One of the biggest factors steering hotel design trends for 2026 is the same headwind that hoteliers faced for much of this year.
"I think the economy is the big driver for the 2026 trends in design — both on the aesthetic, interior design side and on the construction side," said Kevin Warwick, vice president of design and construction at Vision Hospitality Group.
With some of the uncertainty around tariffs and how it's prompted the rise in cost for furniture, fixtures and equipment coming into focus, Warwick said he's having to make decisions on new suppliers and sourcing materials for hotel construction projects.
"As we as we look at these new suppliers, new chains, new materials, we're having to go to our design teams and say, 'How do we accomplish what we want with new and innovative approaches to materials?'" he said. "We're not doing the same finishes on the walls, the same sourcing for cabinets and materials."
Some building materials that have been more economic in the past are the more expensive option now, so everything needs to be reevaluated. Warwick added he's having to get creative with sourcing materials.
Continuing collaboration
One silver lining to this reimagining of the supply chain is more collaboration with hotel brands on design, something Warwick said he's seen increase over the past few years.
"As long as we are true to all of those signature brand identity elements, they're giving us more leeway on on wallpapers, finishes, fabric selections, even furniture and material suppliers. ... So, we're looking forward to 2026 being kind of a new cooperative phase for us," he said.
Scott LaMont, CEO of EDSA — a design firm focused on planning, landscape architecture, and urban design — agreed that he's seen more flexibility from the hotel brand companies. In the past, LaMont and his team have had to more closely consult a brand manual for design decisions. Now, it's been a while since he's had to reference one.
"From a landscape architect's point of view, dialogue is healthy," he said. "While it may come from a point of stress in the supply chain and in the marketplace, it leads to some better outcomes."
Being able to source materials locally for cheaper by avoiding tariffs also helps tie the hotel into the local presence as well — another trend LaMont said he's seeing in hotel design.
"When you're visiting a hotel or a destination, you really want to be of that place, right? And you want to create an environment that is unique to that destination," LaMont said. "One of the ways we can accomplish that is by bringing the materials that are from that region or from that area."
Embracing 'quiet luxury'
With the bifurcation occurring in the hotel industry, the luxury segment is more well-funded and therefore more attractive for development and design business.
"In general, we're seeing a lot more focus in the hotel industry on the luxury brands," Warwick said. "The luxury sector has a little bit more spending money right now than a lot of the middle class, the more economically challenged classes. So, I think luxury hotels are the trend that some of the larger developers are going for."
However, tapping into luxury design elements can make sense at any chain scale, and hoteliers can expect to see some of the design trends from luxury bleed into other hotel segments.
"Good design doesn't have to be expensive — it has to be thoughtful," Warwick said.
Pantone recently announced Cloud Dancer white as its 2026 color of the year. Molly Forman, interior designer at Washington, D.C.-based boutique design firm //3877, said she didn't care about the color itself — white is notorious in the hotel industry for being hard to keep clean. Rather, she focused on the psychology of the selection.
Pantone's Cloud Dancer selection "speaks to why we're seeing this integration of this quiet luxury idea and this calming idea because it ties into simplicity," Forman said.
Targeting simpler design elements and color stories is cheaper, Forman said, and she added that "given tariffs, we now have limited resources of where to see some of that work getting done."
Inside out and outside in
One of the other trends within design, especially from a landscape architecture standpoint, is merging the indoors with the outdoors, LaMont said. He explained this falls in line with biophilic design, or better connecting humans with the natural world.
Some parts of the world, such as the Middle East, are seeing more of a concerted effort to better sync with nature, but any market can use design to enhance guests' access to nature, LaMont said.
"Whether you're in an urban environment and you're interacting with the street and the public realm in a unique way, or you're in a resort environment where you're trying to interact with the natural environment, we're seeing a lot more of the blurring of the lines in those spaces, and a lot more attention paid to the exterior spaces, which has been a lot of fun for us," he said.
A focus on efficiency — both from a sustainability standpoint and in terms of optimizing operations for cost-saving reasons — is also key for 2026.
"Our focus is on making the buildings and the construction methods more efficient. ... If I look at a construction trend, I would say finding new, effective ways of designing the building, the mechanical systems, making them more efficient," Warwick said.
Other trends of note
There are several other design trends on Warwick's radar, including hoteliers tapping into modular design. LaMont added there's also an increased interest in multipurpose spaces being incorporated into hotels.
"We want to design space that is not just this one monolithic thing but create these pockets of interaction that allow for flexible programming for the operator," LaMont said.
And while new hotel development in 2026 might mostly reside in luxury projects, LaMont said hoteliers have a big opportunity to revisit and reposition hotels with the help of design experts.
"What's been interesting in the last couple of years is that the wait-and-see mode has pushed a lot of repositioning projects to the forefront. Getting new hotel deals have been more challenging to get financed over the last two to three years," he said. "And the cool part about that is ... we get the opportunity to come into these properties with a fresh set of eyes and kind of reimagine spaces in ways that maybe the operator or the owner hadn't thought about for many, many years."