European hotel sector remains resilient amid geopolitical uncertainty
European hotel brands are showing signs of resilience in Q1 2026, bolstered by solid search momentum across key Western markets. However, UBS reports that tensions in the Middle East could pose a risk to April volumes.
In a note published this morning, UBS announced that search interest for hotel brands—a metric correlated with Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR)—increased in March 2026 across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany compared to 2025.
The broker bases its calculations notably on the frequency and evolution of Google searches in the studied markets to gauge consumer sentiment toward specific hotel brands.
UBS analysts thus confirm their positive outlook on players offering high visibility or robust portfolio momentum.
Whitbread (Buy): The group remains the broker's top pick in the UK thanks to its Premier Inn brand, which dominates search interest rankings. Although searches softened slightly on a sequential basis, they remain at elevated levels, and the group posted RevPAR growth of 3% in the last reported quarter.
Accor (Buy): The French giant is benefiting from solid momentum for its Ibis brand family, for which March search interest exceeded 2025 levels in both France and Germany. However, UBS notes relative weakness for the Mercure and Novotel banners, which show year-on-year and month-on-month declines in search volume.
InterContinental Hotels Group (Neutral): The analyst adopts a more cautious stance on IHG. While the luxury InterContinental brand maintains strong scores in the US, interest in the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands remains generally below previous years' levels, particularly in the UK.
Despite these encouraging signals in March, the broker warns that the conflict in the Middle East is expected to weigh on April search statistics.
Accor is the No. 1 European hotel group. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- operating hotels under management contract (70.9%; HotelServices);
- owned and leased hotel management (29.1%). In addition, the group offers a business of renting luxury private residences, as well as providing digital services to independent hoteliers, concierge services, etc.
At the end of 2025, the group operates a network of more than 5,600 hotels distributed between luxury and top-range hotels (Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Swissotel, Grand Mercure, Mövenpick, The Sebel and Rixos names), mid-range hotels (Novotel, Novotel Suites, Mercure, adagio, Mama Shlter and Tribe), and economy hotels (ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget, adagio access, hotelF1, Formule 1, Jo&Joe, Breakfree and Greet).
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