According to the Cushman & Wakefield report Marketbeat CEE-6 Hospitality H1 2025, the first half of 2025 brought the highest level of hotel investment activity in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in several years. Transaction volumes increased by more than 360% year-on-year, driven primarily by deals closed in the Czech Republic, as well as in Poland and Hungary. Warsaw emerged as the regional leader, both in terms of new supply and operational performance indicators for hotels.
Highest Transaction Value in Years
The report shows that investment volume across the six largest markets in the region (CEE-6) reached EUR 682 million, representing a 364% year-on-year increase.
The first half of 2025 saw the highest investor activity since 2019. The Czech Republic led with EUR 502 million in transactions – a 936% year-on-year surge. Poland ranked second with EUR 81 million (+216% y/y), followed by Romania with EUR 49 million, according to Marcin Kocerba, Partner, Capital Markets, Cushman & Wakefield Poland.
Most transactions involved Upper Upscale and Luxury hotels, which accounted for 64% of total investment volume. Deals in these segments grew by more than 500% compared with the first half of 2024.
The largest regional hotel transactions included the Hilton and Four Seasons hotels in Prague. In Poland, two significant portfolio transactions were recorded: two serviced apartment properties under the Noli Studios brand in Gdańsk, and a portfolio of four B&B HOTELS located in Warsaw, Kraków, Lublin, and Łódź.
The CEE hotel investment market is showing signs of increasing maturity. Prime yields remain stable at 6.5–8.5%, though compression is expected in the second half of the year as liquidity and investor activity grow. A key structural shift is the dominance of domestic capital, which accounted for 63% of total transaction volume (+317% y/y), with strong participation from European investors (23% of volume, +360% y/y). Notably, private investors generated 78% of all activity, nearly five times more than a year ago. The absence of APAC investors signals a geographic realignment of market dynamics.
“The average price per room – close to EUR 200,000 – reflects both the high quality of transacted assets and growing demand for properties with strong operational performance,” commented Nicolas Horky, Partner, Head of Hotel Transactions CEE & SEE, Cushman & Wakefield.
Warsaw Leads in New Supply
The first half of 2025 also saw new supply growth, particularly in higher-standard hotel segments. Approximately 20 new hotels opened in the capitals of the CEE-6 countries, adding around 1,600 rooms.
Warsaw recorded four new properties with 647 rooms in total, including Moxy Warsaw City (256 rooms), Puro Warsaw Old Town (192 rooms), and an expansion of Leonardo Royal Warsaw (+184 rooms).
Overall, new supply grew 1.7% y/y, concentrated mainly in the Luxury and Upscale segments. Warsaw led the way with a 3.8% y/y increase in hotel capacity, followed by Prague (+1.8%) and Bucharest (+1.7%). Further growth is expected in the coming months, particularly in Budapest, noted Alina Cazachevici, Partner, Head of Hospitality Operations CEE & SEE, Cushman & Wakefield.
RevPAR Continues to Rise
From January to June, the CEE hotel market reported a 9.3% y/y increase in RevPAR, driven largely by a 6.9% rise in ADR. Occupancy also improved, climbing 3.4 percentage points to reach 65% – though still 6.5 points below 2019 levels.
RevPAR in all CEE capitals has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Warsaw led the region at 138.9% of 2019 performance, ahead of Sofia (128.4%) and Prague (125.5%). Warsaw and Sofia were the only cities to record occupancy rates higher than in 2019.
“The CEE hotel market demonstrated remarkable resilience and recovery capacity in the first half of 2025. The combination of record-high investment volumes, strong operational growth, and dynamic new supply – particularly in the luxury segment – underlines solid market fundamentals and positive outlooks for the future,” summarized Marcin Kocerba.
Source: ManagerPlus.pl
