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, hospitality industry leaders are looking toward 2026 with careful optimism. Increasing operational expenses are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sections could struggle amidst a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through everything, hotel companies are anticipated to fortify their portfolios with new brand offerings and collaborations. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive spoke to hospitality leaders from varying corners of the industry about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the top patterns anticipated to effect hotel operations, performance, net system development and more this year.

Total wages, salaries and benefits paid by U.S. hotels increased to $127 billion in 2025, according to data from the American Hotel & Accommodations Association, shared with Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is predicted to climb to $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses present a difficulty to net operating earnings development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

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Rising labor costs have actually been an obstacle for hoteliers for years, Davis stated, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor costs have actually increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% growth in overall operating profits, according to AHLA.

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan by means of Getty Images In 2026, Davis kept in mind, union negotiations will be "front and center" in New York 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 actually not kept up with this speed," she said. Salaries, incomes and payroll-related costs paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of total revenue, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel guests turn to expert system to improve their travel experience, reserving hotels straight through big language designs (LLMs) might be next, hospitality professionals said. Agentic commerce a procedure by which autonomous AI agents act on behalf of a customer to discover, compare and finish purchases is a pattern that has sped up across industries 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 recommendations. A smaller sized portion (57%) stated they 'd be most likely to utilize it for reserving travel. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. "The variety of customers that are searching [by means of LLMs] for services and products in travel has actually ballooned in the last 12 months and is accelerating every day," Kletzel said, including that inevitably, hotels will "take a tough look at how they can enable commerce and deals through agentic [AI]"" [Brands] can build on the trust they already have if they do a fantastic job with how they handle AI in 2026." Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality product marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct booking, larger multibrand hotel business will "embed LLMs into their own brand name sites and mobile apps, and change the way the consumer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not discoverable in an LLM search result which numerous brands aren't, and this is the big panic that they're all going through today 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 informed Hotel Dive that hospitality players require to guarantee their home information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler inquiries.