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Currently, LLMs do not have rich imagery and content, such as pictures of the rooms and amenities, that customers typically demand when making hotel bookings, Kletzel stated., on the other hand, has actually rapidly expanded in recent years.

Beyond the visitor experience, agentic commerce has the possible to move the way hotel business' customer support teams run and are structured, Klein said. "Will there be some corporations that find the chance to lower staff? Yes," Klein said. But brands that think in excellent client experience and service will discover that AI could help their representatives "get involved in more complex, more business-critical conversations that help grow the business." In 2025, Hyatt lowered staff by around 30% across its visitor services and support teams "in response to the evolving nature of visitor queries and shifting organization needs," per the company.

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This year, numerous collection brands that introduced in 2025 will continue to broaden. Additional new brand names and partnerships, particularly in the lifestyle sector, will likely debut as well, according to hospitality professionals. In 2025, Marriott introduced 2 collection brands: Series by Marriott, playing in the high end area in the U.S., and Outdoor Collection, solely concentrated on outside accommodations in locations near national forests, deserts, ski areas and shorelines.

Marriott's Outdoor Collection offers distinct lodgings in locations near nationwide parks, deserts, ski locations and shorelines.

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Hilton's Start Collection, specifically, has more than 60 hotels in the works throughout the U.S. and Canada, Kevin Osterhaus, president of way of life brand names at Hilton, told Hotel Dive. Beginning is currently exploring possible new locations in San Diego, Los Angeles and Virginia Beach, Virginia, as well as markets in New Mexico and Colorado in 2026, Osterhaus stated.

"Collection brands are appealing since they provide the finest of both worlds: Owners keep the special DNA of their residential or commercial property, while opening worldwide circulation, income management, commitment and support. Kevin Osterhaus President of way of life brand names at Hilton From the guest perspective, independent store hotels are preferable since they provide authentic experiences, Gabriel Perez, primary operating officer of accommodations at The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, told Hotel Dive.

As for why the hotel business are going after independents in the way of life sector, "it's not about the guests. It has to do with creating sub-brands within their own brands to satisfy investors' needs and to please owner and developers' objectives," Perez stated. JLL's Davis echoed that belief, telling Hotel Dive that the industry is at the point of, if not past the point of, brand saturation, as "public companies [are] under a significant quantity of pressure for net unit growth." This, in turn, puts even more pressure on hotel companies "to develop brand names, micro brand names and subsets of brands in order to broaden their footprint of existing possessions," Davis said.

Hilton's collection brand names' "unique positioning and storytelling continue to drive interest across chain scales," Osterhaus said. Series and Outdoor Collection, both conversion-friendly offerings, pertain to an ownership neighborhood and developers who "are continuously looking for methods to grow, and conversions represent a path for development," Molinary said.

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This year, Hilton prepares to stay "very active in the lifestyle space through strategic partnerships, brand-new signings and continuous development of our current brands," Osterhaus stated. Another growing space is the high-end segment.

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That pattern is expected to continue in 2026 as luxury customers drive travel costs and hotel bookings in the middle of a wealth bifurcation at play in the industry. "High-net-worth tourists are expected to remain one of the most dependable chauffeurs of international travel spending next year," Giray Boran, handling director of BLG Capital, told Hotel Dive.