Over Half of Hotel Stays in Europe are Booked Directly

Direct bookings accounted for over half of all European hotel reservations in 2025, with 36.4% made through hotels' own online channels and 20% arranged offline with the property itself. Further data from Hotrec's 2026 European Hotel Distribution Study shows that online travel platforms captured another 27.8%, bringing the total online share (including social media at 2%) to 66.2%, up from 64.6% in 2022. However, traditional booking methods hold relevance, in addition to one in five bookings coming from direct offline reservations, the remaining offline bookings are split between tour operators, chains, and event bookings at 11.4%.