Key Global Shifts in Brand Expansion

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

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

Total salaries, earnings 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 forecasted to reach $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, rising labor expenses posture an obstacle to net operating income development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed Hotel Dive.

Will Hospitality Franchises Be Profitable in 2026?

Rising labor expenses have actually been an obstacle for hoteliers for years, Davis stated, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, hotel labor expenses have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, outpacing the 12.8% development in overall operating earnings, 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 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.

"Demand has not kept up with this speed," she stated. "We're likewise seeing these challenges compounded by legislation that targets hotel operations, such as severe labor and licensing policies like the New York City Safe Hotels Act. When demand is falling and costs are soaring, the math just doesn't accumulate." Incomes, salaries and payroll-related expenses paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall income, according to AHLA.

Emerging Hospitality Industry Trends Driving Future Success

As more hotel visitors turn to artificial intelligence to boost their travel experience, reserving hotels straight through big language models (LLMs) might be next, hospitality professionals said. Agentic commerce a process by which self-governing AI agents act on behalf of a customer to find, compare and complete purchases is a trend that has actually sped up across industries like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Holiday Outlook report, 76% of millennials stated they're likely to use AI for travel recommendations. A smaller sized percentage (57%) stated they 'd be likely to use it for reserving travel. However that number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, informed Hotel Dive. "The number of consumers that are searching [through LLMs] for products and services in travel has actually ballooned in the last 12 months and is accelerating every day," Kletzel stated, including that inevitably, hotels will "take a hard take a look at how they can allow commerce and transactions through agentic [AI]"" [Brands] can construct on the trust they currently have if they do a terrific job with how they deal with AI in 2026." Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To remain competitive with direct reservation, bigger multibrand hotel business will "embed LLMs into their own brand name websites and mobile apps, and change the method the customer searches," Kletzel said.

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