Riyadh hotels charge the most in Saudi Arabia but fill only half their rooms
Riyadh hotels were 51.0% full in Q1 2026 at an average SAR 783 a night. New rooms are opening faster than guests arrive, and serviced apartments are doing better.
Riyadh has the most expensive hotel rooms in the Kingdom, and some of the emptiest. City hotels were about half full in the first quarter of 2026, while new rooms kept arriving faster than guests. Serviced apartments, cheaper and booked by the month, are holding up better.
| Figure | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel occupancy, Riyadh city | 51.0% (national 60.8%) | Q1 2026 | GASTAT, Table 2.8 |
| Average daily rate, ex-VAT | SAR 783 (national SAR 423) | Q1 2026 | GASTAT, Table 2.14 |
| Serviced-apartment occupancy | 60.1% at SAR 251 | Q1 2026 | GASTAT, Tables 2.5 and 2.13 |
| Licensed hotel rooms, Ar Riyadh region | 29,149 (59,856 all rooms) | Q1 2026 | GASTAT, Table 2.2 |
| Hotel RevPAR, Riyadh city | SAR 450 (-23.2%) | H1 2025 | Ministry of Tourism, p.12 |
GASTAT's Q1 2026 figures are preliminary. "Riyadh city" includes Diriyah; the longer series are for the wider Ar Riyadh region.
A strong winter, then a sharp drop
Hotels in the Riyadh region had their best quarter on record at the end of 2025, at 67.6% occupancy. The next quarter they were at 50.6%, a 17-point drop in one step. Year on year, occupancy fell 8.9 points, the second-steepest fall of the thirteen regions after Tabuk. The average rate fell 7.6%.
Because rooms filled less and sold for less at the same time, revenue per room fell faster than either. By our estimate it fell 21.4% across the region. The Ministry of Tourism's last print shows the same direction for the city, with RevPAR down 23.2% to SAR 450 in H1 2025.
March is the hole in the year
Inside the quarter, city hotels went from 66.1% in January to 56.4% in February and 30.6% in March, and the rate dropped from SAR 790 to SAR 540. March 2025 emptied too.
Guests stay 2.47 nights on average, against 4.18 nationally. That is business and government travel, and it stops when the working calendar does. Makkah and Madinah move the other way in the same month, which is why one national March figure says very little. For a feasibility model, a January comparable and a March one in Riyadh can sit three times apart.
Still the top earner, but only just
On the rate alone Riyadh is well clear: SAR 783 against SAR 473 in Jeddah. On revenue per available room the lead has almost gone. We estimate SAR 399 in Riyadh and SAR 395 in Al-Madinah, with Jeddah at SAR 287, Dammam at SAR 237 and Makkah at SAR 213.
Rooms are opening faster than guests arrive
Licensed hotel rooms in the region grew 12.8% between Q2 2025 and Q1 2026. Over the same three quarters, rooms sold per night grew 9.5%, from 13,459 to 14,744. Demand is rising, just not as fast. Part of the growth is existing rooms joining the register, not new buildings.
More is coming. Diriyah lists 28+ hotels, with Capella, Raffles and The Ritz-Carlton among the brands (Diriyah Company), but gives no room count or dates. New Murabba now plans 10,000+ keys (New Murabba).
Serviced apartments are a separate market
Riyadh is the only large Saudi market where serviced apartments hold more rooms than hotels: 30,707 against 29,149 in the region. In Q1 2026 city apartments were 60.1% full at SAR 251 a night, and they still held 47.5% in March. Across the region their rate rose 3.1% over the year while hotels cut theirs.
So the blended Riyadh occupancy of 55.7% that sometimes gets quoted is a poor basis for a hotel underwriting. It mixes two products at very different prices.
Outlook
Expo 2030 Riyadh runs across two winters, 1 October 2030 to 31 March 2031 (Expo 2030 Riyadh). Anyone pricing a Riyadh hotel should model it month by month. A yearly average hides a March like this one.
Request the underlying Riyadh hotel table, with city and region series reconciled. National context is in our Saudi hotel occupancy rate and hotel rooms supply pages.
FAQ
What is the hotel occupancy rate in Riyadh? 51.0% for Riyadh city hotels in Q1 2026, against a national hotel average of 60.8%, in GASTAT's preliminary release of 2 July 2026.
How many hotel rooms does Riyadh have? 29,149 licensed hotel rooms in the Ar Riyadh region at Q1 2026, out of 59,856 licensed rooms in total.
Does the published Riyadh rate include tax? No. Adding the 5% municipal fee for four-star-and-above hotels and 15% VAT turns SAR 783 into about SAR 946.
Sources and method
RevPAR figures marked as estimates are occupancy multiplied by average daily rate from GASTAT tables. GASTAT's change column mixes percentage points (occupancy) and percentages (rate), so the 8.9-point fall is a 14.9% relative decline.
- GASTAT, Tourism Establishments Statistics Q1 2026 workbook: link
- GASTAT, Q1 2026 bulletin (national figures): link
- GASTAT, Q1 2025 workbook: link
- GASTAT, Q2 2025 workbook: link
- GASTAT, Q3 2025 workbook: link
- GASTAT, Q4 2025 workbook: link
- GASTAT, methodology and quality report: link
- GASTAT, airport passengers 2025: link
- Ministry of Tourism, Hospitality Sector Performance H1 2025: link
- ZATCA, VAT Implementing Regulations: link
- MOMRAH, municipal services fee schedule (Arabic): link
- Royal Commission for Riyadh City, RHQ programme: link
- Diriyah Company, hotels: link
- PIF, New Murabba launch (Internet Archive): link
- New Murabba Development Company: link
- Expo 2030 Riyadh: link