Hotel trends: ten developments and the choices they ask of hoteliers

A higher room price is not yet a higher income

Hoteliers often see the price on the booking page go up while the money left per room goes down. Taxes on the stay, platform commission and staff costs all sit between what the guest pays and what the hotel keeps. The hotel trends on this page follow that chain: five developments in demand and price, five in operations and guest contact, each with the choice that follows.

Start with the tax on a stay, because it shows the mechanism most clearly. Value added tax (VAT) and tourist taxes are set by national and local governments, differ from country to country and can change with a single budget. In countries without VAT, such as the United States, state and local sales and occupancy taxes play the same role.

Fictitious Firmfocus example with invented tax rates: €132 / 1.10 = €120, €132 / 1.20 = €110 and €120 x 1.20 = €144. A tourist tax per person per night works the same way: charged on top it raises the guest's price, absorbed in your rate it comes out of your margin. The logic works in any currency.

The hotel ratios that show what a trend does

The industry figures for accommodation show the average cost structure and operating margin of hotels, a useful check before you decide which trend matters most for your property.

Five hotel trends in demand and price

1. 01

   Taxes on the stay change what you keep

   VAT rates on accommodation and tourist taxes are policy choices, and they are revised. When they rise, someone pays: the guest through a higher price or the hotel through a lower net rate. Choice: decide per segment and season how much to pass on. Leisure guests with few alternatives accept more than price-sensitive groups or business contracts with fixed rates.

2. 02

   Demand moves closer to home

   International arrivals rose by just 0.4% in the first half of 2026, and UN Tourism lowered its forecast for the year to growth of 1% to 2%, with travellers expected to stay closer to home in response to high prices and uncertainty (source: UN Tourism, September 2026). Choice: hold on to the nearby and domestic market with short-break packages, or broaden the guest mix deliberately. Budget with two or three scenarios rather than one forecast.

3. 03

   The business guest has changed

   Where video calls have replaced part of the short business trip, meetings, training days and longer stays that combine work and leisure follow their own pattern. Check your own segment mix against the years before: who still comes, for how long and on which nights? Choice: specialise in meetings and events, with the rooms, technology and staff that requires, or rebuild weekdays around leisure guests and longer stays.

4. 04

   A full hotel at a lower rate

   Filling rooms with discounts looks good on the occupancy report but raises cleaning, laundry and staff costs per room. Compare two fictitious hotels: one at 85% occupancy and an ADR of €110 earns a RevPAR of €93.50, the other at 75% and €130 earns €97.50 with fewer rooms to clean. Choice: steer on RevPAR and GOPPAR rather than occupancy, and accept that some rooms stay empty on some nights.

5. 05

   Staff are the heaviest cost

   Accommodation and food service activities are among the sectors with the highest job vacancy rates in the EU (source: Eurostat, September 2026). Wages rise and good people are hard to keep. Choice: decide which tasks really need personal contact and which do not, and manage staff costs per occupied room instead of in total. The theme page on labour shortages covers retention.

Fictitious Firmfocus example in trend 04: 0.85 x €110 = €93.50 and 0.75 x €130 = €97.50.

Five hotel trends in operations and guest contact

1. 06

   Guests do more themselves

   Online check-in, digital keys, messaging and contactless payment move routine work from the front desk to the guest's phone. Choice: digitise the friction, such as queues, forms and key handovers, and spend the time it frees on the contact guests remember: a recommendation, a welcome, a problem solved.

2. 07

   AI supports staff and changes how guests search

   AI tools can draft review replies, answer standard questions, set prices and forecast demand, and travellers can ask AI assistants to compare hotels for them. Choice: start with one repetitive process, measure the time saved and only then scale up. Keep room descriptions, prices and policies accurate everywhere, because that is what AI tools read. See AI strategy.

3. 08

   An own channel next to the booking platforms

   Online travel agencies (OTAs) bring guests a hotel would never reach alone, at a commission on every booking. In the European Economic Area, Booking.com is a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act, which bans parity requirements of any kind, so accommodation partners are free to offer better prices on their own website (source: European Commission, September 2026). Elsewhere, parity terms depend on your contract and national competition law. Choice: use platforms to win new guests and your own website, email and loyalty offers to bring them back directly. Keep information consistent across channels, answer reviews and know the net revenue per booking for each channel.

4. 09

   Short-term rentals compete, and face more rules

   Holiday apartments compete directly for leisure guests and families. Regulation is tightening: since May 2026, EU rules require platforms to display a host's registration number where a registration scheme applies, and to share listing data with the authorities (source: EUR-Lex, April 2024). Cities may add their own limits, such as permits or caps on rental nights. Choice: compete on what an apartment lacks, such as service, breakfast, flexibility and a reception that solves problems, or add apartment-style rooms yourself and follow the same local rules.

5. 10

   Energy and sustainability become cost and credibility questions

   Heating, hot water, laundry and cooling run day and night. At the same time, the EU bans generic environmental claims a trader cannot demonstrate and sustainability labels without a certification scheme from September 2026 (source: EUR-Lex, February 2024). Choice: invest first in savings that pay for themselves, measure the results, and claim only what you can prove. See energy costs and sustainability.

What this means for your hotel strategy

Small business and larger organisation: independent hotel or chain

Pitfalls

• Steering on occupancy: a full hotel at a low rate can earn less than a quieter one at the right rate.
• Comparing channels on revenue: compare net revenue per booking after commission, fees and marketing costs.
• Passing on a tax increase blindly: test per segment how price-sensitive guests are before you move all rates.
• Green claims without proof: a vague "eco" label is now a legal risk in the EU.

The other industries are under trends by industry. To turn the hotel trends into options for your own property, use the TOWS matrix, and find all models in Strategy.