The Outlook of Global Brand Expansion Milestones

, hospitality industry leaders are looking towards 2026 with mindful optimism. Increasing operational costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier sectors might struggle amidst a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through it all, hotel companies are expected to fortify their portfolios with 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 forecasts. Below are the top patterns anticipated to impact hotel operations, efficiency, net unit growth and more this year.

Total incomes, salaries and advantages paid by U.S. hotels rose to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shown Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is projected to climb to $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor costs present a difficulty to net operating earnings development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, informed Hotel Dive.

The Outlook of 2026 Brand Expansion Milestones

Increasing labor costs have been a challenge for hoteliers for years, Davis said, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor expenses have actually increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, outpacing the 12.8% growth in overall operating profits, according to AHLA.

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

In 2015, the union backed New york city City's newly chosen Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, who worked on a pledge to raise New york city City's base pay to $30 per hour by 2030. Hotel market associations, consisting of AHLA, have denounced similar legislation throughout the country, including the recently passed $30 wage regulation in Los Angeles. "Need has not kept up with this speed," she said. Incomes, wages and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now account for more than 32% of overall earnings, according to AHLA.

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As more hotel visitors turn to expert system to enhance their travel experience, scheduling hotels straight through large language models (LLMs) might be next, hospitality specialists said. Agentic commerce a procedure by which self-governing AI agents act on behalf of a consumer to find, compare and complete purchases is a trend that has actually sped up throughout markets like retail.

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

"If you are not discoverable in an LLM search engine result which lots of brands aren't, and this is the big panic that they're all going through right now consumers 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 told Hotel Dive that hospitality players need to guarantee their residential or commercial property information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in traveler questions.