Bologna vs Venice: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Venice edges ahead of Bologna on higher occupancy (36% vs 30%), stronger RevPAR (£34 vs £25).

Head-to-head metrics

	Bologna	Venice
Median occupancy	30%	36%
Median daily rate	£125	£131
Median RevPAR	£25	£34
Active listings	3,544	6,967
YoY occupancy	+10.3 pts	+6.4 pts
YoY daily rate	+15.7%	-13.2%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Bologna vs Venice

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Venice finishes clearly ahead of Bologna. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 34% higher in Venice: £34 against £25. Venice's listings run at 36% occupancy against 30% in Bologna, worth 6 extra points of booked calendar every year. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Venice takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £131 against £125 — and still fills more of the year, 36% against 30%. A market that leads on price and utilisation at once is normally one where demand has outrun supply, rather than one where hosts are discounting to keep the calendar busy. RevPAR reflects the double advantage at £34 against £25.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Bologna is not simply the weaker market of the two. Nightly rates are also climbing faster in Bologna, +15.7% over the last year against −13.2% in Venice. The twelve-month direction favours Bologna too: occupancy there moved +10.3 points while Venice moved +6.4 points. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Bologna nor Venice currently has a verified short-term rental regulation record in our register, so the comparison above is a yield comparison only. Regulation is the single largest source of downside in this asset class — an unverified market is an unpriced risk, not an absent one.

The two calendars also behave differently. Bologna peaks in September at 72.3% and bottoms in December at 32.5%; Venice runs from 62.8% in September down to 28.1% in November. Venice is the steadier of the two at 34.7 points peak-to-trough against 39.8 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Bologna concentrates its return into a shorter window and rewards operators who price the peak aggressively instead of holding a flat rate all year.

Who each suits, then. Bologna suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Venice answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2025-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 2,043 active Bologna listings and 3,599 in Venice.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bologna or Venice better for Airbnb investment?

Venice, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£34 vs £25), higher occupancy (36% vs 30%), and higher median annual revenue (£12,342 vs £9,223). Bologna is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on faster rate growth (+15.7% vs −13.2% year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Bologna or Venice?

Venice, at 36% median occupancy against 30% in Bologna — a gap of 6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Bologna can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Bologna gained 10.3 points and Venice gained 6.4 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Bologna or Venice?

Venice, at £131 a night against £125 in Bologna — roughly 5.1% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £34 in Venice against £25, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Bologna or Venice?

Bologna, on occupancy: +10.3 points over the last twelve months against +6.4 points in Venice. Nightly rates rose 15.7% in Bologna and fell 13.2% in Venice over the same window. One year of movement is a direction, not a trend — weigh it against the regulation picture before treating it as momentum.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Bologna or Venice?

Venice, with 6,967 active listings against 3,544 in Bologna. Size cuts both ways: a deep market gives you comparables, contractors and an exit, while a thinner one means fewer near-identical rivals competing for the same search results.

How much can you earn from an Airbnb in Bologna vs Venice?

Venice earns more: roughly £12,342 a year for a median listing against £9,223 in Bologna. Those are gross booking revenues before cleaning, management, platform fees, furnishing amortisation and tax — budget for a meaningful share of them, and note that a median listing is a median operator, not a good one.

Go deeper on each city

Market guide

Airbnb in Bologna →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Venice →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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