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, hospitality market leaders are looking toward 2026 with cautious optimism. Rising operational expenses are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sectors might have a hard time amid a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through everything, hotel companies are anticipated to strengthen their portfolios with new brand name offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive spoke with hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the top patterns expected to effect hotel operations, efficiency, net system development and more this year.

Overall wages, salaries and benefits 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 projected to reach $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, rising labor costs present a challenge 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 an obstacle for hoteliers for years, Davis stated, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor costs have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, outpacing the 12.8% development in overall operating earnings, according to AHLA.

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

Last year, the union backed New York City's freshly elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who ran on a pledge to raise New York City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel market associations, including AHLA, have knocked similar legislation across the nation, including the just recently passed $30 wage ordinance in Los Angeles. "Demand has not kept up with this pace," she said. Salaries, wages and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall profits, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel visitors turn to artificial intelligence to boost their travel experience, booking hotels straight through large language designs (LLMs) may be next, hospitality experts stated. Agentic commerce a process by which self-governing AI representatives act on behalf of a consumer to find, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has actually accelerated across markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Vacation Outlook report, 76% of millennials said they're likely to use AI for travel suggestions. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport 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 sites and mobile apps, and change the method the consumer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search results page 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 product marketing at AI client experience platform Talkdesk, similarly informed Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers need to ensure their residential or commercial property information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist inquiries.