STR Europe - Market Snapshot 2022/2023
European hotel performance strengthened in 2022 as recovery from the pandemic kicked into full gear despite both public health and economic challenges.
Hotel occupancy across Europe improved substantially following the end of the Omicron surge in the first quarter. Similar to 2021, leisure travel again led demand recovery. However, with COVID restrictions all but ended by mid-year, corporate demand finally started to return, and weekday occupancy rebounded rapidly over the second half of the year.
Recovery pace and drivers varied widely across markets. For some regions, such as Southern Europe, strong summer leisure travel remained the key driver. In other markets, like Warsaw and Dublin, humanitarian aid efforts arising from the war in Ukraine lifted hotel demand. However, despite the Omicron variant’s outsized impact on the first quarter of the year, most markets reported occupancy near pre-pandemic levels by year end.
The Hotel Yearbook 2023 - Annual Edition
As we have embarked on 2023, it is evident that the hotel industry has made a robust recovery from the
pandemic.
Occupancy and pricing have returned to their pre-pandemic levels. However, the future of our
industry is contingent
on how nimble the hospitality sector can be in adapting to ongoing innovation, changing market
conditions, evolving
consumer preferences, new staffing challenges, and sustainability realities. These uncertainties are
the new normal
in an unpredictable world.