NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The European hotel landscape continues to do well in the southern part of the continent, notably in Spain, said William Anns, analyst at STR, during the latest episode of “The Upgrade: EMEA Hospitality News” podcast.
Recorded at the 17th Hotel Data Conference hosted by STR and CoStar News Hotels, Anns said “the south of Europe is doing well. We’ve seen more tricky headwinds in, particularly, the [United Kingdom]. … Madrid’s been doing very well. Performance this year is up 7% in [revenue per available room], and nearly all of that is being driven by [average daily rate],” he said.
He added guests arriving in The Netherlands’ major city might soon be in for a shock.
“The proposed introduction (in Amsterdam) of the value-added-tax rate that will increase from 9% to 21% hasn’t yet been confirmed but many people in the market are treating it as good as confirmed,” he said.
There is some concern that 2026 will not see as many mega-events as 2024 — when Europe hosted the men's UEFA football championships and the Paris Olympics — and already has in 2025.
Notable this year has been the women's UEFA football championships and a major rock-band tour, Anns said.
“The stadium capacity (for the football final in Basel, in which England beat Spain) was about 38,000 to 39,000, and the hotel supply of that area is significantly less than that, and so what happened was resultantly the occupancy for the night of the final was around 93%, an increase from 79% year-on-year, and the ADR was up 111%,” he said.
The tour came thanks to band Oasis, who performed together for the first time in 16 years, a spectacle comprising nostalgia and an older demographic. They return for two shows in London in September.
Anns said STR data is showing a direct comparison between Oasis’s 2025 gigs in Cardiff, Wales, with those the previous year performed by Taylor Swift.
“The rates achieved during … Swift’s 'Eras Tour' last year was around £262 … but this year we know that when Oasis took stage that reached £326,” he said. “Taylor Swift actually had ever so slightly higher occupancy when she was in Cardiff, 96%, as opposed to 91% for Oasis,” he added.
For more from CoStar News Hotels’ interview with STR’s William Anns, please listen to the podcast above.