is required to pay for each delegation\u2019s flights and lodging; extra details, like the work on the tennis facilities, are at the Spanish federation\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Chattanooga, they are our big fish, right?\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cNot just a fish in the pond. They are our pond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulling it all together took months of work at the hotel and school. Besides the pillows, all of the artwork and signage around the property, down to the decorative knickknacks in each room, were swapped out for Spain\u2019s own branding, trophies and books.<\/p>\n

The retail space on the hotel\u2019s ground floor was undergoing renovations. But the federation staff envisioned not the Mediterranean restaurant the hotel had planned but a fitness center for its star-studded team, which includes Barcelona phenom Lamine Yamal. The would-be restaurant was transformed into a gym, with a poured rubber floor and all the equipment fit for a favorite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt even has that gym smell,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cAnd then when they leave at the end of the month, we rip all that back out and go back to making it a marketplace.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Mark Hollis tells AP he\u2019s interested in Michigan State AD job after Kentucky hires J Batt<\/a><\/p>\n

When it comes to feeding the team, the attention to detail, Jenkins said, is \u201cas specific as you can imagine.\u201d Fruits and vegetables for the smoothie station are to be cut into two-centimeter cubes. Four hundred pounds of Jam\u00f3n ib\u00e9rico arrived from Spain. Olive oil is allowed, but no seed oils, and certainly nothing fried. The team\u2019s preferred recipes for bread were sent to the hotel\u2019s culinary staff in advance, and Spain\u2019s team chef and maitre d\u2019 both made regular visits to keep track of the progress.<\/p>\n

Four espresso machines were delivered to the hotel, and Jenkins said the team\u2019s maitre d\u2019 knows how each player takes his coffee and what temperature he likes his steak.<\/p>\n

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Spain’s David Raya with fans after training. (Brett Davis\/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The linens, dishes and cutlery were all closely inspected and went through several rounds of changes before Spain settled on the perfect items. But even with all the pre-planning, when the federation\u2019s staff arrived a few days ahead of the team, they decided the tables in the dining room weren\u2019t going to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said the players won\u2019t be comfortable,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cSo we ordered new tables,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

Just over three miles away at Baylor, the work to ensure that the grass fields met the team\u2019s specifications for training began last fall. Baylor has two natural grass fields and one artificial turf field in its soccer complex. The school\u2019s own teams used the turf field more frequently than normal to protect the grass for Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have exact height requirements for the blades of grass,\u201d Angel said. The team also requires a certain density of the grass, measured by the number of blades per square inch \u2014 Angel likened it to the thread count of sheets \u2014 to ensure the field performs as they expect.<\/p>\n

Baylor\u2019s drainage system was up to snuff, which was part of the attraction for Spain. The athletic facilities on campus are also accessible by a separate gate from the front entrance, allowing the team to have maximal seclusion as they prepare for their games. The back area is surrounded by a six-foot privacy fence and has controlled access points; only those approved will be able to get anywhere near the team\u2019s workspace.<\/p>\n

The indoor tennis facilities became a strength, conditioning and recovery space and a media center. Baylor installed air conditioning in both spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cCranes are coming in, delivering these massive HVAC systems to put in, and it\u2019s temporary, temporary air conditioning systems for both of those facilities,\u201d Angel said. \u201cAnd then all that goes away. \u2026 And so it\u2019s like, \u2018Wow, they\u2019ve thought about everything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain will travel to and from from its base a few times during the group stage, including for its opening game Monday in Atlanta<\/a>, and every time the team returns, the hotel plans to have a surprise waiting. There\u2019s plenty to choose from: Third-graders at a local school decorated cards and drawings; Chattanooga Whiskey donated bottles; the logistics company across the street will hang a banner from its balcony.<\/p>\n

The downtown aquarium and children\u2019s museum have offered to set up special access so Spain\u2019s superstars can have quiet moments with their families.<\/p>\n

It all adds up to unprecedented level of care for 26 men who kick a ball for a living. Still, it felt familiar enough to Jenkins: \u201dTrue Southern hospitality,\u201d she called it.<\/p>

Read more Jets agree to a 4-year extension with guard Joe Tippmann, AP source says<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fresh pillows and no seed oil: As Chattanooga, Tennessee, prepared to host star-studded Spain, no detail was too small.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nA World Cup favorite is all settled in at a small-town Embassy Suites - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3870\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A World Cup favorite is all settled in at a small-town Embassy Suites - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fresh pillows and no seed oil: As Chattanooga, Tennessee, prepared to host star-studded Spain, no detail was too small.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3870\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T17:05:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2c6dc5a669d3f4cfeb8528383f96a4fe-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3870#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3870\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"A World Cup favorite is all settled in at a small-town Embassy Suites\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T17:05:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3870\"},\"wordCount\":1272,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3870#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f949a5bbed112d670297ec51e64b4ab5-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3870#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3870\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3870\",\"name\":\"A World Cup favorite is all settled in at a small-town Embassy Suites - 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