SiteMinder mid-year report: Global hotel demand to hold firm, peak in September
SiteMinder's mid-year report, drawing on 135M annual bookings across 22 markets, shows September demand peaks with bookings up 12.2% in the Americas, 17.4% in Asia Pacific, and 11.7% in Europe year-on-year.
Photo by SiteMinder
Sydney, Australia – A new report by SiteMinder, the world’s leading hotel commerce platform, reveals hotel demand is set to remain steady over the coming months, defying global conditions.
The mid-year edition of SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends report, based on data from SiteMinder’s platform which generates 135 million hotel bookings each year, covers stays between June and September 2026 across 22 key tourism markets in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. The report finds that forward bookings are up year-on-year on average, even as disruption around major Middle Eastern air hubs, rising fuel costs and broader economic uncertainty make some travel routes more expensive and harder to predict. While months and markets look to vary, demand is set to peak globally in September, with bookings up 12.2% year-on-year in the Americas, 17.4% in Asia Pacific and 11.7% in Europe.
SiteMinder’s VP of ecosystem and strategic partnerships, James Bishop, says the data points to a season that will reward hotels prepared to move with demand.
The picture is not uniform across the globe, with some markets naturally navigating a more challenging period than others. However, across most destinations, hotels are tracking ahead of their performance this same time last year. When travel demand becomes more selective, as it looks to this season, the hotels best placed to capitalise are those with the insights to see where the demand is heading and can act on it in real time, rather than after the fact. It is times like these that modern technology is crucial for hotels, as the right tools now provide up-to-date market intelligence and recommendations on how to adjust revenue and distribution strategies when demand changes.
Despite the varied conditions, average daily rate (ADR) is one of the report’s most consistent signals. Hotel room rates are growing in four of five markets in the Americas, seven of eight in Asia Pacific, and seven of nine in Europe, including in destinations where booking volumes are more subdued. In Asia Pacific and Europe, September is set to be the strongest month for ADR growth. In the Americas, ADR growth is set to peak in June, coinciding with the opening stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The stronger booking trend is not fully reflected in room nights across Europe and the Americas however, where shorter stays are trimming room night growth. In Europe, total room nights are growing at half the pace of bookings. Cancellation rates are also rising across most markets. In Asia Pacific, cancellation rates are up 0.81 percentage points year-on-year on average, and in Europe by 0.5 percentage points. By comparison, cancellations in the Americas are more contained, up just 0.1 percentage points, a sign of more deliberate, committed demand.
The mid-year edition of SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends report is available here.
About SiteMinder
SiteMinder Limited (ASX:SDR) is the name behind SiteMinder, the world’s leading AI-powered hotel commerce platform, and Little Hotelier, an all-in-one hotel management software that makes the lives of small accommodation providers easier. The global company is headquartered in Sydney with offices in Bangkok, Barcelona, Berlin, Dallas, Galway, London, Manila, Mexico City and Pune. Through its technology and the largest partner ecosystem in the global hotel industry, SiteMinder generates more than 135 million reservations worth over A$85 billion in revenue for its hotel customers each year. For more information, visit siteminder.com.