European accommodation barometer 2022: what’s on the minds of hoteliers?
Travel is coming back after 2 years of COVID restrictions. But hoteliers now face new challenges. What are they?
Europe is the world’s top destination, where travel and tourism serve as important pillars of the continent’s economy. In the benchmark year (2019), before our industry was decimated by the global pandemic, Europe’s travel sector constituted over 9% of GDP and employed 37,820,000 people, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
At the same time, the our sector is highly fragmented and its economic challenges and opportunities are often overlooked. This is particularly true for Europe’s diverse ecosystem of accommodations.
This year, Booking.com and Statista Inc. have partnered up to give a voice to hoteliers who manage properties large and small. The first of its kind European Accommodation Barometer provides insights into the economic performance of Europe’s hotels and other accommodations.
A highly focused business climate indicator, it maps the accommodation sector’s performance, challenges, expectations for the future, and where it needs help from governments and policymakers. The EU-wide (plus Switzerland) survey is representative of all European accommodations, with additional country-level insights available for a number of markets (The Nordics, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece).
A rollercoaster ride
Across Europe, accommodations had a strong summer season with increasing levels of occupancy and rates. This was a much-welcomed improvement after two devastating years of COVID. As a result, many accommodations perceive their current economic conditions quite positively. When it comes to the future, hoteliers are cautiously optimistic. 38% of EU accommodation believe their economic situation will develop positively over the next 6 months, while 17% believe it will deteriorate.
The survey found marked differences between nation states and accommodation types. Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and The Netherlands had both a strong performance over the past 6 months and an optimistic outlook towards the future. In contrast, German, French and Austrian hoteliers perceive their current economic situation significantly less positively and also have lower future expectations.
There is also a fundamental difference between individual hotels and those belonging to a chain. Individual hotels score lower on every metric of the accommodation barometer. Their occupancy and room night rates have developed less positively over the past six months; they have more trouble getting access to capital, and find it harder to cope with digitalisation. As the result, they are generally less optimistic about the future.
In addition, there is a size effect. Smaller hotels, i.e. those with fewer rooms, have done worse than bigger ones. Indeed, it is the small and independent hotels that have been hit the hardest by COVID and perceive the future as more challenging.
Accommodations are looking to governments and policymakers for help
Accommodations across Europe view government policies as having a significant impact on their business success, with 62% of accommodations stating that the impact was important or very important.
At the same time, the expected effect is rather negative. One third of hoteliers believe the impact will be harmful or very harmful. When queried about their expectation, it is very clear that accommodations are looking for more support. This is particularly true when it comes to coping with rising costs of energy and other inputs, dealing with economic uncertainties and a potential next wave of COVID, as well as more traditional issues such as taxation and investments.
Knowledge is power, and, by giving voice to the European hoteliers, our goal was to generate insights and empower decision-making by travel & tourism sector stakeholders. Europe’s accommodations are still in a fragile recovery mode and they need all the help they can get. As an important contributor to Europe’s economic success, they surely deserve it.
