Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Poland’s hotel market is moving into a more mature stage of development as improving operating performance, international brand expansion and investment in existing properties reshape the sector. Rather than growth being measured primarily by the number of new hotels, developers and investors are increasingly concentrating on larger projects, higher standards and properties capable of attracting guests throughout the year.
More than 2,600 hotels operate across Poland, while accommodation capacity has continued to expand. The number of available hotel beds reached around 334,700 in 2025, up from approximately 321,000 a year earlier. Over the past decade, the market has recorded substantial growth in accommodation capacity, accompanied by a gradual shift towards larger and more professionally operated properties.
International hotel groups are playing an increasingly important role in this transformation. Although internationally branded hotels still account for a relatively small proportion of the country’s total number of properties, their share of rooms is considerably higher. New development is also increasingly concentrated around established operators and brands, particularly in the upper-midscale, upscale and premium segments.
Katarzyna Tencza, Transaction Director at Walter Herz, says the Polish hotel sector has moved beyond the post-pandemic recovery period and is entering a stage in which the standard and positioning of individual properties are becoming increasingly important to their competitiveness.
One of the clearest changes is the increasing size of new developments. Investors are bringing forward properties containing several hundred rooms together with larger leisure, conference, food and beverage and wellness components. The most prominent example is Hotel Gołębiewski in Pobierowo. The development is designed to ultimately provide around 1,200 rooms, making it one of the largest hotel projects in the country.
Similar changes can be seen in urban markets, where older properties are increasingly being redeveloped and repositioned rather than simply replaced by conventional new-build hotels. In Warsaw, the former Gromada airport hotel has been transformed into a dual-branded Campanile PRIME and Première Classe complex with more than 390 rooms. The project illustrates the potential of existing hotel sites where location and established infrastructure can support investment in a substantially upgraded product.
Warsaw continues to lead the country’s urban hotel sector, with more than 19,000 rooms available by mid-2026. Hotel room supply expanded by around 5.5% during 2025, placing the Polish capital among the faster-growing major hotel markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Recent additions have included PURO Warsaw Old Town and Moxy Warsaw City, while the development pipeline contains further internationally branded projects.
Canopy by Hilton and AC by Marriott are among the schemes being developed, alongside additional accommodation concepts planned for the capital. Another important part of the pipeline involves the transformation of existing hotels. The Regent Warsaw is expected to be repositioned under the JW Marriott brand, demonstrating how established properties in strong locations can be moved into a higher market segment without adding an entirely new building to the city’s stock.
Warsaw’s ability to absorb additional capacity has so far been supported by recovering international tourism, corporate travel and events. However, future projects will increasingly have to compete on product quality as the market becomes more sophisticated.
Kraków followed a different development cycle. A significant volume of accommodation entered the market between 2021 and 2024, but the pace of additions has subsequently slowed. Occupancy recovered strongly during 2025 despite the earlier expansion of room supply, indicating that visitor demand has been able to absorb much of the additional capacity. The more restricted pipeline may provide further support to hotel performance if tourism continues to grow.
At the same time, Kraków is attracting investment towards the upper end of the market. Projects associated with JW Marriott, Nobu, The Hoxton and Le Méridien demonstrate growing interest in positioning the city for higher-spending leisure and business travellers. This development reflects Kraków’s changing role from predominantly a high-volume tourism destination towards a more diversified hotel market capable of supporting a wider range of international concepts.
Conditions elsewhere in Poland vary considerably. The Tricity market benefited from strong room rates and relatively limited additions to supply during 2025. A larger development pipeline is nevertheless emerging, with more than 1,000 rooms potentially being introduced through projects associated with brands including Renaissance, Golden Tulip, Radisson Blu, Swissôtel and Q Hotel Plus.
Wrocław has experienced a considerably faster expansion. More than 1,300 rooms were added over an 18-month period, increasing competition between operators. The rapid growth of supply contributed to weaker hotel performance during 2025, illustrating the risk of adding substantial capacity faster than demand can absorb it.
Poznań has developed more cautiously. After several years of relatively limited hotel investment, projects including Four Points by Sheraton, Hotel de Rome and Y3 Signature could gradually expand the city’s accommodation offer. The contrast between these markets underlines the increasingly local nature of hotel investment decisions. National tourism growth alone is no longer sufficient to determine the prospects of individual projects; investors must consider the balance between demand and supply within each city.
Some of the strongest development activity is taking place outside Poland’s major cities. The Baltic coast has experienced substantial growth in accommodation over the past decade, supported by increasingly large resort developments. Several new properties opened during 2025, while the Pobierowo Gołębiewski project represented a major addition in 2026. Further developments are planned or under construction in Międzyzdroje, Dziwnów, Ustronie Morskie and Krynica Morska.
Poland’s mountain destinations are following a similar direction. New properties increasingly combine hotel accommodation with swimming pools, wellness facilities, restaurants, entertainment and other services intended to broaden their appeal beyond traditional winter or summer holiday periods. The strategy reflects an important challenge facing resort operators: extending occupancy beyond peak seasons. Larger wellness and leisure components can help generate demand during autumn, winter and spring, but they also increase development costs and make professional hotel management increasingly important.
New construction is only one part of the sector’s development. Refurbishment, conversion and rebranding are becoming increasingly significant sources of investment. Owners are looking more closely at older properties occupying established locations where renovation can create a hotel capable of competing with newly developed accommodation.
“One of the most visible trends in the sector is the growing number of refurbishments, redevelopments and rebranding projects. Investors are increasingly using well-located existing assets and adapting them to today’s market rather than relying exclusively on new development,” Tencza says.
The strategy can provide an alternative in markets where development land is scarce or construction costs make ground-up projects difficult to justify. The former Hotel Tychy & Tychy Prime, now operating as B&B Hotel Tychy, is one example. Higher-end repositioning is also becoming more common, including the planned transformation of Warsaw’s Regent and the redevelopment of Kraków’s former Royal Hotel as Le Méridien.
Improving hotel performance is also attracting greater investor attention, although transaction volumes remain relatively modest compared with Poland’s larger commercial property sectors. Around 12 hotel properties changed ownership during 2025, generating approximately €135 million of investment volume. Transactions included Four Points by Sheraton Warsaw Mokotów, hospitality properties within the Noli Studios portfolio, B&B Hotels assets and Hampton by Hilton Kalisz.
The limited number of transactions does not necessarily indicate weak demand for hotel investment. Market advisers point to the restricted availability of institutional-quality assets offered for sale as one factor limiting deal flow. This creates a different investment environment from offices or logistics, where significantly larger portfolios and individual properties are regularly marketed.
The composition of Poland’s hotel stock is changing alongside its expansion. Three-star properties continue to represent the largest part of the market, but investment is increasingly moving towards four- and five-star accommodation and hotels offering a wider range of services. Conference facilities, restaurants, wellness areas and leisure components are becoming more important as operators seek to diversify their customer base and increase year-round utilisation.
Business and leisure travel are also becoming less clearly separated. Travellers increasingly combine professional trips with additional leisure stays, while changing climate preferences could support demand for northern European destinations during periods when southern markets experience extreme summer temperatures. For investors, however, demographic changes and competition for international visitors will remain longer-term considerations.
Poland’s hotel market is therefore entering a phase in which adding accommodation alone will not guarantee success. The strongest projects are increasingly likely to be those that combine established locations with professional management, recognised brands and facilities capable of generating demand beyond traditional peak periods.
The next investment cycle is consequently likely to be shaped as much by the transformation of existing hotels as by construction of new ones. As the sector becomes more competitive, capital is moving towards properties where refurbishment, branding and improved operations can create additional value, marking a gradual transition from expansion by volume towards competition based on the quality and performance of individual assets.
