A Data-Driven Insights Report

Guest Trends &
Preferences
in European Hospitality

What do European hotel, holiday park, and hostel guests really want? Insights from millions of conversations across 1,000+ properties.

0 Sample Conversations
0 Interactions
0 Properties
0 Property Types
Hotel receptionist welcoming guests
Finding 01: Top Guest Requests
0 total timing requests

Timing flexibility is what guests want most

Early check-in and late checkout together account for over a quarter of all hotel conversations. Properties that make timing flexibility easy to request and pay for will win in 2026.

583 early check-ins 548 late checkouts 412 bed preferences
Bed Preference
650
Early Check-in
583
Late Checkout
548
Food & Breakfast
478
Parking
453
Baby Equipment
434
Appliance Issue
423
Invoice/Billing
303
1
Payment & Billing Friction
Credit card failures, missing payment links, deposit confusion
92 mentions
2
Check-in & Digital Access
Broken online check-in links, access codes not working
75 mentions
3
Missing Booking Confirmations
No confirmation email, generating anxiety and follow-ups
65 mentions
4
Broken/Malfunctioning Equipment
Dishwashers, TVs, heating failures: overwhelmingly holiday parks
58 mentions
5
Cancellation & Rebooking
Guests frustrated by rigid policies
30 mentions

The online portal won’t allow credit card payment. Can we pay on-site instead?

Hotel guest, Germany
Finding 02: Guest Pain Points
0 payment friction mentions

Digital friction is the new front desk queue

Top complaints are dominated by broken digital touchpoints: failed payments, missing confirmation emails, and check-in flows that don’t work. Physical issues are secondary.

Payments #1 pain Digital access issues Missing confirmations
Finding 03: Upsell Insights
0 “Enrich Your Stay” clicks

Upsell appetite is real. And largely untapped.

The “Enrich Your Stay” button was clicked 150,386 times: the 2nd most tapped across all 1.23M interactions. 12% of guests actively explore upsell options, and 18% make an unprompted request. The pre-arrival window is the biggest opportunity.

12% click upsell 18% unprompted requests Pre-arrival is the window
150,386
“Enrich Your Stay” clicks
2nd most-tapped button in all 1.23M interactions
478
Breakfast Add-ons
Top upsell category
453
Parking
Pre-arrival favourite
434
Baby Equipment
Holiday park dominant
270
Restaurant Bookings
via restaurant platform integrations
86
Room Upgrades
~7% of upsell guests
4x
Monthly interaction growth year-over-year
95%
of guest communication fully automated
94%
of guests say Runnr.ai enhances their stay
NL
High
Parks dominant
DE
High
Hotels & parks
FR
High
Strong in parks
EN
High
All segments
ES
Med
Hotels
IT
Med
Hotels
CS
Low
Parks
LT
Low
Parks
Finding 04: Chatbot Engagement
0 monthly interaction growth

Chatbot engagement is accelerating fast

Monthly interactions nearly quadrupled over the past year. Guests are choosing automated messaging as their primary channel, and they expect it to work in their own language. Runnr.ai automatically translates chats to guest's preferred language.

Any language WhatsApp, SMS, Email OTA Inbox & Webchat
Trusted by hospitality leaders across Europe
Center Parcs Van der Valk Global Living Apartments Stayokay BMF Marina Parcs Capilon Hotels WestCord Hotels Pillows Hotels Cityden Highland Group Historic Hotels Ghent
Download the Report
2026 Guest Trends Report

Get the full
2026 report

13 pages of in-depth analysis: per-property-type breakdowns, seasonal trends, guest quotes, and actionable recommendations for the year ahead.