The global hotel industry set a historic record last year

The international consulting firm analyzes the performance of nearly 26,000 branded hotels in 109 countries every quarter, providing valuable insight into the current processes of the international hotel market, based on a representative sample of data published by four global hotel chains: Marriott, Hilton, InterContinental Hotel Group and Hyatt. The data shows that the occupancy rate crossed another threshold of 70.2 percent, which is a significant achievement, especially in light of the fact that the average daily rate (ADR) increased to $165.3 from $162.4 a year earlier, which represents an increase of 1.8 percent.

Behind the outstanding performance, in addition to international leisure demand, there is a continued increase in the demand for business group travel, including large international corporate events, which effectively supports hotel demand. However, we can witness different processes by region. In North America, especially in the United States, the growth dynamics of the hotel market have become more moderate due to the high base due to the surge following the pandemic, especially in the leisure segment. In contrast, demand expanded strongly in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. In Europe, urban tourism drove growth thanks to the Olympic Games and other major events, while some markets were already seeing some corrections compared to previous record years.

2024 also brought significant results in Hungary: 11 percent more domestic and foreign tourists visited domestic accommodations (in all accommodation categories) compared to the previous year, a total of nearly 18 million domestic and foreign tourists, spending a record total of about 44 million guest nights (this is a 6% increase year-on-year) according to data from the National Tourism Data Service Center. Budapest’s visitor traffic showed explosive growth, especially the number of foreign tourists jumped: the almost 6 million incoming guests were almost a quarter higher than a year earlier. Budapest Airport plays a key role in the strong expansion of the hotel guest base, welcoming and disembarking 19.5 percent more passengers from 2023 to 2024, totaling 17.6 million. Experience so far confirms that growth will continue unabated this year. Regarding the domestic hotel supply, it can be said that the average performance of hotels belonging to international brands (such as Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Accor) stood out compared to other market players. These branded hotels achieved a higher level in both price and occupancy than owner-operated or independent, non-branded hotels – although of course there were plenty of exceptions in this group that performed above average.