DOHA, Qatar — After Sheng Xie, a 33-year-old soccer fan from Vancouver, booked his flight to the World Cup, he went searching for accommodations.
Using the official tournament website, he quickly settled on a relatively affordable place called Fan Village. The room pictured looked functional and clean. There were two twin beds, Wi-Fi, air conditioning and a refrigerator, all for about $200 a night.
He did not realize it was, essentially, inside a shipping container.
“What did I book?” Xie asked himself in recent weeks, as he began to see photos on social media of his accommodations under construction.