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How big is the short-term rental market in Europe, who are the hosts, what does a stay earn, and what do the new EU registration rules change?

Guests booked 951.6 million nights in EU-27 short-term rentals through online platforms in 2025, up from 854.1 million a year earlier; Spain (189.5M) and Italy (138.7M) lead. The average booking is 3.77 nights. Professional hosts are 13% of hosts but hold 45% of listings, and since 20 May 2026 an EU regulation sets a common online registration number and monthly platform data sharing.

Eurostat platform data on short-stay accommodation booked via Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group and Tripadvisor (2025), Eurostat structural business and tourism-demand statistics, INE Spain, Italian Ministry of Tourism, ELSTAT, the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the European Commission's impact assessment for Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 · verified as of

Market size: nights booked through online platforms (EU-27 and largest countries)

Eurostat counts nights and stays booked through four large platforms (Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Tripadvisor) in all short-stay accommodation offered via these platforms. Country rows are 2025 nights.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
EU-27 — nights booked via online short-stay platforms951.6Mall platform nights, 20252025ec.europa.eu
EU-27 — nights booked via online short-stay platforms854.1Mprevious year2024ec.europa.eu
EU-27 — annual growth of platform nights10.9% a yearcompound growth 2019–20252019-2025ec.europa.eu
EU-27 — guest stays booked via online platforms85.4Mstays (bookings), 20252025ec.europa.eu
Spain — nights booked via online platforms189.5Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Italy — nights booked via online platforms138.7Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Germany — nights booked via online platforms68.3Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Greece — nights booked via online platforms52.1Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Portugal — nights booked via online platforms49.5Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Poland — nights booked via online platforms44.4Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Croatia — nights booked via online platforms41.9Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Austria — nights booked via online platforms24.8Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Netherlands — nights booked via online platforms11.9Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu

Where demand concentrates: platform nights by city, 2025

Same Eurostat platform data at city level. Cities are as defined by Eurostat (some are 'greater city' areas).

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Paris (greater city)26.3Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Rome18.8Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Madrid (greater city)12.3Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Málaga7.5Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Seville6.7Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Kraków5.1Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Naples (greater city)4.2Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu
Venice4.1Mplatform nights2025ec.europa.eu

Who the host is: professional vs individual, channels, outsourcing

EU-level rows come from the European Commission's impact assessment (host survey and consultation, 2020–2021). They are the most recent EU-wide host portrait; national data (Estonia) shows the same tilt toward multi-unit hosts.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Professional hosts as a share of all hosts13%EU, hosts with more than two listings2020single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Share of listings held by professional hosts45%EU2020single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Hosts offering accommodation in urban areas63.1%EU host survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Hosts renting out rooms in their main residence14.8%EU host survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Individual hosts listing on Airbnb85%EU host survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Professional hosts listing on both Airbnb and Booking.com33.8%EU host survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Hosts using only small platforms8.6%EU host survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Hosts relying on word of mouth19%EU host survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Hosts using or considering cleaning / property-management providers39.2%EU host survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Service providers earning a significant part of revenue from hosts or platform referrals83.4%EU provider survey2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Estonia — rental units whose host has two or more units74%national study2023mkm.ee

What a stay looks like: length, party size, spend

Length of stay and party size come from Eurostat platform data (2025). Spend per night is per person and comes from the EU tourism-demand survey of residents; Spain's daily spend covers all spending of international tourists (INE EGATUR).

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
EU-27 — nights per booking3.77online platform stays2025ec.europa.eu
Spain — nights per booking4.64online platform stays2025ec.europa.eu
Portugal — nights per booking4.47online platform stays2025ec.europa.eu
Poland — nights per booking2.76online platform stays2025ec.europa.eu
Croatia — guests per rented night3.41online platform stays2025ec.europa.eu
Germany — guests per rented night2.55online platform stays2025ec.europa.eu
EU — accommodation spend per night, trips booked via collaborative platforms€50.19resident travellers, per person2023ec.europa.eu
EU — accommodation spend per night in rented apartments, houses or rooms€43.90resident travellers, per person2024ec.europa.eu
Spain — daily spend of an international tourist in a rented dwelling€162all spending, per person per day2025ine.es
Spain — daily spend of an international tourist in a hotel€266comparison: hotel guests2025ine.es
Spain — platform nights by foreign guests122.0Mforeign guests2025ec.europa.eu
Spain — platform nights by domestic guests67.5Mdomestic guests2025ec.europa.eu
Poland — platform nights by foreign guests17.2Mforeign guests2025ec.europa.eu
Poland — platform nights by domestic guests27.2Mdomestic guests outnumber foreign2025ec.europa.eu

Supply and registration: dwellings, ID codes, industry

Spain and Italy publish counts of registered or advertised tourist rental units; Greece publishes its short-term rental registry. The NACE I55.2 rows are the formal industry (holiday and short-stay accommodation enterprises), which is not the same as all private hosts.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Spain — tourist dwellings advertised on platforms341,001May 2026May 2026ine.es
Spain — decline in tourist dwellings on platforms, year on year10.69%May 2026 vs May 2025May 2026ine.es
Madrid region — decline in tourist dwellings on platforms, year on year27.62%May 2026 vs May 2025May 2026ine.es
Spain — guest places per tourist dwelling5.03May 2026May 2026ine.es
Italy — national ID codes (CIN) issued to accommodation and rental units667,690October 2026Oct 2026bdsr.ministeroturismo.gov.it
Italy — registered units holding a national ID code88.5%April 2026Apr 2026ministeroturismo.gov.it
Greece — rental establishments with a finalised registry entry207,57220242024statistics.gr
EU-27 — enterprises in holiday and short-stay accommodation (NACE I55.2)239,616industry, all sizes2023ec.europa.eu
EU-27 — turnover of holiday and short-stay accommodation (NACE I55.2)€36.3bnindustry2023ec.europa.eu
EU-27 — bed places in holiday and short-stay accommodation8.3Mregistered establishments2024ec.europa.eu

Operator economics: margins and income per unit

Gross operating rate is gross operating surplus as a share of turnover for enterprises in NACE I55.2 (2023). Estonian rows describe all platform hosts reported to the tax authority; Tallinn occupancy and rate are from AirDNA listing data compiled in the same government study.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Ireland — gross operating rate, holiday and short-stay accommodation41.7%gross operating rate, NACE I55.22023ec.europa.eu
Portugal — gross operating rate, holiday and short-stay accommodation34.95%gross operating rate, NACE I55.22023ec.europa.eu
Germany — gross operating rate, holiday and short-stay accommodation28.83%gross operating rate, NACE I55.22023ec.europa.eu
Italy — gross operating rate, holiday and short-stay accommodation26.22%gross operating rate, NACE I55.22023ec.europa.eu
Spain — gross operating rate, holiday and short-stay accommodation21.85%gross operating rate, NACE I55.22023ec.europa.eu
Netherlands — gross operating rate, holiday and short-stay accommodation16.49%gross operating rate, NACE I55.22023ec.europa.eu
France — gross operating rate, holiday and short-stay accommodation6.62%gross operating rate, NACE I55.22023ec.europa.eu
Estonia — average annual rental income per unit€5,900host income, per unit2023mkm.ee
Estonia — average annual rental income per operator€9,200host income, per operator2023mkm.ee
Tallinn — average occupancy55%active listings · AirDNA data compiled in a government studyMar 2024–Feb 2025mkm.ee
Tallinn — average daily rate$90active listings · AirDNA data compiled in a government studyMar 2024–Feb 2025mkm.ee

Compliance cost and platform concentration

Commission estimates from the impact assessment for Regulation (EU) 2024/1028. The cost per registration is host time monetised at an average wage, not a fee.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Cost of a new host registration today (time, monetised)€3,000EU impact assessment estimate2022single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Same, under harmonised online registration€320EU impact assessment estimate2022single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Registration waiting time in best-practice systems1.4–1.7 daysPortugal, Greece benchmark2022single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Public authorities saying they need reliable rental data72 of 80EU consultation2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Online short-term rental platforms operating in the EU7102022single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Share of guest nights booked via the four largest platforms83%Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Tripadvisor2019single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
France — drop in listings after unregistered units were delisted10–40%10 tourist cities2021single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Greece — share of rental days falling in June–October60.8%seasonality2024statistics.gr

Rules that shape the product

Verified rules from the European Commission.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Regulation (EU) 2024/1028: common framework for collecting and sharing data from hosts and short-term rental platformsin forceopt-in: applies where a Member State runs a registration scheme or requests platform datasince 20 May 2026single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Registration number: fully online registration, a unique number per property; platforms must display and verify it and run random checks for illegal listingsin forcewhere a Member State opts insince 20 May 2026single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Platforms send monthly data on stays and nights to authorities through a Single Digital Entry Pointin forcelighter regime for small and micro platformssince 20 May 2026single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
Booking.com designated a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Actin forceall relevant DMA obligations applysince 14 Nov 2024digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu
Booking.com must let accommodation providers offer better prices and conditions on their own website and other channelsin forceDMA anti-parity obligationsince 14 Nov 2024digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu
Booking.com must give accommodation providers real-time access to their platform data and let users port data to rival platformsin forceDMA data obligationssince 14 Nov 2024digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu

Why short-term rental numbers from different sources disagree

Four perimeters are mixed in public debate. First, platform data versus the industry: Eurostat's platform series counts nights booked through four large platforms in any private or professional unit, while NACE I55.2 counts registered enterprises in holiday and short-stay accommodation — many private hosts are not enterprises, and many I55.2 enterprises (campsite-style holiday parks, hostels) are not platform listings. Second, nights versus stays versus unit-nights: a stay is one booking, nights multiply it by length, and city-level unit-nights count rented nights per unit rather than per guest. Third, advertised versus registered: Spain's INE counts dwellings advertised on platforms in a given month, Italy counts ID codes issued and Greece counts registry entries — each answers a different question about supply. Fourth, timing: the EU-wide host portrait comes from the Commission's 2020–2021 survey work and predates the 2024/1028 registration regime, so shares of professional hosts and channel use should be read as the starting point, not today's market.

Eurostat — short-stay accommodation booked via online platforms (tour_ce_*) · European Commission — Impact Assessment SWD(2022) 350 · INE Spain — tourist dwellings (experimental statistics) · Italian Ministry of Tourism — BDSR map · European Commission — new rules for short-term rentals, 20 May 2026

Methodology

Every number on this page is a fact node in the God of Startups Atlas — a knowledge graph where each metric carries its source URL, reporting period, evidence tier and the verbatim quote it was taken from. All rows here are tier 1: official statistics (Eurostat, INE, ELSTAT), ministries and the European Commission. Values are shown in the currency the source reports; nothing is converted, estimated or modelled.

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Analysis built on this data

Short-Term Rental Software in Europe 2026: Who the Host Is, What the New EU Rules Change, and Where the Gap Is

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Market cells behind this benchmark

Fact tables from the same knowledge graph — one market, every number with its source, period and evidence tier.

EU Short-Term Rentals24EU Hotels & Accommodation24

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