Top Lucrative Investment Opportunities for 2026

, hospitality market leaders are looking towards 2026 with cautious optimism. Increasing functional costs are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier segments could struggle amid a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through it all, hotel companies are anticipated to fortify their portfolios with brand-new brand offerings and collaborations. 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 patterns anticipated to effect hotel operations, performance, net unit development and more this year.

Total incomes, incomes and benefits paid by U.S. hotels rose to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Accommodations Association, shared with Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is forecasted to climb to $131 billion, representing an approximately 3% year-over-year increase, per AHLA. For hotel owners, increasing labor expenses posture a difficulty to net operating earnings growth, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

Strategic Steps for Restaurant Brand Expansion

"It is an absolute issue." Rising labor costs have been an obstacle for hoteliers for many years, Davis said, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, hotel labor costs have actually increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% growth in overall operating income, according to AHLA. In current years, thousands of union hotel employees have gone on strike requiring higher wages in order to keep up with the rising 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 noted, union negotiations 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 end in July.

"Need has not stayed up to date with this speed," she stated. "We're also seeing these difficulties 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 doesn't build up." Wages, salaries and payroll-related expenditures paid by hotels now represent more than 32% of overall revenue, according to AHLA.

Evaluating Leading Franchise Models for 2026

As more hotel guests turn to synthetic intelligence to boost their travel experience, reserving hotels straight through big language designs (LLMs) might be next, hospitality specialists stated. Agentic commerce a procedure by which autonomous AI agents act upon behalf of a consumer to find, compare and finish purchases is a trend that has actually sped up throughout industries like retail.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

According to PwC's 2025 Vacation Outlook report, 76% of millennials stated they're likely to utilize AI for travel recommendations. A smaller portion (57%) stated they 'd be most likely to utilize it for reserving travel. However that number is growing, Jonathan Kletzel, PwC's travel, transport and logistics leader, informed Hotel Dive. "The number of customers that are searching [by means of LLMs] for services and products in travel has actually swollen in the last 12 months and is speeding up every day," Kletzel said, adding that undoubtedly, hotels will "take a tough take a look at how they can allow commerce and transactions through agentic [AI]"" [Brands] can build on the trust they currently have if they do a great task with how they manage AI in 2026." Michael Klein Head of retail, travel and hospitality item marketing at Talkdesk To remain competitive with direct booking, larger multibrand hotel business will "embed LLMs into their own brand websites and mobile apps, and alter the way the consumer searches," Kletzel stated.

"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 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, likewise informed Hotel Dive that hospitality players require to ensure their property information is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist inquiries.