The latest data released by HotelHub shows the dramatic drop in business travel hotel bookings in European destinations in the summer months.

Its HotelHub Index for the third quarter in 2024 showed that booking volumes for other regions remained fairly consistent across the year, but in Europe August transaction volumes dropped by 57% compared to June.

The slump was even more pronounced in Italy (-72%), Spain (-77%) and France (-79%).

In Nordic countries, the most dramatic drop came earlier in July, where hotel reservation fell compared to June in Denmark (-69%), Norway (-69%), Finland (-77%) and Sweden (-79%).

Average European nightly rates were down by 11% in August, compared to their year-to-date peak in June.

In Germany, rates shrank by even more (21%) while rates in Spain and Italy dropped by 13% and 15% respectively, compared to June.

Rates in the Nordic countries also dropped by between 7% and 15% in the same period.

The HotelHub analysis of over 1.8 million TMC hotel bookings made between July and September revealed a “rapid and robust” September bounce back.

Global booking volumes hit their highest monthly total all year and were up 9% compared to September 2023.

Rates also increased in September, reaching a global average of $198 per night, which is the highest monthly average so far in 2024 and 4% up on the same month in 2023.

But the growth in average global rate per night has slowed to 1.85% compared to the previous two quarters, where the average year-on-year rate increases were at 7.92% in quarter 1 and 3.63% in quarter 2.

Paul Raymond, Director of Business Development at HotelHub, said: “Having worked in the travel industry for 30-plus years, it has always been accepted that there is a ‘summer drop-off’ in commercial travel activity. However, I have never seen such stark data to back up this supposition.

“This report clearly demonstrates the impact of cultural differences across travel markets and will hopefully assist travel managers and TMCs in planning for seasonal variations.”

hotelhub.com