Visit Scotland | Alba

Overview

  • The Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey (SAOS) gathers data on occupancy in Scotland's tourist accommodation. The data is based on a sample of accommodation providers via an opt-in voluntary survey.
  • The survey is commissioned by VisitScotland. It is carried out by the research agency, The Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism Business Development.
  • The survey provides insight into overnight stays in Scotland via annual reports and regular monthly sector reports for the current year.
  • Five accommodation sectors are included (hotels, guesthouses / B&B, self-catering, hostels, caravan and camping).

In this article:

1. Monthly accommodation sector reports 2024

Monthly reports are available for each accommodation sector for 2024 and earlier. Each monthly report compares occupancy figures with the same month in the previous year. View occupancy rates per room, bed or pitch, region, star-rating and more.

B&Bs and guesthouses

Browse our research and insights on Scotland’s B&Bs and guesthouses during the past year.

3 min read

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Camping and caravans

Browse our research and insights on Scotland’s camping and caravanning sector during the past year.

3 min read

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Hostels

Browse our research and insights on Scotland’s hostel offering during the past year.

3 min read

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Hotels

Browse our research and insights on Scotland’s hotel offering during the past year.

3 min read

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Self-catering

Browse our research and insights on Scotland’s self-catering offering during the past year.

3 min read

Read More

2. Key statistics

Average occupancy figures 2023

65.44%

Average Scottish hotel occupancy in 2023

76.97%

Average Scottish guesthouse / B&B occupancy in 2023

43.07%

Average self-catering occupancy in 2023

Source: Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey 2023

Average tariffs 2023

£155.08

Average overnight hotel tariff 2023 (peak season)

£100.70

Average overnight guesthouse / B&B tariff 2023 (peak season)

£1,132

Average tariff for a week's self-catering stay 2023 (peak season)

Source: Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey 2023

3. Annual report 2023

Download the annual report to find key highlights and insight for each accommodation sector (hotels, guesthouse / B&B, self-catering, touring accommodation, hostels).

2023 Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey final report

Published June 2024

Download (2Mb)

4. Executive summary 2023

Hotels 2023 summary

  • hotel room occupancy reached a peak in September at 84.5%
  • average peak RevPAR was £411.53 achieved in October
  • the most popular booking method was directly with hotel accommodation, followed by "other" which includes booking sites and agents
  • 99% of all participating hotels had their own website, with the majority also listing on TripAdvisor (84%). Facebook continued to be popular in 2023 with 79% having their own page to promote their accommodation. YouTube was used by 11% of hotels

Guesthouse / B&B 2023 summary

  • guesthouses/B&B room occupancy reached a peak in August at 89.1%
  • the most popular booking methods were direct booking and by "walk-in". "Other" booking channels such as booking sites, proved less popular in 2023
  • all participating guesthouse, B&B providers had their own website, with the majority also listing on TripAdvisor (93%). Facebook was used by just 32% of providers to promote their accommodation. X (Twitter) was used by just under a quarter of guesthouse, B&B providers.

Self-catering 2023 summary

  • self-catering unit occupancy reached a peak in August at 58.4%
  • other booking methods were cited as most popular by 79% of self-catering accommodation providers. These include booking agents and channels such as SuperControl and Discover Scotland.
  • 99.5% of all participating Self-Catering accommodation providers had their own website. Just over two-thirds had a Facebook page, with just over 65% of participants using TripAdvisor. X (Twitter) was used by just over 50% of participants, however just 16.5% used YouTube.

2022 Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey final report

Published December 2022

Download (2Mb)

2021 Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey final report

Published August 2022

Download (3Mb)

2020 Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey final report

Published April 2021

Download (7Mb)

2019 Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Survey final report

Published July 2020

Download (1Mb)

6. How you can take part

Accommodation businesses are encouraged to take part in the survey. Businesses can enter their data using an online tool which is free, quick, and easy to use.

There are lots of ways businesses can benefit from taking part. By entering data, accommodation businesses can:

  • monitor their own business performance
  • receive reports back to benchmark against others
  • use the results as a proof of performance for funding or loan purposes
  • store occupancy figures so that over time trends and areas for growth can be identified
  • receive additional extracts from the Moffat Centre’s Visitor Attraction Barometer to provide further insight on tourism in the local area

If you are a Scottish accommodation business and would like to benefit from this free opportunity to monitor your occupancy, email the Moffat Centre on info@moffatcentre.com or by phone on 0141 331 8400.

Go to moffatcentre.com