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Listen to the post 17 minutes This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Following a year of broad financial uncertainty that stifled growth for hotels, hospitality industry leaders are looking towards 2026 with cautious optimism. Rising operational costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sections might have a hard time in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through everything, hotel business are anticipated to fortify their portfolios with new brand name offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive talked with hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the top trends expected to impact hotel operations, efficiency, net unit growth and more this year.

Total incomes, incomes and advantages paid by U.S. hotels increased to $127 billion in 2025, according to data from the American Hotel & Accommodations Association, shown Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is forecasted to climb up to $131 billion, representing an approximately 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, rising labor costs position a difficulty to net operating earnings development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed Hotel Dive.

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"It is an absolute issue." Increasing labor expenses have actually been a challenge for hoteliers for several years, Davis stated, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor expenses have actually increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% development in total operating income, according to AHLA. In the last few years, countless union hotel employees have actually gone on strike demanding higher earnings in order to stay up to date with the increasing cost of living in places such as California, Hawaii and Las Vegas.

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

"Need has not kept up with this speed," she stated. Salaries, wages and payroll-related costs paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall revenue, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel visitors turn to artificial intelligence to improve their travel experience, reserving hotels straight through large language designs (LLMs) may be next, hospitality professionals stated. Agentic commerce a process by which self-governing AI agents act on behalf of a consumer to find, compare and finish purchases is a trend that has sped up throughout markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Vacation Outlook report, 76% of millennials said they're most likely to use 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 product 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 alter the way the consumer searches," Kletzel stated.

"If you are not discoverable in an LLM search result which lots of brand names 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 customer experience platform Talkdesk, similarly told Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers need to ensure their home information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist inquiries.