Rimini, August 2, 2026 – The usual August. The start is not brilliant according to hotel bookings. “So-so,” says Antonio Carasso, president of Hotel Promotion, “for the first week, in line with what happened last season. Then it will get better.” No ground is lost, but neither is gained. “The first week of August is historically complex and it is tough,” admits Claudio Montanari, president of Federalbeghi Riccione.
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For the numbers, we have to wait for the next few days, although the occupancy rate will remain far from full. Nothing new under the August sun, but the difficulties are reflecting on prices.
The comparison with Jesolo
Once August was the central month of summer. Finding a room was difficult and it was paid dearly. Today, sixty euros a day is enough to spend the week in Rimini. It is the lowest offer that can be found in hotels listed on Booking. It is not a coincidence because the facilities that are keeping prices low to attract customers are several. Six nights, until Sunday, in Rimini paying for a room within 530 is feasible in about seventy facilities.
Looking north, in Lido di Jesolo, at that price the available facilities are zero. To stay, you need to add a few euros: nine hotels offer rooms within 150 euros a day. At Rimini prices, availability is found, instead, in Milano Marittima, but the accommodations can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
“Playing it down is a mistake”
On the Riviera they play it down, “but it is a mistake – Montanari replies -. If demand is limited in this first week, and not just from today, but for years now, then the problem is not the price.” In other words, “in the end, you risk lowering prices and not increasing the occupancy rate, with an obvious problem of reduced revenue.” So be careful, even with offers.
How much do hotel stars count?
Looking at Rimini, you can spend six nights at 520 even in a four-star hotel. An exceptional case, but not so much. Below one hundred euros per room, you can find another four four-star facilities. Figures that raise a question: how much do stars count? “Unfortunately, we see low rates every year – Carasso resumes -. But we also have to carefully evaluate the facilities that offer them. It is a battle, that of low prices, which we have been supporting for a long time, and which unfortunately also lead to tourists’ complaints.”
The arrival of foreigners on the Riviera
The savior is invoked, but it has a name: it is called ‘foreigner’. Visitors arriving at the ’Fellini’ are increasing, and in general “we are recording excellent occupancy by foreigners – Carasso continues -. It is fundamental because for foreigners it does not matter the first or the third week of August, and this allows facilities to manage even these periods.” At Fellini they closed a July with growing numbers, how much will be discovered in the next few days. August should confirm the upward trend seen throughout the year. But the central month of summer is historically that of Italians, and it is their economic difficulties that mark hotel bookings.
The weekend effect, Ferragosto and then the Meeting with the Pope
The first week of August will start without fireworks, but from Friday something will change. It is the weekend effect, another classic of the season on the Riviera. Demand grows and so do room prices for those who intend to spend a few days by the sea.
Then, in Rimini, the Meeting, the Pope will arrive and other events are planned, enough to foresee the usual good August.
