Big-ticket events have dominated in Europe so far this year, from major sporting events to superstar concert performances across the continent. But how hotel performance is affected by these events depends on the market size, demand for the event in general, and more.
Paris played host to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games from July 26 to Aug. 11, and is currently hosting the Paralympic Games, which began on Aug. 28 and will run until Sept. 8.
The big question surrounding the Paris Games was how the performance of Paris' hotels would match up with London hotel performance during the 2012 London Games, said William Anns, analyst at STR, CoStar's hospitality analytics division.
"Paris actually saw a bigger increase in occupancy than a market like London," he said. "Part of the fact is due to slightly smaller [hotel] supply in terms of the immediate area."
Hotel average daily rate in Paris easily doubled year over year, coming in at about a 133% increase. The markets that performed the best were the ones in close vicinity to major destinations such as the Champs-Élysées and Eiffel Tower, he said. Luxury hotels performed particularly well during the Games, as occupancy increased 63% year over year and ADR increased 128%.
Earlier this summer, Germany hosted the UEFA European Football Championship, which is held every four years, between June 14 and July 14. The event was spread out across several cities, with the smaller markets seeing the largest year-over-year gains in ADR. Dortmund, Leipzig and Stuttgart had the highest ADR premiums of the cities that hosted tournament matches.
And of course, Taylor Swift brought her Eras Tour across the pond this summer, spanning 13 countries and totaling 48 shows between May 9 and Aug. 20. Swift performed at Wembley Stadium in London during two separate stints, with three shows from June 21-23 and five shows between Aug. 15-20 to close out the European leg of her tour.
In terms of hotel performance, there was a much larger impact during Swift's second stint, Anns said.
"The interesting thing here is that the June performances didn't really move the needle for London," he said. "[For] a market that's as big as London, events really never move the needle. It's not frequent."
While it's not frequent, Swift's second stop at Wembley certainly moved the needle, driving revenue per available room gains of 20% to 30% year over year, which is "really notable," Anns said.
"The fact that it was that last bit before she goes back over to the U.S., I think that really kind of drew people's attention," he said.
Adele held a 10-concert residency in Munich, Germany, in August, with more than 730,000 fans attending the shows. These were her only shows outside the U.S. this year, which "really helped drive some demand to the city," Anns said.
The attention now turns to hotel demand next year for Oasis' reunion tour. The British band is slated to perform 17 shows in Europe next summer, including five shows at Wembley Stadium.
"Will Oasis do the same next year is the question. It's the hope for hoteliers," Anns said. "You're not going to get maybe as many Americans coming through like you did for Taylor, maybe [not as many] people that are staying or coming, [but] maybe it's a slightly older audience that is more likely to stay in hotels."
US event performance in 2023
Large events have always been important for the hotel industry, but the boom in performance that accompanied concert tours from the likes of Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé and, most notably, Taylor Swift in 2023 brought capturing event demand to the forefront of hoteliers' minds.
Along Swift's Eras Tour stops in top 25 U.S. markets, hotel occupancy was just above 85% and ADR stood at a whopping $225, Anns said during the "How to Estimate Event Impact for Your Market" session at the recent Hotel Data Conference. In comparison, Sheeran's Mathematics Tour saw hotel occupancies below 75% and ADR of $167 and Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour saw occupancies at about 77% and ADR of $172.
There were 13 nights above 90% occupancy in markets hosting Swift's tour, and 10 nights with hotel rates above $250. Sheeran and Beyoncé's tours combined to produce just four nights above 90% hotel occupancy and didn't have a single night with rates above $250.
Concerts in general bring a 25% boost to the top four hotel classes, with the luxury and upper-upscale classes seeing the largest occupancy change and upscale and upper-midscale classes seeing the largest ADR changes.
Compared to concert nights from those three artists in 2023, rates were down more than 15% and occupancy was down nearly 10% from the year before year-to-date in June.
Demand for the Eras Tour has been consistently high, with significant occupancy on the books 40 weeks ahead of her performances in markets such as Nashville, Denver and Seattle.
Events are more than just concerts, though. Trade shows, conferences and conventions also fall into the category, particularly boosting hotel performance during softer demand years.
Core business classes of hotels — upper upscale, upscale and upper midscale — have typically been the main beneficiaries of event demand, Anns said.
Across the top 25 U.S. markets in 2019, 2023 and 2024 year to date, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Boston have seen the largest occupancy premiums from market-moving events, with most markets in general seeing around an 8% occupancy boost. In terms of overall occupancy during these events, New York City, Las Vegas and Oahu lead the way.
In regard to average daily rate, Las Vegas, which hosted the Super Bowl back in 2024, stands well above the next top 25 market at around a 35% rate premium during market-moving events during the same time frame. Phoenix, Boston and Minneapolis follow behind in rate premiums.