LOS ANGELES — During the second day of the Americas Lodging Investment Summit, hoteliers were hoping for fewer disruptions in 2026 than 2025, and many are indicating that a slightly less turbulent year could be a pathway to success.
It probably doesn't help that the conference itself was disrupted by a massive, nationwide storm that tripped up travel and caused chaos across the U.S.
It's probably unfair to take the weather as an omen for the year ahead, but the consensus seems to be hoteliers who thrive in 2026 are the one who learn to do more with less and find strategies to drive performance at their individual properties.
Photos of the day
Quotes of the day
"People are looking at [AI] as a technology advancement. It is absolutely a technology advancement, but it's also a behavior change that creates a system and process change. And I think that while I am maybe a little bit closer to the transformation of this, I still know that I need to be surrounded by people smarter than me who are closer to it. So we just keep hiring great talent that is closer and closer and closer to the ground level of this transformation to make sure that we are prepared to make sure that our hotels are set up for success."
—Allison Handy, chief commercial officer for Aimbridge Hospitality, discussing how her company is adapting to the change AI is creating in consumer behavior.
"There's really been a bifurcation in operating performance over the past several years where luxury — and increasingly ultra-luxury — is really pulling away from the pack when you compare their performance to the other chain scales. ... I think that the wealthy are only getting wealthier and seemingly have an insatiable appetite for unique and authentic experiences, and will pay the larger price."
— Kevin Davis, CEO of JLL Hotels & Hospitality, Americas, about where he sees opportunities for hoteliers.
“The brands are certainly more aggressive today — with incentives, key money, deal structuring — they need to find ways to grow in order to meet the Wall Street needs of seeing your growth patterns. … The brands are being much more aggressive than they've had to ever to help deals get done.”
—Eric Jacobs, chief growth officer, Aimbridge Hospitality, on how big brand companies are being pushed to grow and that can benefit owners and operators.
Editor's takeaways
Hospitality is a people business, and that means having people to serve the people. That's certainly an obvious statement there, but the hotel industry has struggled for years to fill all the open positions it has. It's encouraging to hear executives talk about the necessity of making the industry more attractive to potential employees, and it seems like that talk has been evolving over time.
We're hearing more and more from company executives that they're trying to help turn jobs into careers through opportunities to train and further develop their skills. Decent pay helps, too, of course.
Hoteliers are going to have to pull all the levers they can to maximize their performance this year, and employee attraction and retention are going to be a big lever once again. Here's hoping more and more get on board with this approach.
—Bryan Wroten, senior reporter
Hoteliers kicking off 2026 seem to be fully subscribing to the theory of relativity. No, I'm not referring to physics of Albert Einstein. I'm talking about the idea that things can be good as long as you look at them in relation to things that are necessarily less-good.
I'm not hearing from anyone yet here at ALIS that 2026 is the type of year that would be viewed as good in a vacuum. What I'm hearing is that 2026 has all the makings to be better than 2025, and that makes it a good year on a relative basis, if nothing else. Sure, expenses will continue to climb and revenues will continue to anywhere from flat to slightly higher, but it could be much worse. It's all relative.
—Sean McCracken, news editor
Today at ALIS, I wanted to hear from some of the dealmakers of the hotel industry. I sat in on a transactions panel and a panel full of chief development officers talking about their growth strategies. Panelists from both conversations seemed to have the same cautious optimism the rest of the industry is leading with this conference.
In an interview with Greg Friedman, CEO of Peachtree Group, I asked about expectations for the transactions market in 2026. He said there's a bit of inevitability to deals getting done this year. With the market being so slow and deals being few and far between compared last year, hoteliers are going to have to make moves whether they want to or not.
—Natalie Harms, reporter