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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 sectors could struggle in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through it all, hotel companies are anticipated to fortify their portfolios with new brand offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive talked with hospitality leaders from differing corners of the market about their 2026 forecasts. Below are the top trends expected to effect hotel operations, efficiency, net system growth and more this year.

Total incomes, wages 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 reach $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, rising labor expenses posture an obstacle to net operating earnings development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed Hotel Dive.

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"It is an absolute concern." Rising labor expenses have actually been a difficulty for hoteliers for many years, Davis stated, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, hotel labor costs have actually increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% development in overall operating income, according to AHLA. Recently, countless union hotel workers have actually gone on strike requiring higher wages in order to keep up with the increasing expense of living in places such as California, Hawaii and Las Vegas.

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

Last year, the union backed New York City's recently elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who ran on a pledge to raise New York City's minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel market associations, including AHLA, have denounced comparable legislation across the nation, consisting of the just recently passed $30 wage regulation in Los Angeles. "Demand has not kept up with this speed," she stated. "We're also seeing these obstacles compounded by legislation that targets hotel operations, such as severe labor and licensing policies like the New York City Safe Hotels Act. When demand is falling and costs are skyrocketing, the math merely does not accumulate." Wages, wages and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now represent more than 32% of total profits, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel guests turn to artificial intelligence to boost their travel experience, reserving hotels directly through big language models (LLMs) may be next, hospitality specialists stated. Agentic commerce a procedure by which self-governing AI representatives act on behalf of a consumer to find, compare and finish purchases is a trend that has accelerated throughout markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Vacation Outlook report, 76% of millennials said they're most likely to use AI for travel suggestions. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transportation and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To remain competitive with direct booking, bigger multibrand hotel companies will "embed LLMs into their own brand websites and mobile apps, and alter the way the customer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search result which lots of brand names aren't, and this is the huge panic that they're all going through today customers aren't going to consider you," he said. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at AI customer experience platform Talkdesk, likewise told Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers need to ensure their residential or commercial property details is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist inquiries.