Hotel industry hits 30-year high in 2025 with record guest nights

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Hotel | sursă foto: Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash.com

Romania’s hotel sector reached a three-decade high in 2025, recording the most guest nights since 1992, according to a Colliers report. While early-year growth outpaced 2024 across most regions, the second half cooled outside Bucharest, with mountain areas like Brașov, Prahova, and Argeș posting weaker results.

The Black Sea coast, particularly Constanța, enjoyed a stronger summer season. Overall, total hotel guest nights edged up less than 1% year on year, but still marked a new post-communist record.

Foreign tourists spent nearly 5 million nights, a national record, though this lags behind regional peers: Hungary attracts more than double, and Poland nearly triple the foreign guest nights.

Bucharest 4 and 5 stars hotels near full capacity

Bucharest bucked the regional slowdown, with 5-star hotels averaging 72% occupancy in the first 11 months of 2025, up about 10% from 2024. Central 4-star properties hit nearly 80% occupancy.

Average daily rates climbed to around €140 for 5-stars and €110 for 4-stars, levels competitive with other CEE capitals. Eurostat data shows Romanian tourists spend just 14% less per night domestically than the EU average, outpacing Poland and Hungary when including all travel-related expenses.

New openings and pipeline boost supply

2025 saw several new hotels open, including boutique properties and international brands. Bucharest is set to add about 10% more rooms in coming years, with over 1,000 new keys from pipeline projects. Regional hubs like Brașov, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Constanța, and Craiova continue drawing branded investments.

The year’s standout deal was the sale of Hilton Garden Inn Bucharest Airport to an international investor, one of few institutional hotel transactions in Romania and the first major one for a ground-up development.