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

And through it all, hotel business are anticipated to fortify their portfolios with brand-new brand name offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive consulted with hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the leading patterns expected to impact hotel operations, efficiency, net system growth and more this year.

Overall salaries, earnings and advantages paid by U.S. hotels rose to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Accommodations Association, shared with Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is forecasted to climb to $131 billion, representing an approximately 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses present a difficulty to net operating income growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed 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. Overall, hotel labor costs have actually increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, outpacing the 12.8% development in total operating revenue, according to AHLA.

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan through Getty Images In 2026, Davis kept in mind, union settlements will be "front and center" in New York City, where the New York Hotel and Gaming Trades Council's union agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City is set to end in July.

In 2015, the union backed New York City's newly elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who operated on a promise to raise New york city City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel industry associations, including AHLA, have actually denounced similar legislation throughout the country, including the recently passed $30 wage ordinance in Los Angeles. "Demand has actually not kept up with this speed," she stated. Incomes, salaries 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 artificial intelligence to improve their travel experience, booking hotels directly through large language models (LLMs) might be next, hospitality specialists said. Agentic commerce a procedure by which self-governing AI agents act on behalf of a consumer to find, compare and finish purchases is a pattern that has actually sped up across markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Holiday 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 product marketing at Talkdesk To remain competitive with direct booking, bigger 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 engine result which lots of brand names 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 client experience platform Talkdesk, likewise informed Hotel Dive that hospitality players require to ensure their residential or commercial property info is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist queries.