And X marks the spot in 2026: from global mega-events like Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy and the 2026 FIFA World Cup to world tours such as that of K-pop supergroup BTS, these moments are no longer peripheral to hospitality performance but increasingly instrumental to driving pricing power at the top end of the market.
CoStar’s hospitality outlook on the 2026 World Cup says luxury properties expected to capture outsized benefit from high-spending guests during the tournament, with Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group noting “This is one of those experiences that people really splurge on. They want to do it right.”
And it’s not only football. Hotel rates around the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina have seen stratospheric rises. Marco Terzi, CEO and founder of short term rental company Xenia which manages over 130 properties in Milan told Conde Nast Traveller that rates during the opening ceremony, the first weekend and major finals are 70 to 120 per cent higher than a typical February, with prime location apartments costing nearly 150 per cent more.
It’s clear that while events were historically treated just as upside and welcome boosts, the scale and frequency of global events such as we’ve seen in the past few years – who can forget Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour? - and which has continued into 2026, has and will continue to have wide-ranging positive effects for luxury hoteliers, particularly as the segment continues to be the primary growth engine of the hospitality industry.
This is as Savills’ 2026 Hotel Sector Outlook notes that luxury and upper-upscale assets continue to attract strong interest and remain among the most in-demand segments due to their outperformance relative to other segments.
Why luxury benefits
And while the industry is no stranger to the saying “a rising tide lifts all boats”, and these events no doubt positively affect all hotels, luxury captures the most value. Attendees to these events are not niche audiences. And many of them are high-spending, internationally mobile travellers who plan far in advance, travel in groups and prioritise premium accommodation close to the action. Many of them, particularly those travelling from countries with higher spending power compared to their destinations are not looking for convenience alone. They are buying proximity, status, access and experience, and that translates into suites rather than standard rooms.
For luxury hotels and resorts, this kind of demand behaves very differently to leisure peaks driven by weather or school holidays. Additionally, it is far less sensitive to price. The benefits are numerous: availability compresses quickly, rates stretch earlier and ancillary spend is higher. And crucially, all of this is visible well ahead of arrival.
The investment logic
From an investment perspective, the relevance of events now extends far beyond short-term revpar uplift, with these large scale events allowing hoteliers to advertise much higher rates well in advance of the event itself.
Major events are increasingly treated as structural demand drivers and assets in event-capable destinations are increasingly being assessed on their ability to absorb and monetise calendar-driven demand. Events, especially recurring ones concentrated in a particular destination, can provide visibility that could help influence underwriting and assumptions around pricing, occupancy and long-term destination relevance.
This matters in a higher cost environment. With labour and operating costs as elevated as they currently are, luxury hotels rely more heavily than ever on moments of pricing power to protect margins and justify capex. Events create those moments. They also aid investment in product differentiation for larger keys, better locations and stronger amenities. In this context, events are no longer optional upside. They are part of the risk-mitigation story for luxury.
Looking ahead
What 2026 makes clear is that global events are no longer flash in the pan moments to hotel performance but rather one of the main characters. They are becoming structural components of luxury travel economics. Further, industry reporting highlights that large-scale events such as the Olympics, Eurovision and major concert tours have been significant revenue drivers, enabling hoteliers to reset room rates and yield strategies around these calendar anchors rather than treating them as one-off peaks.
For developers, operators and investors, the message is simple: the luxury assets best positioned for the next cycle will have to be aligned with the moments that move the world as events continue to function as a sort of soft infrastructure.
By Ifeoluwa Taiwo
