LONDON, 9 September 2026 – New data from revenue management platform PriceLabs shows that Europe’s heatwave summer did less to disrupt travel patterns than many expected.
Booked nights for short-term rentals across Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland grew by double digits every month between June and September 2026 compared with the same period last year, while demand softened in some of Southern Europe’s hottest destinations early in the summer, but the anticipated booking collapse never fully materialised.
The biggest shift is that the summer high season is extending into September. Bookings for this month jumped across almost every market analysed, from Murcia in Spain to Bergen in Norway, as travellers seek cooler weather and fewer crowds rather than avoiding the season altogether.
A softer dip than expected
Despite ongoing extreme heat, Italy saw 9-11% growth in demand vs. last year from June to August, with southern regions even outperforming the national average — Calabria for example saw 20% growth in July, and the Basilicata region, home to historic city Matera, saw demand up 18%, also in July.
However, growth is even stronger for September: booked nights are up +28.9% across the country for this month.
France told a similar story. Even with temperatures reaching 40°C in large parts of the country, booked nights kept growing throughout the summer (+4.1% to +7.0%), and growth has grown again for September, to +15.2%.
Spain’s summer started slow, with booked nights nationally falling 4.4% in June and 4.6% in July year over year, perhaps losing out to other forms of lodging as short-term rental supply is down around 10% since the Registro Único regulation. This was driven by declines of over 20% in Murcia and up to 12.4% in the Canary Islands. The drop wasn’t sustained: Spain returned to modest growth in August (+0.7%), and, for September, demand is up 18% compared to the same time last year, with a swing up to +20.9% growth in Murcia and +9.6% in the Canary Islands.
The Nordic surge
Nordic countries did see strong growth this summer, though it’s not a simple case of switching from the South. Denmark led the pack, with booked nights up 21.9% in July, 25.0% in August and 35.1% looking ahead to September compared with the same months in 2025. Finland saw the sharpest acceleration, with growth climbing from a modest 14.8% in June to 46.8% for September. Norway (+13.2% to +22.7%) and Sweden (+12.0% to +16.1%) both posted consistent double-digit gains throughout this summer.
Richie Khandelwal, Co-Founder of PriceLabs, said: “With one heatwave after another, many expected travellers to swap the Mediterranean for the North Sea this summer. However, the data shows another strong summer for most of Europe, north and south. While growth slowed in some hotter areas, demand is accelerating into September across almost every market we analysed — both north and south, suggesting travellers are increasingly building trips around cooler weather, not just cooler destinations.”
Booked nights growth year on year, 2025–26
| Country | June | July | August | September |
| Denmark | +23.8% | +21.9% | +25.0% | +35.1% |
| Finland | +14.8% | +19.1% | +22.6% | +46.8% |
| Norway | +13.2% | +16.7% | +15.6% | +22.7% |
| Sweden | +12.0% | +16.1% | +14.3% | +14.1% |
| Italy | +9.2% | +11.4% | +11.2% | +28.9% |
| France | +4.1% | +7.0% | +5.6% | +15.2% |
| Spain | -4.4% | -4.6% | +0.7% | +18.0% |
Source: PriceLabs
Note: September 2026 figures are on-the-books bookings compared with same-time-last-year (STLY) bookings for 2025, and are not final totals for the month.
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About PriceLabs
PriceLabs is a revenue management platform designed for all short- and mid-term accommodation, from vacation rentals to hotels, campgrounds, aparthotels and serviced apartments. Since 2014, PriceLabs has helped property managers optimise their pricing strategies using AI-driven automation, market data insights, and flexible customization. PriceLabs currently prices over 600,000 listings globally. Learn more at pricelabs.co.
