How to Grow Your Hospitality Brand Rapidly

, hospitality industry leaders are looking towards 2026 with cautious optimism. Increasing operational expenses are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sections could struggle in the middle of a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through everything, hotel business are anticipated to strengthen their portfolios with brand-new brand offerings and collaborations. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive talked to hospitality leaders from differing corners of the industry about their 2026 predictions. Below are the top trends expected to impact hotel operations, performance, net unit growth and more this year.

Overall incomes, incomes and advantages paid by U.S. hotels increased to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shared with Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is predicted to reach $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses posture an obstacle to net operating income growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

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Rising labor costs have been a difficulty for hoteliers for years, Davis stated, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, hotel labor expenses have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% development in total operating earnings, according to AHLA.

3, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan via 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 is set to end in July.

In 2015, the union backed New york city City's recently elected Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who operated on a promise to raise New york city City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel industry associations, consisting of AHLA, have actually denounced similar legislation across the country, consisting of the recently passed $30 wage regulation in Los Angeles. "Need has not kept up with this rate," she said. "We're also seeing these difficulties intensified by legislation that targets hotel operations, such as severe labor and licensing policies like the New York City City Safe Hotels Act. When need is falling and costs are soaring, the mathematics merely doesn't accumulate." Wages, salaries and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now represent more than 32% of overall profits, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel visitors turn to expert system to improve their travel experience, scheduling hotels straight through big language designs (LLMs) might be next, hospitality specialists stated. Agentic commerce a procedure by which self-governing AI representatives act on behalf of a consumer to discover, compare and complete purchases is a pattern that has actually accelerated across 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. That number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, informed Hotel Dive. Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To remain competitive with direct reservation, larger multibrand hotel companies will "embed LLMs into their own brand name websites and mobile apps, and change the method the consumer searches," Kletzel stated.

"If you are not visible in an LLM search engine result which lots of 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 stated. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality product marketing at AI consumer experience platform Talkdesk, similarly informed Hotel Dive that hospitality gamers require to guarantee their residential or commercial property info is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist inquiries.