Summer vacations of 2025 are officially behind us—and what a season it was. Across Europe, hotels faced a market in transition: new guest behaviors, shifting demand patterns, and sharper expectations around value and service. This season’s lessons are clear: the rules of guest satisfaction continue to evolve and fluctuate, and those who adapt fastest are best positioned for steady growth.
Our new Summer 2025 Hotel Guest Experience Snapshot captures these shifts with data-driven insights from May through August 2025. In this article, we’ll look back at the highlights of the season, the key learnings for European hoteliers, and how you can use these insights to plan ahead for a successful 2026.
The 2025 Market Landscape: Guests Got More Discerning
The defining theme of the summer this year was recalibration. As the market leaves the “revenge travel” splurge trend behind, this summer, travelers approached their trips with sharper eyes and higher standards.
In fact, guests were more value-conscious than ever. While they didn’t hesitate to spend on memorable experiences, they expected core hotel fundamentals to work flawlessly, including speedy WiFi, air conditioning and cleanliness. When they didn’t, dissatisfaction spiked (and made itself quite visible through reviews), with Price emerging as the top driver of negative reviews across Europe.
For hoteliers, this means the basics are back in the spotlight. Location and Service continue to drive positive experiences, but any cracks in operations—whether in maintenance, technical infrastructure, slow responses, or consistency—carry heavier consequences.
The “Coolcation” Effect: Northward Demand Shift
One of the clearest market forces shaping 2025 was the northward pull of travelers escaping record heat in Southern Europe. What started as a trend has now reshaped demand, fueling significant growth in Northern European destinations like London, Berlin, Dublin, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Oslo, and Stockholm.
Here’s how those cities performed compared to 2024:
- London (+2.41%) – A long-time powerhouse market, London combined unbeatable location with high service scores. Its dual appeal to both leisure and business travel gave it a resilient, high-performing profile.
- Berlin (+2.16%) – Berlin delivered solid satisfaction growth thanks to strong location scores and standout breakfast offerings.
- Edinburgh (+1.50%) – Edinburgh led on service and front office satisfaction, with location as another strength. Yet, pressure points around price and WiFi highlighted areas to improve.
- Helsinki (+1.05%) – With high scores for breakfast, location, and its uniquely Finnish sauna experience, Helsinki delivered a well-rounded performance.
- Oslo (+0.60%) – Guests praised Oslo’s breakfast, which got the highest-scoring of all cities analyzed. But challenges in price perception and cleanliness pointed to areas needing sharper attention.
- Dublin (+0.33%) – Dublin’s hospitality shined through its service and front office strength. However, cleanliness issues and a 12.5% drop in response rates signaled warning signs that could hurt long-term satisfaction.
- Stockholm (+0.56%) – While Stockholm delivered strong fundamentals, an 18.8% drop in management response rates—the steepest across Europe—posed a serious strategic risk.
However, these cities didn’t just benefit due to being cooler. As a matter of fact, one cooler-climate city did see a drop in demand—Copenhagen. With a 0.49% dip in performance and a substantial drop in review volume (-13.4%), it serves as a reminder that the “coolcation” opportunity is advantageous only to hotels that deliver flawless operational excellence.
On the other hand, the cities that rose fastest were those that paired climate-driven demand with operational strengths in service, breakfast and guest engagement.
The Return of Long-Haul Travel
Another defining force of 2025 was the rebound of long-haul markets. Travelers from the U.S. and China returned to Europe in force, with U.S. inbound projected to grow by 10% and 72% of surveyed Chinese travelers planning European trips.
This wave gave a strong lift to hubs like London and Rome, which benefitted from their global brand power and connectivity. Rome, in particular, led all cities in year-over-year satisfaction growth (+2.67%), proving that iconic destinations can thrive even amid shifting expectations.
The New Value Equation
If recent years were about “revenge travel” post-COVID, 2025 was all about value travel. Guests approached their trips with more intentionality, demanding both unique experiences and flawless delivery of essentials.
- Positive experiences were most strongly driven by location and service;
- Negative sentiment was most often triggered by failures in price perception, WiFi and maintenance.
In other words, guests expect the WiFi to work as seamlessly as the service is delivered. And, if it doesn’t, they’ll question whether they got what they paid for. For hotel brands, this reinforces the importance of investing in the basics, not just the “wow” factors.
Related read: From Rome to Stockholm: Summer 2025 Hotel Guest Experience Snapshot
The Perfect Storm of Change
As seen above, this season crystallized a convergence of forces that are redefining hospitality. Taken together, three forces reshaped the guest experience landscape:
- Climate shifts driving northward tourism and longer shoulder seasons;
- The return of long-haul travel, boosting demand in major hubs;
- Evolving guest priorities, with higher expectations for value and core services.
These forces created an environment where guest satisfaction became more volatile but also more influential; showing that success in hospitality is no longer about excelling in just one area. It’s about orchestrating multiple moving parts, from climate realities, international flows to heightened guest expectations—into a seamless, resilient guest experience.
Preparing for 2026: Success Is in the Details
Hotels that anticipated these shifts and adapted proactively saw performance gains. Meanwhile, those that lagged behind (whether through weak engagement, ignored feedback, or underinvestment in core infrastructure) missed opportunities.
If Summer 2025 proved anything, it’s that hotels need to keep pace with guest expectations. Climate-driven demand shifts, the return of long-haul travelers, and rising value-consciousness are not one-off anomalies. They’re actually shaping a new baseline for hospitality across Europe.
The hotels that thrived this summer weren’t necessarily the flashiest or the trendiest. They were the ones that:
- Got the basics right. Clean rooms, reliable WiFi, and smooth operations turned out to be the strongest differentiators.
- Listened and responded. Cities that stayed engaged with reviews built trust, while lapses in feedback management cost others valuable ground.
- Balanced value with experience. Guests proved they’ll still spend, but only when quality and pricing align.
The main takeaway here is that success in 2026 won’t come from chasing every trend. Instead, it will come from anticipating change, executing the fundamentals flawlessly, and using guest feedback as a guide to smarter investment.
That’s just the high-level view of what we uncovered this summer. Our interactive Summer 2025 Hotel Guest Experience Snapshot dives much deeper, with city-by-city performance analysis, year-over-year comparisons, and actionable strategies hoteliers can use to get ahead of the next season.
