Hostelworld says Iran war shaved 3% off growth in first half

Hostelworld, the hostel-booking group that targets millennial and Gen-Z backpackers, said the war in the Gulf shaved around 3 per cent off its transaction volume growth in the first half of the year.

Still, in interim results published this morning, the Dublin-headquartered company reported a 12 per cent increase in revenue to €52.2 million compared with the same period last year.

Hostelworld said this was driven primarily by Elevate, its marketplace monetisation tool, which allows participating hostels pay larger fees to have their property listed higher in search results on the platform.

The group increased the commission rate it charges hostels for the service to 17.7 per cent in the first half of 2026, from 15.8 per cent last year.

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“This has more than offset the impact of a weaker US dollar,” said chief executive, Gary Morrison in a statement.

Hostelworld confirmed that net transactions grew by 1 per cent to 3.8 million in the first half, roughly three percentage points lower than its growth expectations before the onset of the Gulf conflict.

The group reaffirmed its full-year guidance for low-double-digit revenue growth in 2026.

“We estimate that the conflict in the Middle East, which we flagged at our full-year results, held volume growth back by around three percentage points, principally in longer-haul demand into Asia and Oceania,” Morrison said.

“Demand across our core European and North American markets was more resilient and more profitable.”

He said the group remains confident in its full-year target for “low double-digit revenue growth”.

However, Morrison added: “Our full-year guidance currently assumes that the disruption from the conflict in the Middle East eases through the second half and that broader trading conditions stabilise.

“It also assumes a growing contribution from our growth initiatives as the year progresses. On that basis, we reiterate our full-year guidance, in line with market expectations.”

Hostelworld said the integration of US event discovery platform, OccasionGenius, has continued apace, with users now able to find events through its platform.

The group said it incurred a €700,000 exceptional cost related to integration expenses in the first six months of 2026, up from €300,000 in the same period last year.

Excluding exceptional items, operating profit was €2.1 million, down slightly from €2.3 million last year.