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How big is the Saudi and Middle East hotel market for a hospitality startup — how many properties, what rooms earn, how full they are, and how digital hotel operators already are?

Saudi Arabia had 6,278 licensed hospitality facilities in Q2 2026 — 3,020 hotels and 3,258 serviced apartments — with hotel rooms up 13.2% year on year, yet licensed hotels filled 51.0% of rooms at SAR 563 a night (GASTAT, Q2 2026). Across Middle East & Africa the big chains lost a third of RevPAR in Q2 2026 (Marriott −33.1%, Hilton −29.5%), while only 35.2% of Saudi accommodation and food service establishments have a website and 33.5% use AI (GASTAT, 2025).

GASTAT (Saudi General Authority for Statistics): Tourism Establishments Statistics Q4 2025, Q1 and Q2 2026, Umrah Statistics Q3 2025, Establishments ICT Access and Usage Statistics 2024 and 2025; Saudi Central Bank weekly POS report (August 2026); Saudi Ministry of Tourism via SPA; Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and IHG Q2/H1 2026 filings (sec.gov); Dubai DET via WAM; Oman NCSI; Israel CBS; ILOSTAT. · verified as of

Saudi Arabia: licensed hospitality supply and the businesses behind it

Licensed facilities only — the Ministry of Tourism licence register as counted by GASTAT. Serviced apartments outnumber hotels. Employment and establishment counts cover all tourism activities (accommodation, food service, travel agencies and more), not hotels alone.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Licensed tourism hospitality facilities, total6,278hotels + serviced apartments and other facilitiesQ2 2026stats.gov.sa
Licensed hotels3,020Q2 2026stats.gov.sa
Licensed serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities3,258Q2 2026stats.gov.sa
Growth in licensed hotel rooms, year on year13.2%rooms, not facilitiesQ2 2026stats.gov.sa
Growth in licensed rooms in serviced apartments and other facilities, year on year19.7%roomsQ2 2026stats.gov.sa
Growth in number of licensed hospitality facilities, year on year22.7%facilitiesQ1 2026stats.gov.sa
Tourism establishments with employees179,507all tourism activities, not hotels onlyQ2 2026stats.gov.sa
People employed in tourism activities1,069,120all tourism activitiesQ2 2026stats.gov.sa
Small and medium-sized establishments, share of tourism establishments99.9%all tourism activitiesQ1 2026stats.gov.sa
Large tourism establishments200all tourism activitiesQ1 2026stats.gov.sa
Non-Saudi workers, share of tourism employment76%all tourism activitiesQ4 2025stats.gov.sa

Saudi Arabia: room rates, occupancy and RevPAR by facility type

Quarterly figures move with the pilgrimage calendar: Q2 2026 includes the Hajj season, so the hotel rate is high and occupancy low against Q4. Compare a quarter with the same quarter a year earlier, not with the previous quarter.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Average daily rate, licensed hotelsSAR 563Hajj-season quarterQ2 2026stats.gov.sa
Average daily rate, serviced apartments and other facilitiesSAR 197Q2 2026stats.gov.sa
Room occupancy, licensed hotels51.0%Q2 2026stats.gov.sa
Room occupancy, serviced apartments and other facilities46.5%Q2 2026stats.gov.sa
Average daily rate, licensed hotelsSAR 389Q4 2025stats.gov.sa
Average daily rate, serviced apartments and other facilitiesSAR 207Q4 2025stats.gov.sa
Room occupancy, licensed hotels57.3%Q4 2025stats.gov.sa
Room occupancy, serviced apartments and other facilities55.9%Q4 2025stats.gov.sa
RevPAR, licensed hotelsSAR 222.90per available room-nightQ4 2025stats.gov.sa
RevPAR, serviced apartments and other facilitiesSAR 115.71per available room-nightQ4 2025stats.gov.sa
Average length of stay, hotel guests4.2 nightsQ1 2026stats.gov.sa
Average length of stay, serviced apartments and other facilities2.2 nightsQ1 2026stats.gov.sa

International chains in Middle East & Africa: Q2 2026 performance and footprint

Comparable-hotel figures reported by each chain for its Middle East & Africa region, in US dollars. Q2 2026 was a sharp downturn for the region; one quarter is not a trend, and each chain defines its comparable set differently.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Hilton — average daily rate, comparable hotels$176.72Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Hilton — occupancy, comparable hotels53.0%Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Hilton — RevPAR, comparable hotels$93.65Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Hilton — RevPAR change, year on year−29.5%Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Hyatt — average daily rate, comparable hotels$194.81Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Hyatt — occupancy, comparable hotels50.5%Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Hyatt — RevPAR, comparable hotels$98.43Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Marriott — average daily rate, comparable systemwide hotels$159.44Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Marriott — RevPAR, comparable systemwide hotels$80.48Middle East & AfricaQ2 2026sec.gov
Marriott — RevPAR change, year on year−33.1%Middle East & Africa, systemwideQ2 2026sec.gov
Marriott — RevPAR change, year on year−43%Middle East onlyQ2 2026sec.gov
Hilton — hotels in operation170Middle East & Africa30 June 2026sec.gov
Hilton — rooms in operation42,689Middle East & Africa30 June 2026sec.gov
Hilton — managed rooms34,457Middle East & Africa · managed, not franchised30 June 2026sec.gov
Hyatt — rooms in system11,420Middle East & Africa30 June 2026sec.gov
Hyatt — franchised rooms779Middle East & Africa30 June 2026sec.gov
IHG — open hotels48Saudi ArabiaH1 2026sec.gov
IHG — hotels in development pipeline63Saudi ArabiaH1 2026sec.gov

Occupancy elsewhere in the region

National statistics with different bases: Dubai and Oman report room occupancy, Israel reports bed occupancy. Years differ; read them as levels for each market, not a ranking.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Dubai — average hotel occupancy80.7%all hotel establishments2025wam.ae
Dubai — average hotel occupancy, January–October74%pre-pandemic comparator2019wam.ae
Oman — room occupancy, five-star hotels50.4%2024api.ncsi.gov.om
Oman — room occupancy, three-star hotels45.2%2024api.ncsi.gov.om
Oman — room occupancy, one-star, unclassified, hotel apartments and guest houses24.1%2024api.ncsi.gov.om
Israel — hotel bed occupancy48.4%bed, not room occupancy2024cbs.gov.il
Israel — hotel revenue from foreign tourists, change year on year−70.7%2024cbs.gov.il

Saudi Arabia: who pays — tourism spending, pilgrims and card payments at hotels

Spending covers all tourism, not accommodation alone. Card data counts point-of-sale transactions at hotel merchants for one week; online prepayment through booking platforms is not included.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Inbound tourism spendingSAR 176.6 billioninternational visitors, all tourism spending2025spa.gov.sa
Domestic tourism spendingSAR 127.1 billionresidents, all tourism spending2025spa.gov.sa
Umrah performers, internal and external10,969,639one quarterQ3 2025stats.gov.sa
Weekly card spending at hotel merchantsSAR 282,808 thousandpoint-of-sale, one weekAugust 2026sama.gov.sa
Average card ticket at hotel merchantsSAR 326.57per POS transactionAugust 2026sama.gov.sa

Saudi Arabia: how digital accommodation and food service businesses are

GASTAT reports the accommodation and food service activity as one group (hotels together with restaurants and cafés). Shares are of establishments in that group; the all-activities row is the economy-wide comparator.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Use social media71.5%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Use the internet for electronic banking82.4%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Use IoT for customer service52.2%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Use the internet for customer service50.5%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Use cloud computing services46.2%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Sell or display goods and services online39.3%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Sell or display goods and services online — all activities33.5%economy-wide comparator2025stats.gov.sa
Have a website35.2%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Use AI technologies33.5%accommodation and food service establishments2025stats.gov.sa
Use AI technologies26.2%accommodation and food service establishments2024stats.gov.sa

Working hours in accommodation and food service

ILOSTAT mean weekly hours actually worked in the main job, ISIC section I (accommodation and food service together), all employed persons.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
United Arab Emirates — mean weekly hours actually worked51.91 hoursISIC I, accommodation and food service2025sdmx.ilo.org
Egypt — mean weekly hours actually worked50.49 hoursISIC I2024sdmx.ilo.org
Jordan — mean weekly hours actually worked49.74 hoursISIC I2024sdmx.ilo.org

Why Saudi and chain numbers do not line up

Four things change the answer. First, perimeter: GASTAT counts every licensed facility, most of them small and independent, while Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott report only their comparable branded hotels across the whole Middle East & Africa region — a market dominated by the Gulf but not limited to it. Second, currency and denominator: GASTAT reports in riyals per room-night for licensed hotels and, separately, serviced apartments; the chains report in US dollars, and Marriott's systemwide figure mixes managed and franchised hotels. Third, seasonality: Saudi quarters move with the Hajj and Umrah calendar, so a Q2 rate is not comparable with a Q4 rate; compare like quarters. Fourth, sector grouping: GASTAT's digital-usage survey and ILOSTAT's hours both treat accommodation and food service as one activity, so they describe hotels and restaurants together. Neighbouring markets use their own bases (Israel reports bed occupancy, Dubai and Oman room occupancy), so the regional rows are levels, not a league table.

GASTAT — Tourism Establishments Statistics, Q2 2026 · GASTAT — Establishments ICT Access and Usage Statistics 2025 · Hilton — Q2 2026 earnings release (SEC filing) · Marriott — Q2 2026 earnings release (SEC filing) · Saudi Central Bank — weekly POS transactions report

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: national statistics offices (GASTAT, Oman NCSI, Israel CBS), the Saudi Central Bank, government news agencies, ILOSTAT and statutory company filings with the US SEC. Values are shown in the currency the source reports; nothing is converted, estimated or modelled. Year-on-year changes are the sources' own published figures.

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Hotel Software Economics 2026: What a Hotel Pays per Month, Vendor Margins, Churn and CAC

How short of staff are hotels and restaurants, in which countries, and what does a hospitality worker cost?

Hotel and Restaurant Staffing 2026: Vacancy Rates, Turnover and Labour Costs by Country

Analysis built on this data

Hotel Software in the US 2026: The Franchise Owner Is the Buyer, and Most Hotels Still Run Without KPIs

US hotels take in about $353 billion a year, but the brand on the sign is rarely the business that runs the building. Here is what Census, BLS and hotel-company filings say about who buys hotel software in the US, what a room earns, and where the gap is.

Market cells behind this benchmark

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

MENA Hotels & Tourism17Hotel Tech & Hospitality Software17Hospitality Workforce & Staffing20Hotel Distribution & OTAs20

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