Peak summer travel demand is still well underway, and accommodation hosts are balancing the opportunity to capture late-season bookings with the need to prepare for the upcoming off-season, which is when 42%* of travellers are planning to take off, according to Booking.com.
Seeking fewer crowds and better value
70% of travellers choosing to travel outside of peak season say they’re doing so to avoid busy destinations, while 63% are motivated by the opportunity to save money. Combined with the 43% of global travellers who plan to avoid overcrowded tourist destinations (up 11% year-over-year), this signals growing demand for off-season travel. The dual benefits of fewer crowds and more affordable experiences are intersecting into the perfect opportunity for savvy hosts.
And these advantages have not been lost on any generation of traveller. A 2025 report from Phocuswright*** placed U.S. boomers as the biggest travel spenders, Gen Z travellers as falling in the middle with their travel spending, and millennials as the most budget-conscious. Nevertheless, each of these generations are taking advantage of the shoulder season chance to score a deal on a great room.
Beyond practical considerations, off-season travel is where more mindful travel intentions come into play: 44% of travellers say they want to avoid contributing to overtourism, while 37% of those travelling outside peak season are motivated by a desire to reduce pressure on destinations.
Capturing off-season demand
For accommodation owners, attention is focused on more commercial tactics to capture demand.
According to Booking.com’s 2026 European Accommodation Barometer, discounting stands out as the most widely used lever, with 72%** of European accommodations saying off-season rates or packages deliver strong results. Hosts are also leaning on broader distribution strategies. 81% view online platforms as an effective channel for securing off-season stays, alongside organic social media traffic (54%), paid searchtools (50%), email campaigns (41%) and traditional media advertising (34%).
Leaning into event-driven tourism is another popular route to alternative demand for accommodation owners. 50% reported benefitting from tourism as a result of major events in the area; 14% of which describe that booking impact as significant. Among those that benefitted from an event like a music festival or special restaurant week, two-thirds (66%) cited improved revenue per room, while 60% reported increased bookings during typically low-demand periods, helping to offset a weaker revenue cycle at other times of the year.
Shifting marketing targets
Seeking out advertising and marketing opportunities to appeal to business travellers and local staycationers have become baked-in parts of many hosts marketing calendars. Another niche, though excellent repeat business potential, is to secure groups of parents and families travelling for kids’ sports tournaments. Often coming in considerable groups, building these relationships often results in regular, annual weekend-to-full-week stays during the school year, in windows that may otherwise not see booked out properties.
*Booking.com 2026 Travel & Sustainability Report
Research commissioned by Booking.com and independently conducted among a sample of 32,500 respondents across 35 countries and territories (1,000 from USA, 1,000 from Canada, 1,000 from Mexico, 1,000 from Colombia, 1,000 from Brazil, 1,000 from Argentina, 1,000 from Australia, 500 from New Zealand, 1,000 from India, 1,000 from China, 1,000 from Hong Kong, 1,000 from Thailand, 1,000 from Singapore, 1,000 from Taiwan, 1,000 from Vietnam, 1,000 from Indonesia, 1,000 from Philippines, 1,000 from South Korea, 1,000 from Japan, 1,000 from Spain, 1,000 from Italy, 1,000 from France, 500 from Switzerland, 1,000 from the UK, 1,000 from Ireland, 1,000 from Germany, 1,000 from the Netherlands, 1,000 from Belgium, 1,000 from Denmark, 1,000 from Sweden, 1,000 from Croatia, 500 from Greece, 500 from UAE, 1,000 from South Africa and 500 from Kenya). To participate, respondents had to be 18+ years, have traveled at least once in the past 12 months, must be planning to travel in 2026, and be either the primary decision maker or involved in the decision making of their travel. The survey was taken online and took place in January 2026.
**About the European Accommodation Barometer 2026
The sixth edition of the European Accommodation Barometer is based on a survey of 1,240 executives and managers from the European accommodation sector, including hotels and alternative accommodations from each of the following countries and regions: Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordics (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland), Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Additionally, 200 respondents were included from the rest of Europe, covering Romania, Belgium, Czechia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Slovakia. For the UK report specifically, a sample of 200 UK accommodations were interviewed during the survey period. Fieldwork was conducted between February 5 and March 24, 2026. Results reflect sentiment at that time and may not fully account for more recent geopolitical developments and related energy supply disruptions.
