Major Regional Milestones in Brand Development

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

And through it all, hotel companies are expected to strengthen their portfolios with new brand name offerings and collaborations. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive consulted with hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 predictions. Below are the top trends anticipated to impact hotel operations, performance, net system growth and more this year.

Overall wages, salaries and advantages paid by U.S. hotels increased to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shown Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is projected to reach $131 billion, representing an approximately 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor costs posture a difficulty 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 challenge 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, outpacing the 12.8% growth in overall operating income, 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 City, where the New York City Hotel and Gaming Trades Council's union contract with the Hotel Association of New York City is set to end in July.

"Need has not kept up with this pace," she said. Salaries, wages and payroll-related costs 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 improve their travel experience, booking hotels directly through large language designs (LLMs) might be next, hospitality experts stated. Agentic commerce a process by which autonomous AI agents act upon behalf of a customer to find, compare and complete purchases is a trend that has actually sped up throughout markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Holiday Outlook report, 76% of millennials said they're likely to use AI for travel suggestions. A smaller portion (57%) said they 'd be most likely to utilize it for reserving travel. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transportation and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. "The variety of consumers that are searching [through LLMs] for services and products in travel has actually swollen in the last 12 months and is speeding up every day," Kletzel stated, adding that inevitably, hotels will "take a difficult take a look at how they can make it possible for commerce and deals through agentic [AI]"" [Brands] can develop on the trust they currently have if they do a fantastic 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 booking, bigger 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 many brand names aren't, and this is the huge 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 client experience platform Talkdesk, similarly told Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers require to ensure their home details is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist questions.