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, hospitality market leaders are looking toward 2026 with cautious optimism. Rising functional expenses are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sections could struggle in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through all of it, hotel companies are expected to fortify their portfolios with brand-new brand offerings and collaborations. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive talked with hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the leading trends expected to effect hotel operations, efficiency, net system growth and more this year.

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

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"It is an absolute concern." Increasing labor expenses have actually been an obstacle for hoteliers for several years, Davis said, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor costs have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% growth in overall operating income, according to AHLA. Over the last few years, thousands of union hotel workers have gone on strike demanding greater 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 City, where the New York 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 kept up with this speed," she said. Salaries, wages and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall earnings, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel visitors turn to expert system to enhance their travel experience, booking hotels straight through big language models (LLMs) may be next, hospitality specialists said. Agentic commerce a procedure by which autonomous AI representatives act upon behalf of a consumer to find, compare and finish purchases is a pattern that has accelerated across markets like retail.

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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, informed Hotel Dive. Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct booking, bigger multibrand hotel companies will "embed LLMs into their own brand sites and mobile apps, and change the way the consumer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search results page which lots of brands aren't, and this is the huge 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 customer experience platform Talkdesk, similarly told Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers need to guarantee their property information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler inquiries.