The Outlook of Global Brand Expansion Milestones

, hospitality market leaders are looking towards 2026 with cautious optimism. Increasing operational costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sections could have a hard time amidst a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through everything, hotel companies are anticipated to fortify their portfolios with brand-new brand name offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive consulted 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 system development and more this year.

Total salaries, incomes and advantages paid by U.S. hotels rose to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shown Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is forecasted to reach $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses pose an obstacle to net operating earnings growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

The Outlook of 2026 Brand Expansion Strategies

"It is an outright issue." Increasing labor expenses have been a difficulty for hoteliers for several years, Davis said, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, hotel labor costs have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% growth in overall operating revenue, according to AHLA. Over the last few years, thousands of union hotel workers have actually gone on strike demanding higher wages in order to stay up to date with the rising cost of living in places such as California, Hawaii and Las Vegas.

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 Video gaming Trades Council's union contract with the Hotel Association of New York City City is set to end in July.

"Demand has actually not kept up with this pace," she said. "We're also 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 expenses are skyrocketing, the math merely doesn't include up." Salaries, earnings and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now represent more than 32% of overall earnings, according to AHLA.

Emerging Hospitality Industry Trends Driving Future Success

As more hotel visitors turn to artificial intelligence to improve their travel experience, reserving hotels directly through big language designs (LLMs) might be next, hospitality specialists stated. Agentic commerce a procedure by which self-governing AI agents act on behalf of a consumer to discover, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has actually sped up throughout markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Holiday Outlook report, 76% of millennials stated they're most likely to use AI for travel recommendations. A smaller sized percentage (57%) stated they 'd be likely to utilize it for reserving travel. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transportation and logistics leader, informed Hotel Dive. "The number of consumers that are browsing [via LLMs] for services and products in travel has swollen in the last 12 months and is accelerating every day," Kletzel stated, including that inevitably, hotels will "take a difficult look at how they can enable commerce and deals through agentic [AI]"" [Brands] can develop on the trust they currently have if they do an excellent job with how they deal with AI in 2026." Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct reservation, larger multibrand hotel business will "embed LLMs into their own brand websites and mobile apps, and change the method the consumer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not discoverable in an LLM search results page which numerous brands aren't, and this is the big 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 consumer experience platform Talkdesk, likewise told Hotel Dive that hospitality players require to ensure their residential or commercial property details is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist inquiries.