European hotels reported lackluster RevPAR growth in June for three key reasons: actual occupancy levels, the weather, and difficult event comparisons.
When it comes to actual occupancy, very high levels, as seen in most Western European countries, can be difficult to grow or even maintain in some cases.
Small year-over year (YoY) occupancy declines in high-occupancy countries are a normal occurrence, although persistent or substantial declines may point to other factors impacting hotel demand. However, higher-occupancy markets or countries will typically have greater volatility in year-over-year changes.
Unseasonable heat drove travelers out of Hungary and the U.K. and towards cooler Nordic countries like Sweden and Denmark.
Southern European countries continued to post strong occupancy and ADR growth despite the heat. A combination of beach access and long-haul travel – North American summer travel typically takes place during June and July, as compared to Europe’s July and August – underpinned strong hotel performance in Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
Finally, June was a challenging month for YoY comparisons for many European markets. 2024 was a spectacular year for events, and many YoY RevPAR declines can be attributed to the return to a more ‘normal’ event calendar this year.
Three major international events – the Champions League final in London, the Eras tour in the U.K. and Ireland, and the UEFA Euros tournament in Germany – lifted hotel performance in June 2024 and led to RevPAR declines across host markets in 2025.
While June was a soft month, July holds more promise as the start of the European summer holiday season lifted performance across the continent.
UEFA Euros offsets will impact performance in Munich and Berlin this month, and Paris and the surrounding areas will be challenged by the 2024 Olympic Games comparisons.
New events are still taking place, however. Black Sabbath’s farewell concert, Back to the Beginning, lifted Birmingham RevPAR at the start of July. One week later, Oasis kicked off their much-anticipated Live ’25 tour to a sold-out Cardiff crowd, before carrying out five hometown shows in Manchester.
High occupancy levels and strong rate growth across both dates suggest that Oasis concerts will lift performance across the U.K. for the next few months.