The Path to Recovery for European Hospitality

As in the summer of 2020, the European hotel industry experienced boosting demand this summer, mainly caused by the increase in vaccination rates and progressive removal of health restrictions.

The hoteliers saw their wishes come true: hotel activity accelerated (+68.0% in RevPAR between July 1 and August 21 compared to 2020), although well below pre-COVID standards (-31.8% compared to the summer of 2019). The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the hospitality industry seems to be fading away, but strong differences between countries and areas remain.

Vaccinations and health passports have enabled continental hotels to host a large portion of  domestic and European clientele this summer. Compared to 2020, performance in 2021 is up in all European countries, not only in terms of Occupancy Rate but also in terms of Average Daily Rate and RevPAR. The Occupancy Rate climbed by 17.7 points from 2020, crossing the symbolic 50% threshold (to 52.2%). However, despite this revival, performance remains below pre-Covid levels. Over the summer, European hotel revenue per room was -31.8% below summer 2019 levels. To a large extend because of lack of labor for cleaning the rooms, resulting in an estimated 30% blocking of rooms not sold.