GCC Hotel Performance & Pricing Trends 2026

Occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, supply and booking-behaviour evidence
gaps

Published: 14 August 2026

Scope: Six GCC countries; every figure remains
inside its source definition and is not used for a country ranking.

Quick answer

• Six-GCC aggregate: RevPAR +7.8% in the first eight months of
  2025, per CoStar/STR. [HT04]

• Saudi hotel KPIs: 58.5% occupancy, SAR546 ADR and SAR334 RevPAR
  in H1 2025. [HT01]

• Booking behaviour and Kuwait remain declared public-evidence
  gaps.

Executive summary

CoStar/STR reported 7.8% RevPAR growth across the six GCC countries
in the first eight months of 2025, alongside occupancy growth of 3.3%,
ADR growth of 4.3% and supply growth of 0.6%. This is a commercial
aggregate, not country detail. [HT04]

Saudi licensed hotels recorded 58.5% occupancy, SAR546 ADR and SAR334
RevPAR in H1 2025. The separate totals of 5,326 facilities and roughly
545k keys cover all licensed accommodation; hotels account for 47% of
facilities and 83% of keys. [HT01]

Public sources do not support a harmonized GCC booking-window,
cancellation or hotel-channel dataset.

Comparison rules

Identical labels do not guarantee identical metrics. Property
coverage and reporting periods differ across Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Saudi
Arabia and commercial providers.

No country league table is published. Every figure carries its
period, unit, population and evidence type.

The GCC aggregate view

Jan-Aug 2025 evidence shows improvements in rate and occupancy
against limited supply growth. The percentages are not added because
they are different indicators and may use market weights. [HT04]

The result supports the finding that improvement was not rate-only,
but it cannot identify the leading country without underlying
detail.

Saudi Arabia:
different measurement populations

Ministry of Tourism: licensed-hotel KPIs for H1 2025. [HT01]

GASTAT: quarterly releases under the tourism-establishment
statistical frame; these should not be blended automatically with the
ministry series. [HT02; HT03]

Commercial providers may track branded hotels or major cities.
Divergence reflects scope, period and sample, not one “right” and one
“wrong” number.

UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar

Knight Frank reported Abu Dhabi RevPAR growth of 24% and ADR growth
of 20.2% through August 2025; these are commercial growth rates, not
final annual absolute values. [HT05]

Oman official 2025 evidence covers 3-5-star hotels and remains
preliminary. [HT07]

Bahrain commercial indicators are directional and do not provide a
harmonized GCC comparison base. [HT06]

Qatar scope must accompany each citation because it can include
hotels and hotel apartments. [HT09]

Supply and pipeline

In Q1 2026, 231,941 Middle East rooms were under contract and 107,653
were under construction. Saudi Arabia’s 51,513 rooms equal 47.8% of
rooms under construction, not all rooms under contract. [HT10]

Pipeline is not guaranteed delivery; track project stage, extraction
date, delay and cancellation.

Evidence gaps for booking
behaviour

No publicly accessible Kuwait figure meeting the report standard was
located. This is a public-evidence gap, not a claim that private data do
not exist. [HT-C07]

Required booking fields include lead-time P25/P50/P75, cancellation
by days to arrival, LOS, source market, city/class, refundable status,
channel and supplier.

Future Trippify data must be aggregated and anonymized with sample
size, period and exclusions, and must not represent the whole GCC
market.

12-24 month scenarios

Base: city divergence continues as seasonality, events and supply
interact.

Upside: demand absorbs a greater share of new supply.

Stress: demand or delivery changes widen performance gaps.

These are scenarios, not numerical occupancy or ADR forecasts.

Agency recommendations

Negotiate availability and cancellation terms, not price alone.

Score suppliers by city, class and booking window.

Present refundable and non-refundable conditions clearly.

Track search-to-confirmation price change.

Separate event effects from the annual trend.

Methodology and limitations

Cutoff: 14 August 2026. Official evidence is prioritized, followed by
clearly labelled commercial datasets.

The report contains no Trippify internal data and does not mix
monthly, half-year and annual periods or incompatible property
scopes.

FAQ

Executive summary?

CoStar/STR reported 7.8% RevPAR growth across the six GCC countries
in the first eight months of 2025, alongside occupancy growth of 3.3%,
ADR growth of 4.3% and supply growth of 0.6%. This is a commercial
aggregate, not country detail. [HT04]

Comparison rules?

Identical labels do not guarantee identical metrics. Property
coverage and reporting periods differ across Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Saudi
Arabia and commercial providers.

The GCC aggregate view?

Jan-Aug 2025 evidence shows improvements in rate and occupancy
against limited supply growth. The percentages are not added because
they are different indicators and may use market weights. [HT04]

Saudi Arabia:
different measurement populations?

Ministry of Tourism: licensed-hotel KPIs for H1 2025. [HT01]

References

• [HT01] Saudi
  Ministry of Tourism — Hospitality Sector Performance H1 2025 (2025).
  Hotel KPIs separated from total licensed accommodation.

• [HT02] GASTAT
  — Tourism Establishments Statistics Q2 2025 (2025). Quarterly
  statistical scope.

• [HT03] GASTAT
  — Tourism Establishments Statistics Q3 2025 (2025). Quarterly
  statistical scope.

• [HT04] CoStar
  / STR — Middle East hotel performance heats up (2025-09-26).
  Aggregate; country detail not disclosed.

• [HT05] Knight
  Frank — UAE Hospitality Market Review 2025 (2025-10). Tracked-market
  estimates.

• [HT06] CBRE
  Bahrain — Bahrain Real Estate Market Review H1 2025 (2025-09-09).
  Commercial market review.

• [HT07] Oman
  NCSI — Tourism Indicators December 2025 (2026-01). 3-5-star hotels
  only; preliminary.

• [HT08] Dubai DET —
  Research and insights portal (Accessed 2026-08-14). Use exact
  release when citing a Dubai KPI.

• [HT09] Qatar
  Tourism — News and performance releases (Accessed 2026-08-14).
  Market scope can include hotel apartments.

• [HT10] CoStar / STR
  — Middle East hotel pipeline Q1 2026 (2026-Q1). Under contract
  differs from under construction.

Related Trippify resources

• Travel API
• B2B travel portal
• Travel industry insights