Anyone who travelled soon after the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were eased certainly noticed a bump in prices as demand increased. Indeed, on an average annual basis, prices for traveller accommodation rose 29.3% from 2021 to 2022. A more modest increase followed in 2023 (+8.6) before levelling off in 2024 (-2.3%).
Through 2025, price changes have remained relatively stable and subject to seasonal demand. But if you’re booking now for an overnight stay this fall or winter and it seems expensive, you might be wondering why!
For Canada’s accommodation services subsector—including hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, cottages and recreational vehicle parks—business has been brisk. For example, tourists spent almost $4.8 billion on accommodation (adjusted for seasonal variations and price changes) in the second quarter of 2025 alone, an all-time quarterly high. In the first quarter, there were 20.2 million overnight trips by Canadian residents in Canada and another 4.3 million by non-resident visitors.
For some current insight, the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions asked businesses in sectors across the economy several questions, including expectations and obstacles. Let’s have a look at what the accommodation services subsector reported, as well as consider some other data from our business-related surveys.
Demand is steady; almost one in five businesses expect to raise prices
In the third quarter of 2025, more than 1 in 10 businesses (11.8%) in the accommodation services subsector expected an increase in demand for its products and services in the next three months, while two-thirds (66.6%) said it would remain the same. More than one in five (21.6%) expected demand to decrease.
Close to one in five businesses (18.0%) in the subsector expected to raise prices in the next three months, while just over 7 in 10 (71.5%) expected to hold prices and 1 in 10 (10.0%) expected to lower them.
Most businesses expect higher operating expenses but unchanged operating revenue
Almost one in five businesses (19.3%) in the accommodation services subsector in the third quarter of 2025 expected an increase in operating revenues in the next three months, while more than half (55.7%) expected them to stay the same.
However, as an indication of the cost of doing business, close to half (46.6%) of businesses expected an increase in operating expenses, while a slightly lesser proportion (44.0%) expected them to stay the same.
Inflation tops among expected obstacles, which also include fluctuation in consumer demand
In the third quarter of 2025, close to half (46.4%) of the accommodation services subsector’s businesses listed inflation as their most expected obstacle in the next three months, the most commonly expected obstacle. This was followed by the cost of insurance (35.8% of businesses), input costs (31.0%), fluctuation in consumer demand (27.2%) and interest rates and debt costs (26.3%).
As a further indication of reliance on continued demand—and perhaps how it is less predictable in the off-season—the capacity to attract new or returning customers was an expected obstacle for one in four businesses (25.8%). Insufficient demand for goods and services offered was an expected obstacle for close to one in five businesses (19.8%).
Almost one in five businesses (19.1%) expected costs in real estate, leasing or property taxes to be an obstacle, while a smaller proportion (5.6%) expected a shortage of space or equipment.
A snapshot of real estate and labour data
Operating expenses for a hotel, motel or other type of accommodation can be considerable, and many locations have a large real estate footprint. For accommodation services that rent, prices for commercial spaces (including office, retail, industrial and warehouse) increased by 2.8% in the second quarter of 2025 from the same quarter in 2024, and by 12.2% from the second quarter of 2021.
Employees on payroll in the subsector took home $708.73 in average weekly earnings in August 2025, compared with $678.42 a year earlier and $645.07 in August 2021 (seasonally adjusted; including overtime).
Price increases for key business purchases
They say a good night’s sleep is priceless, but is it really? In August 2025, prices increased for mattresses and foundations (+9.9%), blinds and shades (+8.3%), hand tools, kitchen utensils and cutlery (+5.7%), commercial and service industry machinery (+3.0%) and heating and cooling equipment (except household refrigerators and freezers) (+6.0%) from a year earlier, as measured by the Machinery and Equipment Price Index (as acquired by industries in Canada).
Breakfast the next morning might be costing the hotel a bit more to serve. Prices for meat, fish and dairy products (+11.3%) and fruit, vegetables, feed and other food products (+3.4%) increased on a year-over-year basis in September, according to the Industrial Product Price Index, which measures price changes for major commodities sold by manufacturers operating in Canada.
For more information
Check out our Business performance and ownership statistics, Prices and price indexes, Construction statistics and Labour statistics portals for the latest information and analysis.
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).