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, hospitality market leaders are looking toward 2026 with careful optimism. Increasing operational costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sections could have a hard time in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through all of it, hotel companies are anticipated to fortify their portfolios with new brand offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive spoke to hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 predictions. Below are the leading trends anticipated to impact hotel operations, performance, net unit growth and more this year.

Overall incomes, incomes and advantages paid by U.S. hotels rose to $127 billion in 2025, according to data from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shown Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is forecasted to climb to $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, rising labor costs posture a challenge to net operating earnings development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed Hotel Dive.

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Increasing labor expenses have actually been a challenge for hoteliers for years, Davis said, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, hotel labor expenses have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% growth in overall operating revenue, according to AHLA.

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan via Getty Images In 2026, Davis noted, union settlements will be "front and center" in New York City, where the New York Hotel and Gaming Trades Council's union agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City is set to end in July.

In 2015, the union backed New york city City's freshly elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who worked on a pledge to raise New york city City's minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel industry associations, consisting of AHLA, have actually denounced comparable legislation throughout the country, consisting of the just recently passed $30 wage regulation in Los Angeles. "Demand has not stayed up to date with this speed," she said. "We're likewise seeing these difficulties compounded by legislation that targets hotel operations, such as extreme labor and licensing policies like the New York City Safe Hotels Act. When need is falling and costs are skyrocketing, the mathematics just does not accumulate." Wages, incomes and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall earnings, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel guests turn to expert system to boost their travel experience, booking hotels straight through large language designs (LLMs) might be next, hospitality experts said. Agentic commerce a process by which autonomous AI representatives act upon behalf of a customer to find, compare and complete purchases is a trend that has actually accelerated across industries like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Vacation Outlook report, 76% of millennials said they're most likely to use AI for travel recommendations. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality product marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct reservation, bigger multibrand hotel business will "embed LLMs into their own brand name sites and mobile apps, and change the way the consumer searches," Kletzel stated.

"If you are not discoverable in an LLM search result which numerous brand names aren't, and this is the big panic that they're all going through today customers aren't going to consider you," he stated. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at AI consumer experience platform Talkdesk, likewise told Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers require to ensure their home details is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist queries.