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Listen to the post 17 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us understand if you have feedback. Following a year of broad financial unpredictability that stifled growth for hotels, hospitality industry leaders are looking towards 2026 with cautious optimism. Increasing operational expenses are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sectors could have a hard time amid 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 consulted with hospitality leaders from varying corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the top trends anticipated to effect hotel operations, efficiency, net unit development and more this year.

Total wages, incomes and advantages paid by U.S. hotels increased 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 expenses position a challenge to net operating earnings growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

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Increasing labor costs have been a difficulty for hoteliers for years, Davis stated, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, hotel labor costs have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, outmatching the 12.8% development in overall operating earnings, according to AHLA.

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan through Getty Images In 2026, Davis noted, union negotiations 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 is set to end in July.

In 2015, the union backed New york city City's newly elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who worked on a pledge to raise New York City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel industry associations, including AHLA, have knocked similar legislation across the nation, consisting of the recently passed $30 wage ordinance in Los Angeles. "Demand has not kept up with this speed," she said. Wages, wages and payroll-related expenses paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of total income, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel guests turn to expert system to boost their travel experience, reserving hotels directly through big language models (LLMs) may be next, hospitality specialists stated. Agentic commerce a process by which self-governing AI representatives act upon behalf of a consumer to find, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has actually accelerated throughout industries like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Holiday Outlook report, 76% of millennials said they're most likely to utilize AI for travel recommendations. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, informed 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 sites and mobile apps, and change the way the consumer searches," Kletzel stated.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search result which lots of brands aren't, and this is the big panic that they're all going through right now customers aren't going to consider you," he stated. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at AI client experience platform Talkdesk, similarly informed Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers require to guarantee their home details is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler inquiries.