A Widening Gap: SMEs Struggling to Keep up with Large Enterprises

Most independent accommodations in Europe fall under the category of SMEs, which is reflected in the respondents of the 2024 European Accommodation Barometer, a survey conducted by Statista in partnership with Booking.com. Roughly 4 in 5 accommodations that participated in the survey were independently owned and operated and 97% to 98% of these were SMEs. While hotels affiliated with a global chain may not always be large businesses – defined by the EU as employing 250 or more people – they have certain advantages such as universal brand recognition, proprietary technology, better access to capital, and a customer loyalty program that often stretches across continents. This gives chain properties a significant advantage over independent SMEs.

These advantages appear to be reflected in the responses of SMEs compared to larger businesses. When respondents were asked if their overall business development, average daily rate, and occupancy rate had improved over the past 6 months, larger enterprises were consistently more likely to indicate that their business had developed positively than small businesses.

This and other insights regarding the European travel accommodation sector and hotelier sentiment are included in the 2024 European Accommodation Barometer, the fourth study of hoteliers conducted by Statista in collaboration with Booking.com, surveying accommodation executives and managers from across Europe. Click here to download the report.