Proven Tips for Restaurant Brand Expansion

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

And through everything, hotel companies are anticipated to strengthen their portfolios with brand-new brand offerings and partnerships. 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, efficiency, net system development and more this year.

Total wages, earnings and advantages paid by U.S. hotels increased to $127 billion in 2025, according to data from the American Hotel & Accommodations Association, shown 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 a challenge to net operating income development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed Hotel Dive.

Top Profitable Franchise Opportunities for 2026

"It is an absolute concern." Rising labor costs have been a difficulty for hoteliers for years, Davis stated, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor expenses have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, outmatching the 12.8% development in total operating income, according to AHLA. In the last few years, countless union hotel workers have gone on strike requiring greater earnings in order to stay up to date with the increasing cost 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 agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City is set to expire in July.

"Need has actually not kept up with this rate," she said. Wages, earnings and payroll-related expenses paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall income, according to AHLA.

Key Global Milestones in Brand Development

As more hotel guests turn to artificial intelligence to boost their travel experience, reserving hotels directly through large language models (LLMs) might be next, hospitality professionals stated. Agentic commerce a process by which self-governing AI representatives act upon behalf of a consumer to discover, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has actually accelerated throughout industries like retail.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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 product marketing at Talkdesk To stay competitive with direct booking, larger multibrand hotel business will "embed LLMs into their own brand websites and mobile apps, and change the way the customer searches," Kletzel said.

"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 told Hotel Dive that hospitality players need to guarantee their residential or commercial property information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler queries.