European Accommodations: Optimism Amid Staffing and Digital Divide

European Accommodations: Optimism Amidst Staffing and Digital Divide Challenges overview

The European accommodation industry shows optimism for the 2025 peak travel season, but faces challenges in specialized staffing, upskilling, and digital technology adoption, highlighting a growing skills gap and digital divide among independent properties.

Important details from the source

• AMSTERDAM, 2 July 2025 — Today, Booking.com, released the fifth edition of its European Accommodation Barometer, featuring insights from 1,160 travel accommodation executives across Europe on the current outlook, opportunities and challenges facing the industry.
• Positive sentiment and stable investment across the industry.
• Even in the face of geopolitical and macro-economic uncertainties, almost two-thirds of European accommodation operators (63%) share a positive business outlook for the coming season – nearly matching last year’s record high (65%) and far exceeding the low point of 38% in 2022.
• However, confidence is uneven across regions: Southern Europe (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal) is particularly upbeat, Central Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Poland) is more subdued, and Northern Europe (Nordics, Ireland) falls somewhere in between.
• Continuing the trend observed in last year’s Barometer, this economic optimism aligns with most accommodations (62%) planning to maintain a steady course of investment in the coming months.
• However, chain hotels indicate more proactive investment strategies than small/medium accommodations and those with a lower star rating, which lean towards more conservative plans.
• Specialized staffing and upskilling challenges persist.
• With an operationally busy period ahead, hiring needs are front of mind.
• On average, European hotels plan to hire 3.59 employees over the next 12 months.
• This number varies significantly between independent and chain hotels.

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