European Hotel Chain Market Share 2026: Accor, IHG, Marriott, Hilton, Radisson Mapped by Country

1. The one-chart answer: top 10 chains by European property count

If you only read one paragraph, read this one. In 2026, the ten largest hotel operators by reported European property count are, in order: Accor (over 2,900 hotels), Whitbread / Premier Inn (over 800 in the UK and a growing German pilot), IHG (roughly 750 to 850 EMEA hotels per its 2024 annual report), Marriott (in the 700 to 800 range across EMEA per its 2024 10-K), Radisson Hotel Group (over 400 hotels in EMEA per its 2024 fact sheet), NH Hotels / Minor Hotels Europe & Americas (over 350 hotels, mostly in Europe), Meliá Hotels International (over 250 in Europe), Hilton (in the 350 to 450 range in EMEA), Travelodge UK (over 590 UK hotels per its 2024 reporting), and a long tail of domestic operators such as Maritim, B&B Hotels, Steigenberger (now part of H World International) and Scandic.

That ranking matters because it inverts the assumption many North American procurement leaders bring to European sourcing. The United States hotel market is dominated by a handful of global chains; the European market is not. The largest European chain is more than three times the size of the largest US chain operating in Europe. And below the top ten, the long tail of regional and domestic groups remains thick enough that most national markets still see independents and small chains take more than 80 percent of the inventory.

2. Why we rebuilt the chart from scratch

Industry pie charts published by trade outlets typically have two problems for a procurement team trying to use them. First, they use a global denominator — usually a chain's total worldwide property count, which over-weights US-only operators like Wyndham and under-weights European operators like Accor when the question is "who matters in Europe?". Second, they aggregate by ownership structure (franchise versus owned versus managed) inconsistently across chains, which makes cross-chain comparison noisy. We picked a single consistent rule: count every hotel a chain reports as operating under one of its brands in Europe, regardless of franchise versus managed structure, as of each chain's most recent full-year reporting. That is the same rule a buyer applies when deciding whether to send an RFP to a chain's central sales office.

The second reason we rebuilt the chart: the question "what is X chain's market share in country Y" is meaningfully different from "how many hotels does X chain have in country Y". Share requires a denominator — total hotel population — that is itself contested. Eurostat publishes accommodation establishments, INSEE publishes French hotels separately from chambres d'hôtes, the UK ONS uses a different cut entirely. Wherever we quote a national share figure below, we name the source for both numerator and denominator. Where we only have the numerator (chain property count) without a trustworthy denominator, we quote the count and stop there.

3. The Chain Map Explorer

Click any country on the map below to see the top chains operating there in 2026, sourced from each chain's own annual report. Toggle the filter to restrict the ranking to MICE-relevant brands — properties with conference facilities, ballrooms, or dedicated meeting space.

4. Market leader profiles: Accor's Europe-dominant footprint

Accor is the only global chain headquartered in Europe with a footprint that scales into the thousands. Its 2024 Universal Registration Document discloses more than 2,900 hotels in Europe across the full brand portfolio — ibis at the economy end, ibis Styles and Mercure in the midscale, Novotel and Pullman in the upscale, and Sofitel and the Raffles / Fairmont collection at the top. The Accor advantage in European corporate sourcing is breadth of brand within a single contracting relationship: a planner can run a single rate program across ibis (entry-level), Novotel (mainstream conference) and Pullman (upper-tier executive offsites), without rotating vendors.

The trade-off is that not every Accor property is MICE-capable. ibis Budget and many ibis properties have either zero or one small meeting room. Mercure and Novotel are the workhorses; Pullman concentrates the full-service conference hotels. If you are sourcing only for events with meeting space, the practical Accor MICE inventory is materially smaller than the headline 2,900 figure. We tag MICE-relevant brands explicitly inside the Chain Map Explorer above so the comparison stays honest.

5. Marriott and Hilton: the US giants' European positioning

Marriott International's 2024 Form 10-K reports approximately 8,800 properties globally across 30+ brands. The EMEA segment — which is the closest disclosed cut to "Europe" — runs in the hundreds rather than the thousands. Most Marriott European properties cluster in capital cities and primary business hubs, with Courtyard, Moxy and Marriott-branded properties carrying the volume and JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and The Luxury Collection concentrated in the luxury tier. Hilton's 2024 10-K shows a similar shape: a European footprint that is smaller in raw count than Accor's but skewed upscale.

For procurement teams, what this means practically is that a single Marriott or Hilton global rate program will land you favourable terms in primary cities and effectively nothing in secondary or tertiary markets, where Accor, regional chains and independents take the bulk of inventory. If your event portfolio is concentrated in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, a US-chain global program covers it. If it includes Bordeaux, Hamburg, Bilbao, Eindhoven or Lyon, you will need to layer regional and independent sourcing on top.

6. IHG and Radisson: the mid-market consolidators

IHG's 2024 Annual Report places its EMEA estate in the 750 to 850 property range, anchored by Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. In Germany specifically, Holiday Inn Express has been one of the fastest-growing midscale brands of the past decade. Radisson Hotel Group's 2024 EMEA fact sheet reports more than 400 hotels across the Radisson, Park Inn and Radisson Blu brands, with particular strength in Germany, the Nordics, the Baltic states and Eastern Europe. Both groups have explicit MICE positioning: Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza on the IHG side, Radisson Blu and Park Inn on the Radisson side.

Practically, IHG and Radisson are the two chains most worth shortlisting if you run mid-market corporate events (50 to 250 attendees) across multiple European cities and want a single contracting relationship. Both publish public RFP intake processes through their central sales offices; both will negotiate against each other, which is useful leverage — and our 2026 European RFP response-time benchmark shows mid-market chains responding measurably faster than upscale ones on standardised briefs.

7. The Iberian story: Meliá, NH Hotels, Riu, Barceló

Spain is the European market where domestic chains dominate the upper end. Meliá Hotels International's 2024 annual report places Meliá at over 250 European hotels, with the majority in Spain. NH Hotels — now part of Minor Hotels Europe & Americas — operates more than 350 hotels, again concentrated in Iberia plus a meaningful footprint in Italy, Germany, the Benelux and Latin America. Barceló Hotel Group, Riu Hotels and Iberostar each operate substantial Iberian portfolios with strong resort and conference positioning.

For Iberian sourcing in particular, the practical implication is that the largest single-chain rate program a buyer can negotiate is more likely to come from Meliá or NH/Minor than from any of the US global chains. Both run sophisticated corporate sales operations with structured RFP intake.

8. The UK story: Premier Inn, Travelodge, IHG dominance

The United Kingdom is the most chain-concentrated hotel market in Europe by a clear margin. Whitbread's 2024 Annual Report reports more than 800 Premier Inn properties in the UK, plus a small but growing German pilot. Travelodge UK's 2024 reporting places its UK estate above 590 hotels. Add IHG (Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Crowne Plaza UK), Accor (ibis, Mercure, Novotel) and the US chains, and over 20 percent of all UK hotel properties are chain-branded — significantly above the European average of approximately 9 percent across the 27 markets in Easy RFP's working database.

For UK corporate sourcing this matters in two ways. First, in primary cities you can run almost any event entirely inside chain inventory. Second, chain rate programs cover a higher share of demand, so the negotiation leverage from running a true competitive RFP between chains is higher than in most other European markets. The corollary: chain-vs-independent response performance also looks different in the UK — see our chain vs independent venues breakdown for the comparative data.

9. The DACH story: Maritim, Steigenberger, Lindner — domestic strength

The DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) is interesting because it combines high chain density at the international level with deep domestic operators that international comparisons routinely miss. Maritim operates more than 30 hotels in Germany, almost all with full conference capability — the brand was built for corporate events. Steigenberger, now part of H World International (the Chinese parent that acquired Deutsche Hospitality), continues to operate alongside the IntercityHotel brand. Lindner Hotels & Resorts operates approximately 30 properties in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, again with strong MICE positioning. Premier Inn Deutschland has expanded the Whitbread brand into Germany with over 50 hotels.

The implication for DACH event sourcing: do not run a chain-only RFP in Germany. The domestic operators are competitive on price, often more flexible on bespoke conference setups, and easier to escalate inside than the central sales offices of global chains. Our companion DACH pricing analysis — see DACH Conference Pricing 2026 — sets specific public-rate-card benchmarks to validate that statement.

10. Independent hotels: still the majority of European MICE inventory

The single biggest difference between European and North American hotel sourcing is that independents still dominate the supply side. Across the 27 European markets Easy RFP tracks, branded chains represent approximately 9 percent of total hotel properties — the remaining 91 percent are independents or small regional groups. For MICE specifically, the independent share is lower (because chains over-index on hotels with meeting space) but it is still the majority of inventory across most countries. Our European Hotel Market Fragmentation Report breaks the country-level numbers down in detail.

Practically, this means that a "chain-only" sourcing strategy in Europe self-limits the buyer to a minority of available supply. The hotels with the best price-quality ratios for a specific brief — particularly outside primary city centres, or for events with non-standard format requirements — are frequently independent. A defensible 2026 European MICE sourcing approach blends a chain rate program (for predictability and central contracting) with independents sourced on a per-event basis (for fit and price tension).

11. Implications for buyers: when chain RFPs make sense and when they don't

Chain RFPs make sense when: the portfolio is geographically broad and concentrated in primary cities; the buyer wants a single contracting relationship for legal, compliance and finance reasons; the events are standardised on a recurring format that maps cleanly to a chain brand specification; and rate predictability across a multi-year horizon matters more than per-event optimisation. Chain RFPs do not make sense when: the brief is unusual (off-format meeting room layouts, large F&B variability, technical AV requirements); the destination is secondary or tertiary; or the buyer is small enough that the chain's central sales office won't prioritise the relationship.

The reality is that most mid-market and lower-large-enterprise buyers benefit from a hybrid model. Hold a chain rate program for the 60 to 70 percent of events that are standard format in primary cities; use a tooled RFP process — see Easy RFP for hotels — for the remainder. The chains that respond to event-level RFPs reliably (IHG, Accor, Radisson, NH/Minor in our 2026 corpus) effectively give buyers two competitive forces: the rate program and the per-event RFP, both pulling on price.

FAQ

Which hotel chain has the most properties in Europe?

Accor reports the largest European hotel footprint of any chain, with more than 2,900 properties in Europe in its 2024 Universal Registration Document. Premier Inn (Whitbread) reports more than 800 hotels but almost all are in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

What is Accor's market share in France?

Accor reports more than 1,500 hotels in France across all brands in its 2024 Universal Registration Document. Cross-referenced against INSEE's total French hotel count, that places Accor at roughly 8 to 12 percent of all French hotel properties depending on how branded hotels are counted, with significantly higher share in the midscale and economy segments.

Are independent hotels declining in Europe?

Independent hotels still account for approximately 91 percent of European hotel supply across the 27 markets Easy RFP tracks. Chain expansion is real but slow. Independents remain the majority of inventory in nearly every European country except the United Kingdom.

How do European chains compare to US giants?

Accor alone reports more European hotels than Marriott and Hilton combined in EMEA, per each chain's 2024 filings. US chains over-index on upscale and luxury tiers in capital cities, while European chains carry the volume in midscale and economy.

Which chain is largest in the DACH region?

Accor and IHG are the largest international chains in DACH by property count per their 2024 filings. Domestic German chains Maritim, Steigenberger (H World International) and Lindner each operate 30+ properties in Germany with strong MICE positioning. Premier Inn Deutschland has grown to over 50 hotels.

References & data sources

All figures are drawn from public investor-relations disclosures. The full document URL for each filing is below so any reader can verify the numerator. Where a chain publishes both an annual report and a 10-K or 20-F, we link the version that contains the property-count breakdown we used.

1. Accor SA — 2024 Universal Registration Document. group.accor.com/finance/regulated-information/universal-registration-document
2. Marriott International — 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K (EMEA segment). marriott.gcs-web.com/financial-information/annual-reports
3. InterContinental Hotels Group plc — 2024 Annual Report & Form 20-F (EMEAA segment). ihgplc.com/investors/annual-report
4. Hilton Worldwide Holdings — 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K (EMEA segment). ir.hilton.com/financial-reporting/annual-reports
5. Radisson Hotel Group — EMEA corporate fact sheet and press releases. radissonhotels.com/corporate/media
6. Minor Hotels Europe & Americas (formerly NH Hotel Group) — 2024 Annual Report and integrated results. minor-hotels-europe-americas.com/shareholders-and-investors
7. Meliá Hotels International — 2024 Annual Report and integrated results. meliahotelsinternational.com/shareholders-and-investors
8. Whitbread plc (Premier Inn) — 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts. whitbread.co.uk/investors/results-reports-and-presentations
9. H World International (Steigenberger / IntercityHotel) — 2024 brand portfolio disclosures. ir.hworld.com
10. STR Europe — only public press releases referenced. str.com/about/press-room