On the rebound

Everyone remembers how during the pandemic the hospitality sector was hit harder than almost every other, apart from maybe retail. Indeed, no one even seemed to want to talk about hotels for many years after, preferring the promise of new niches, such as PRS and PBSA. But now the time has come to ask whether hotels have put the past behind them and once again represent an asset that investors might salivate over. For Agata Przeniosło-Drozd, a partner and senior consultant at Horvath HTL Poland, the answer is a clear yes. She justifies this by saying: “The year 2024 can be considered as the year of the full recovery of the Polish hotel industry after the pandemic. This can be seen in the high average occupancy rates of hotels across Poland and record high average daily rates (ADR). For example, according to STR, after the first three quarters of 2024, hotels in Warsaw recorded an average occupancy rate of 73.4 pct, up from 73 pct in 2019, and an ADR of EUR 97, up from EUR 74.43 i