Accor
France
EU
Accor is a French hotel group with its head office in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris. According to its homepage in October 2026, it combines more than 45 brands and 5,800 hotels in over...
European Hotel Chains
B&B Hotels
France
EU
Non-European Parent Company
B&B Hotels is a French budget hotel chain that was founded in Brest in 1990. According to Wikipedia, it operates in 17 European countries. The chain does not own all its hotels...
Barceló Hotel Group
Spain
EU
Barceló Hotel Group is a Spanish hotel group founded in 1931 by Simón Barceló in Mallorca. The company is still family-owned and based in Palma de Mallorca. According to the Barceló website,...
Iberostar
Spain
EU
Iberostar is a Spanish tourism group headquartered in Palma de Mallorca. According to its own history page, it is 100 percent family-owned and was founded in 1956, with roots in the footwear...
IHG Hotels & Resorts
United Kingdom
IHG Hotels & Resorts (InterContinental Hotels Group PLC) is a British hotel group with its global headquarters in Windsor. The company has existed in its present form since 2003, when Six Continents...
Meliá Hotels International
Spain
EU
Meliá Hotels International is a Spanish hotel group registered in Palma de Mallorca and part of the Ibex 35 index. Gabriel Escarrer Juliá founded the company in 1956, and his son Gabriel...
Motel One
Germany
EU
Motel One is a budget design hotel chain headquartered in Munich. Dieter Müller and Philippe Weyland founded it in 2000. According to the company page it runs 111 hotels with about 30,000...
NH Hotels
Spain
EU
Non-European Parent Company
NH Hotels is a Spanish hotel brand headquartered in Madrid. The company, formerly NH Hotel Group, is now called Minor Hotels Europe & Americas. According to the NH website it has more...
Premier Inn
United Kingdom
Premier Inn is the largest hotel brand in the United Kingdom and belongs to Whitbread PLC, whose registered office is in Dunstable. According to Whitbread, Premier Inn offers more than 86,000 rooms...
Radisson Hotel Group
Belgium
EU
Non-European Parent Company
Radisson Hotel Group is a hotel company headquartered in Brussels. According to its corporate site it has ten brands and more than 1,640 hotels in operation and under development in EMEA and...
RIU Hotels & Resorts
Spain
EU
RIU Hotels & Resorts is a Spanish hotel group from Mallorca that has been run by the Riu family since 1953. According to the company, it operates more than 100 hotels in...
Scandic Hotels
Sweden
EU
Scandic Hotels Group is a hotel company headquartered in Stockholm and listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since December 2015. According to its company page, Scandic has more than 320 hotels in operation and...
Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts
Germany
EU
Non-European Parent Company
Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts is a German upscale hotel brand based in Frankfurt am Main. The company Steigenberger Hotels GmbH now operates as H World International, after Deutsche Hospitality changed its name...
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Submit SuggestionEuropean hotel chains range from global groups such as Accor and IHG to family-run Spanish resort companies and budget brands for city trips. All thirteen chains below have their headquarters in Europe. Four of them are owned by investors or companies from outside Europe and are marked accordingly, because the headquarters in Europe says little about who receives the profits.
European hotel chains compared
| Chain | Country | Ownership | Brands and focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accor | France | Listed, Paris | ibis, Novotel, Mercure, Sofitel, Fairmont |
| IHG Hotels & Resorts | United Kingdom | Listed, London | Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, Kimpton |
| Meliá Hotels International | Spain | Listed, founder family | Meliá, Paradisus, INNSiDE, Gran Meliá |
| Barceló Hotel Group | Spain | Family-owned | Barceló, Occidental, Royal Hideaway, Allegro |
| Iberostar | Spain | Family-owned | Iberostar Selection, Beachfront Resorts |
| RIU Hotels & Resorts | Spain | Family-owned | All-inclusive resorts, RIU Plaza |
| Motel One | Germany | Private, founder in control | Budget design hotels |
| Scandic Hotels | Sweden | Listed, Stockholm | Nordic city hotels |
| Premier Inn | United Kingdom | Whitbread (listed) | Budget hotels in the UK and Germany |
| B&B Hotels | France | Goldman Sachs (USA) main shareholder | Budget hotels |
| NH Hotels | Spain | Minor International (Thailand) | City hotels |
| Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts | Germany | H World Group (China) | Upscale and business hotels |
| Radisson Hotel Group | Belgium | Jin Jiang International (China) | Radisson Blu, Radisson Collection |
Chains with non-European owners
B&B Hotels (Goldman Sachs), NH Hotels (Minor International), Steigenberger (H World Group) and Radisson (Jin Jiang International) have their headquarters in France, Spain, Germany and Belgium, but belong to owners from the USA, Thailand and China. They carry a notice on their product pages.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the largest European hotel chain?
Accor and IHG are the largest by number of hotels. Accor lists more than 5,000 hotels, and IHG reports 7,109 hotels with more than one million rooms.
Are the hotels of a chain always run by the chain?
No. Accor, IHG and Radisson mostly work with franchise or management contracts, so the owner of a hotel is often an independent company.
Where can hotels be booked besides the chain websites?
European travel booking portals such as HRS, trivago or lastminute.com list hotels of many chains. Flights are covered under airlines.