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, hospitality industry leaders are looking toward 2026 with mindful optimism. Rising operational costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier segments might have a hard time in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through everything, hotel business are anticipated to strengthen their portfolios with new brand name offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive spoke to hospitality leaders from varying corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the top patterns expected to effect hotel operations, efficiency, net system growth and more this year.

Overall incomes, wages and advantages paid by U.S. hotels rose to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shared with Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is projected to climb to $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, rising labor costs pose a difficulty to net operating income growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

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

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan by means of 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 contract with the Hotel Association of New York City City is set to end in July.

Last year, the union backed New york city City's freshly chosen Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who ran on a pledge to raise New York City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel market associations, consisting of AHLA, have actually denounced comparable legislation throughout the country, consisting of the just recently passed $30 wage ordinance in Los Angeles. "Need has actually not kept up with this rate," she said. Incomes, wages and payroll-related costs paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall income, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel guests turn to synthetic intelligence to boost their travel experience, scheduling hotels directly through big language designs (LLMs) may be next, hospitality specialists said. Agentic commerce a process by which autonomous AI representatives act on behalf of a consumer to find, compare and finish purchases is a trend that has actually sped up 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 utilize AI for travel suggestions. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct reservation, bigger multibrand hotel companies will "embed LLMs into their own brand name sites and mobile apps, and change the way the consumer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search result which numerous brand names aren't, and this is the huge panic that they're all going through today customers aren't going to consider you," he said. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality product marketing at AI consumer experience platform Talkdesk, similarly informed Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers require to ensure their residential or commercial property info is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist inquiries.