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Currently, LLMs do not have abundant imagery and content, such as images of the rooms and facilities, that customers typically demand when making hotel reservations, Kletzel stated., on the other hand, has actually rapidly broadened in recent years.

Beyond the guest experience, agentic commerce has the prospective to move the method hotel business' client service teams operate and are structured, Klein stated. "Will there be some corporations that discover the opportunity to lower personnel? Yes," Klein said. However brands that think in great consumer experience and service will discover that AI might help their representatives "get associated with more complex, more business-critical discussions that help grow the business." In 2025, Hyatt minimized personnel by approximately 30% throughout its visitor services and assistance teams "in response to the evolving nature of visitor queries and moving organization requirements," per the company.

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This year, numerous collection brands that released in 2025 will continue to broaden. Extra brand-new brand names and partnerships, particularly in the way of life sector, will likely debut as well, according to hospitality experts. In 2025, Marriott introduced 2 collection brand names: Series by Marriott, playing in the high end space in the U.S., and Outdoor Collection, exclusively focused on outdoor lodgings in locations near national forests, deserts, ski areas and shorelines.

Marriott's Outdoor Collection offers distinct accommodations in locations near national parks, deserts, ski areas and shorelines.

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Hilton's Outset Collection, particularly, has more than 60 hotels in the works throughout the U.S. and Canada, Kevin Osterhaus, president of lifestyle brand names at Hilton, informed Hotel Dive. Outset is presently checking out possible new locations in San Diego, Los Angeles and Virginia Beach, Virginia, in addition to markets in New Mexico and Colorado in 2026, Osterhaus stated.

"Collection brands are appealing because they provide the finest of both worlds: Owners keep the special DNA of their residential or commercial property, while unlocking worldwide circulation, revenue management, loyalty and assistance. Kevin Osterhaus President of lifestyle brands at Hilton From the guest perspective, independent store hotels are preferable because they offer authentic experiences, Gabriel Perez, chief operating officer of accommodations at The Indigo Roadway Hospitality Group, told Hotel Dive.

However, when it comes to why the hotel companies are going after independents in the way of life section, "it's not about the visitors. It has to do with developing sub-brands within their own brands to satisfy financiers' requirements and to please owner and designers' objectives," Perez stated. JLL's Davis echoed that sentiment, telling Hotel Dive that the industry is at the point of, if not past the point of, brand name saturation, as "public business [are] under an incredible amount of pressure for net unit growth." This, in turn, puts a lot more pressure on hotel companies "to produce brand names, micro brand names and subsets of brand names in order to expand their footprint of existing properties," Davis said.

Hilton's collection brand names' "distinct positioning and storytelling continue to drive interest across chain scales," Osterhaus stated. According to Bobby Molinary, Marriott's chief development officer for select brands, interest in Marriott's new collection brands comes amid a challenging high-cost-of-construction environment that has made it "significantly hard to construct brand-new hotels." Series and Outdoor Collection, both conversion-friendly offerings, pertain to an ownership neighborhood and designers who "are constantly looking for methods to grow, and conversions represent a course for growth," Molinary stated.

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This year, Hilton prepares to remain "very active in the lifestyle space through strategic collaborations, new finalizings and ongoing development of our current brand names," Osterhaus stated. Another growing space is the luxury section.

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That trend is expected to continue in 2026 as luxury consumers drive travel costs and hotel reservations amid a wealth bifurcation at play in the industry. "High-net-worth travelers are expected to stay one of the most dependable motorists of worldwide travel spending next year," Giray Boran, handling director of BLG Capital, told Hotel Dive.