Analyzing Restaurant Market Share Data for 2026

Listen to the article 17 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Following a year of broad economic uncertainty that suppressed development for hotels, hospitality industry leaders are looking towards 2026 with cautious optimism. Rising operational expenses are slated to challenge owners this year and lower-tier segments might have a hard time amidst a growing wealth bifurcation.

And through everything, hotel business are expected to fortify their portfolios with new brand offerings and partnerships. As the year gets underway, Hotel Dive spoke to hospitality leaders from differing corners of the industry about their 2026 predictions. Below are the leading patterns expected to effect hotel operations, performance, net unit growth and more this year.

Total salaries, wages and benefits paid by U.S. hotels increased to $127 billion in 2025, according to information from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, shown Hotel Dive. In 2026, that figure is forecasted to climb to $131 billion, representing a roughly 3% year-over-year boost, per AHLA. For hotel owners, rising labor costs position a difficulty to net operating earnings development, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, told Hotel Dive.

Smart Methods to Increase Market Share via Expansion

"It is an absolute concern." Increasing labor costs have actually been a difficulty for hoteliers for years, Davis said, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, hotel labor costs have increased 15.3% from 2019 to 2025, exceeding the 12.8% growth in overall operating revenue, according to AHLA. Over the last few years, countless union hotel employees have gone on strike requiring higher incomes in order to stay up to date with the rising expense of living in locations such as California, Hawaii and Las Vegas.

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

"Need has actually not stayed up to date with this speed," she said. "We're likewise seeing these difficulties intensified by legislation that targets hotel operations, such as extreme labor and licensing policies like the New York City City Safe Hotels Act. When demand is falling and costs are soaring, the math just doesn't include up." Salaries, wages and payroll-related expenses paid by hotels now represent more than 32% of overall earnings, according to AHLA.

Can Hospitality Franchises Remain Profitable in 2026?

As more hotel guests turn to synthetic intelligence to boost their travel experience, scheduling hotels directly through large language designs (LLMs) may 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 trend that has actually sped up across markets like retail.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

According to PwC's 2025 Holiday 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, transport and logistics leader, told Hotel Dive. 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 sites and mobile apps, and alter the method the customer searches," Kletzel said.

"If you are not discoverable in an LLM search result which numerous 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 said. Michael Klein, head of retail, travel and hospitality product marketing at AI client experience platform Talkdesk, likewise informed Hotel Dive that hospitality players need to guarantee their residential or commercial property details is being indexed by LLMs to appear in tourist questions.