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, hospitality industry leaders are looking toward 2026 with careful optimism. Rising operational costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sections might struggle in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through it all, hotel business are expected to fortify their portfolios with brand-new brand offerings and collaborations. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive talked with hospitality leaders from varying corners of the industry about their 2026 predictions. Below are the top patterns expected to effect hotel operations, performance, net unit growth and more this year.

Overall salaries, wages and benefits paid by U.S. hotels rose 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 an approximately 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses present an obstacle to net operating income growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

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Rising labor expenses have been an obstacle for hoteliers for years, Davis said, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor expenses have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% growth in total operating profits, according to AHLA.

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan by means of Getty Images In 2026, Davis noted, union negotiations will be "front and center" in New york city City, where the New York Hotel and Video gaming Trades Council's union agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City City is set to end in July.

In 2015, the union backed New York City's newly elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who worked on a guarantee to raise New York City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel market associations, including AHLA, have actually knocked comparable legislation throughout the country, consisting of the recently passed $30 wage ordinance in Los Angeles. "Demand has not kept up with this speed," she said. Incomes, wages and payroll-related expenses paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of total revenue, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel visitors turn to synthetic intelligence to enhance their travel experience, scheduling hotels directly through large language designs (LLMs) might be next, hospitality specialists said. Agentic commerce a procedure by which self-governing AI representatives act upon behalf of a customer to find, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has sped up throughout markets like retail.

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According to PwC's 2025 Holiday Outlook report, 76% of millennials stated they're most likely to utilize AI for travel recommendations. 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, informed Hotel Dive. "The number of consumers that are browsing [via LLMs] for services and products in travel has actually swollen in the last 12 months and is speeding up every day," Kletzel said, including 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 build on the trust they already have if they do a fantastic job with how they deal with AI in 2026." Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality product marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct booking, bigger multibrand hotel companies will "embed LLMs into their own brand name websites and mobile apps, and change the method the consumer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search result which numerous brand names aren't, and this is the big panic that they're all going through right now customers aren't going to consider you," he said. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality product marketing at AI customer experience platform Talkdesk, similarly informed Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers require to ensure their property details is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler questions.