Transcript

Nearly 1 billion short-term rental nights booked across Europe in 2025. · STR Unpacked

Ben: Morning and welcome to your short term rental bulletin. Almost 1 billion nights. That's how much demand is flowing through the European short term rental market right now. Eurostat just released its full year 2025 figures and the number is staggering. 951.6 million guest nights were booked across the EU via Airbnbbooking.com and Expedia last year. That's up 11 % on 2024 and over 32 % higher than 2023. Spain, France and Italy dominated, taking the top three spots in Q4. Croatia's Adriatic coast was a standout regional performer in peak summer with 27.7 million overnight stays, more than Andalucia and the French Riviera. The market is deeply seasonal. Over a third of all states concentrated in July and August. In Croatia, that figure hits 58%. Here's the tension now. This demand boom is arriving at exactly the moment Europe is tightening its rules. From the 20th of May, 2026, the new EU regulation requires platforms to share listing data with national authorities every month. The infrastructure for enforcement is finally catching up with demand. So the story isn't just short term rentals are growing, it's that they're growing into a tighter regulatory environment than they've ever faced. The question for operators is whether the business model was built for that world. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you tomorrow.