Transient leisure is one of the most resilient demand segments in global hospitality, according to hotel executives.
“Even during Covid, when we were opening and closing hotels, they were full every time we opened, and leisure recovered 18 months before the MICE segment. People want holidays. We are in the happy business,” said María Zarraluqui, SVP, global Hyatt inclusive collection growth and owner relations.
Unlike corporate demand, where video calls can substitute for face-to-face meetings, leisure breaks and family holidays are “one of the few things that you just can’t tilt to digital,” she added.
Leisure’s resilience has not been lost on global companies like Hyatt. Much of its recent M&A activity has heavily focused on all-inclusive resorts, starting with the acquisition of Apple Leisure Group in 2021, the addition of Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts in 2024, and Playa Hotels & Resorts in 2025.
It’s a strategy that is paying off. For the full year 2025, Hyatt’s all-inclusive net package RevPAR increased by 8.6 percent compared to total systemwide RevPAR growth of 2.9 percent.
Paying off
However, while leisure trips and family holidays are sacrosanct, travel is never entirely immune from geo-political volatility. In recent months the Iran war has disrupted long-haul bookings to Club Med destinations in the Seychelles, Maldives, and Southeast Asia, said David Vely, VP development, Club Med,
“Long haul from West to East often means a stopover or layover in Dubai or Qatar and people are less comfortable to book now, because we've seen some customers stranded in those destinations that we had to bring back,” he explained.
“They'd like to rebook in Europe or travel west. The problem is we cannot send them to Greek resorts because they are already 100 percent full, so they are lost for the short term. Of course, we will try to rebook them, but short term, it's a loss, clearly.”
Vely added that the peak booking window for Club Med customers is still the traditional eight or nine months before arrival. The French all-inclusive pioneer has a direct relationship with its customers since it remains sole distributor for its resorts.
For popular holiday destinations like Portugal, Spain and Greece, the traditional customer base is northern Europe. In the post-pandemic years, however, there was a steep rise in higher spending U.S. visitors.
Eva Chan, head of strategic development and growth EMEA, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, commented: “U.S. average spend [at our properties in Spain and Portugal] has improved compared to two years ago, and at the same time they are higher spenders than the European travelers. There has been an increase in direct airlift between the U.S. and Spain, Portugal and Greece, and I think there's the sun, the sea, and European flair that is attracting the American tourists.”
In the first half of 2026, Wyndham strengthened its EMEA presence with the signing of 25 hotels and the opening of 13 properties, including Wyndham Grand Carvoeiro Algarve andWyndham Mallorca Portocolom Resort.
All-inclusive goes upscale
Club Med recently completed a 25-year transformation that has moved its resorts and products upscale. Until the 2000s, all-inclusive holidays were associated with cheap flights, cheap buffets, cheap rooms, cheap everything, said Vely. That business model became no longer sustainable for operators and owners, and resorts underwent a decisive shift upscale.
“We see very affluent people going all-inclusive, not because it’s a good bargain, but because they are guaranteed a good holiday with their families, and freedom from the mental strain of having to organise and plan everything,” Vely said.
Zarraluqui at Hyatt noted the popularity of all-inclusive resorts amongst 18-to-25-year-olds: “They are very much engaging their digital native view of the world with all-inclusive experiences, because they are reliable, they know what they are going to get, but also personalisation is entering the space with experiences both in and outside the resort.”
Seasonality is stretching out. A traditional beach season ran from mid-June to mid-September. Not anymore. This approach worked when the holiday camp infrastructure was cheap, Vely said. But now that Club Med resorts have gone upscale and the investment is around $100m per site, beach resorts must stay open at least six to eight months a year to be commercially feasible.
MICE demand has extended the season at some Wyndham properties in Portugal with occupancies as high as 91 percent in October, noted Chan.
In the Caribbean and the Canary Islands, resorts tend to stay open all year round, said Zarraluqui at Hyatt. On the other hand, the Balaeric islands are “very seasonal” but it’s up to operators to decide how to manage their fixed costs.
Spanish labour laws introduced in 2022 are generally good at meeting the needs of both employers and seasonal workers, she commented. Fijo discontinuo contracts allow hotels to scale staff up and down according to the season but without terminating contracts.
What kind of ROI can investors and owners expect from all-inclusive resorts? Zarraluqui said:
“In the Caribbean, double digit returns are very possible. In Europe, maybe it’s a little bit less. Leisure is now very well perceived by investors. For example, almost 35 percent of our owners own more than five assets with Hyatt in the leisure all-inclusive segment.”
Looking at future pipelines, flagship Hyatt openings now taking bookings from late 2026 include the Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman Resort & Spa, Cayman Islands, and the Grand Hyatt Cancun Beach Resort, Mexico.
Wyndham is expanding in Turkey, India, and the CIS. The company said that the most exciting growth opportunities in leisure hospitality over the coming years will come from locations that, until recently, were considered outside the traditional development spotlight.
Club Med analyses feedback from its customer base to help it decide where to open new resorts. In July 2026, it opened its first resort in South Africa, providing a dual beach and safari experience.
All quotes taken from the panel ‘Leisure hospitality: From all-inclusive to mixed-use, the models and assets leading opportunities’ at IHIF EMEA 2026 in Berlin. The panel was moderated by Jonathan Hubbard, head of hospitality EMEA, Cushman & Wakefield.