Strategic Steps for Restaurant Brand Scaling

, hospitality industry leaders are looking toward 2026 with mindful optimism. Increasing functional expenses are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sectors might struggle in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through it all, hotel business are anticipated to strengthen their portfolios with new brand name offerings and collaborations. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive talked to hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the top trends anticipated to effect hotel operations, performance, net unit growth and more this year.

Overall salaries, incomes and advantages paid by U.S. hotels increased to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Accommodations Association, shared with Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is forecasted to climb up to $131 billion, representing an approximately 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses position a difficulty to net operating income growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed Hotel Dive.

Will Fast Casual Investments Be Profitable in 2026?

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

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

"Need has actually not stayed up to date with this rate," she said. "We're also seeing these challenges intensified by legislation that targets hotel operations, such as severe labor and licensing policies like the New York City City Safe Hotels Act. When demand is falling and costs are soaring, the mathematics just does not include up." Salaries, wages and payroll-related expenses paid by hotels now represent more than 32% of overall earnings, according to AHLA.

The Future of Global Corporate Growth Strategies

As more hotel visitors turn to artificial intelligence to boost their travel experience, scheduling hotels directly through big language models (LLMs) might be next, hospitality specialists said. Agentic commerce a procedure by which self-governing AI representatives act upon behalf of a consumer to discover, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has actually sped up across industries like retail.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

According to PwC's 2025 Vacation Outlook report, 76% of millennials stated they're likely to use AI for travel recommendations. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transportation and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct booking, larger multibrand hotel companies will "embed LLMs into their own brand name websites and mobile apps, and alter the method the consumer searches," Kletzel stated.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search engine result which lots of brand names aren't, and this is the big panic that they're all going through right now customers aren't going to consider you," he said. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at AI customer experience platform Talkdesk, similarly informed Hotel Dive that hospitality players need to guarantee their property information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler inquiries.