Latest trends in the hotel industry for 2026: How travellers research, choose, and book hotels

If your hotel’s marketing strategy looks the same as it did two years ago, you’re leaving money on the table.

The way travellers find, research, and book hotels has fundamentally changed in 2026, and the shifts aren’t subtle. For the first time ever, 26% of travellers are starting their hotel search on Booking.com, overtaking Google and other search engines as the primary research starting point. 

Meanwhile, 58% of guests are now choosing Superior or luxury rooms over Standard (a 4-percentage-point increase), and 18% of travellers who start their search on an OTA ultimately book directly with hotels, up 3.3 percentage points as guests seek control and better service.

These aren’t just interesting statistics. They’re signals that your distribution strategy, room pricing, and guest communication approach may need a complete overhaul.

This guide breaks down the latest trends in hotel industry booking behaviour based on SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2026; travel insights drawn from almost 12,000 travellers across 14 countries.

Whether you’re targeting Australian guests, Asian markets, or European travellers, understanding how travel booking behavior differs by country is now essential for capturing bookings and maximising revenue.

For context on broader hotel industry trends around technology and operations, we have a separate guide. This article focuses specifically on guest behaviour.

What are the latest trends in the hotel industry for 2026?

Three seismic shifts are redefining how travellers research, book, and experience hotels in 2026. Based on SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2026, these hotel booking trends represent the most significant behavioural changes since the pandemic:

• OTAs overtake search engines for the first time – 26% of travellers now start their hotel research on platforms like Booking.com, surpassing Google and other search engines (21%) for the first time in industry history. The 5-percentage-point gap represents a notable pivot in booking behaviour. OTAs now serve as research starting points, not just final booking destinations. Travellers are beginning their journey within platforms that combine search, comparison, and booking in one place.

• The luxury leap: 58% now book premium rooms – Travellers are trading up at unprecedented rates, with 58% choosing Superior or luxury rooms. Guests now prioritise elevated, memorable experiences over basic accommodation. This shift shows travellers are allocating larger portions of their budgets toward accommodation. Room category selection has become as important as location or brand, with premium options now the majority choice rather than the exception.

• The direct booking comeback – 18% of travellers who start their search on an OTA ultimately book directly with hotels as they seek more control, better service, and direct communication with properties. This reveals a two-step booking behaviour: using OTAs for research and comparison before completing transactions through hotel direct channels. While still a minority of OTA browsers, this segment has grown measurably, indicating travellers are deliberately splitting their research and booking phases.

What does this mean for your hotel?

Strengthen your OTA presence

With OTAs now the primary research starting point for over a quarter of travellers, ensure your listings feature current photography, complete property information, and competitive positioning across major OTA channels. Review your rate parity and availability to maintain consistency across all platforms where travellers are beginning their search.

Evaluate your room category mix

The majority preference for premium rooms suggests an opportunity to review your inventory and pricing structure. If you’re predominantly selling standard rooms, consider whether your mix reflects current booking patterns. Ensure room categories are clearly differentiated and visible across all booking channels, with imagery and descriptions that communicate the value of each level.

Optimise your direct booking experience

For the growing segment of travellers moving from OTA research to direct bookings, your hotel website becomes critical. Ensure your direct booking experience matches or exceeds what travellers find on OTAs, which includes clear room category information, transparent pricing, and straightforward booking processes. Consider what advantages you can offer for direct bookings, whether through flexible cancellation policies, loyalty programme benefits, or value-adds that OTAs cannot replicate.

Focus your distribution efforts

These shifts don’t require completely overhauling your distribution approach, but they do suggest where to prioritise: strengthening OTA performance, aligning inventory with premium demand, and removing friction from the direct booking process.

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How is travel booking behaviour changing in 2026?

Travellers are fundamentally reshuffling their research habits in 2026. Beyond the OTA-first shift, word-of-mouth referrals have doubled to 14%, marking a notable resurgence of personal recommendations in hotel search. This return to peer influence coincides with social media travel content and group discussions, indicating travellers are placing renewed value on trusted perspectives alongside platform-based research. 

This shift reverses a decade-long pattern where search engines dominated the initial discovery phase of travel planning, marking a fundamental change in how travellers approach hotel research.

The OTA-first approach appears driven by consolidation of the research process. Rather than beginning with a broad Google search and then navigating to multiple sites for comparison, travellers are starting within platforms that already aggregate inventory, reviews, and pricing. This compressed funnel suggests travellers are prioritising efficiency; beginning their journey in environments purpose-built for hotel comparison rather than general search.

Word-of-mouth recommendations have experienced a notable resurgence, doubling from previous years to reach 14% of research starting points. This return to personal recommendations coincides with the rise of social media travel content and group chat discussions about trips, though the data doesn’t specify which channels are driving this increase. The doubling indicates travellers are placing renewed value on trusted peer perspectives alongside platform-based research.

Research preferences vary significantly by market. Australian travellers show the strongest search engine preference at 31%, maintaining the traditional Google-first approach. Indonesian travellers lead OTA adoption at 38% as their primary starting point, while patterns across other markets fall between these extremes. These geographic differences suggest booking behaviour is shaped by local platform availability, digital infrastructure, and established travel planning habits.

How hotels should adapt to research behaviour shifts:

• For OTA-first researchers: Optimise your OTA presence with complete information, current photography, competitive positioning. These platforms are now discovery tools, not just booking endpoints.

• For word-of-mouth comeback: Encourage post-stay reviews, make sharing easy, create Instagram-worthy moments. The 14% using recommendations need content to share.

• For market variations: Australian guests (31% search-first) need strong SEO. Indonesian guests (38% OTA-first) need compelling OTA listings.

For a complete breakdown of research behaviour by country, see our full Changing Traveller Report 2026.

How is AI changing hotel booking behavior in 2026?

AI has gone mainstream in travel planning, with 8 out of 10 travellers now wanting AI assistance during their booking journey, a growth of nearly 4x since last year. Travellers primarily want AI for financial protection: 44% want price monitoring and alerts, 39% want scam detection, and 35% want spending habit monitoring. This shift represents a fundamental change from AI skepticism to AI dependence, though regional variations remain stark. For example, Indonesian travellers lead adoption at 96% while Canadian travellers remain most cautious at 60%.

Beyond the headline numbers, the nature of AI demand reveals distinct priorities. Travellers aren’t asking for AI to plan their itineraries or recommend destinations, they want it to protect their wallets. Price monitoring, scam detection, and spending habit tracking dominate AI feature requests, showing adoption is being driven by financial anxiety rather than convenience. This represents a fundamental shift: AI is seen as a financial guardian, not just a travel assistant.

The “personal coach” dimension of AI reveals a second layer of demand beyond financial protection. Travellers want AI to integrate health data to recommend suitable properties based on medical needs, whether that’s allergen-free rooms, accessible facilities, or wellness-focused amenities. They’re also open to noise sensitivity monitoring to ensure quieter room assignments based on their sleep patterns. These personalisation requests go well beyond traditional hotel data collection, indicating travellers are willing to share intimate details if it improves their accommodation experience.

Regional variations in AI acceptance create strategic challenges for global hotel brands. Personalisation strategies that work in Jakarta may feel invasive in Toronto. Asian markets and younger generations show strong enthusiasm, while North American and European travellers, particularly older segments, remain more cautious about AI’s role in their booking journey. This divide means hotels need market-specific approaches rather than global AI rollouts.

How hotels can leverage AI expectations:

• For high-adoption markets: Prominently feature AI-powered chatbots, dynamic room recommendations, and personalised upsells in Indonesia, Thailand, and among Gen Z travellers who view AI as a service enhancement.
• For cautious markets: Use AI invisibly for revenue management and operations in Canada, Australia, and among older segments, while leading guest communications with human service and personal attention.
• Universal opportunity: Implement price monitoring and rate alert tools; the top AI feature request across all markets, through email alerts, mobile app notifications, or metasearch integration.

For more country-specific insights on traveller behavior, check out our Traveller profiles. 

“We now have greater control over our inventory and pricing strategies, allowing us to react faster to market changes and implement dynamic pricing more effectively. The platform’s integration capabilities have also improved our connection with our PMS and other systems, resulting in better data accuracy and fewer human errors. We’ve experienced a noticeable increase in both direct bookings and overall revenue since implementing SiteMinder. By integrating our booking engine and optimising our visibility through SiteMinder’s platform, we’ve achieved an estimated 15–20% increase in direct bookings over the past few months.        ”

Andres Rincon,

CEO

Infinity Group

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What room types and upgrades are travellers choosing in 2026?

Travellers are trading up at record rates in 2026, with 58% choosing Superior or luxury rooms; a 4-percentage-point increase from last year. The shift toward premium accommodation is particularly pronounced in Asian markets: Chinese travellers lead non-standard room bookings at 84%, followed by Indonesia (74%) and India (71%). Australian and French travellers also show strong premium preferences at 60% and 56% respectively, signalling a global move toward elevated accommodation experiences.

The global shift toward premium rooms represents more than simple price inflation or one-off splurges. Travellers are fundamentally rethinking how they allocate their accommodation budget, with room category selection becoming as important as location or brand.

Asian markets lead this premiumisation trend with striking consistency. Chinese travellers booking non-standard rooms correlates with their preference for big chain hotels and luxury properties, suggesting a comprehensive quality-focused approach rather than isolated upgrades. Indonesia and India show rising spending power in these markets, while Australia and France demonstrate that premium preference extends across developed markets as well.

Breakfast commands the highest premium willingness, suggesting package deals combining superior rooms with morning meals could drive higher average daily rates. Early check-in or late checkout appeals particularly to Australian and Singaporean guests, creating dynamic pricing opportunities around arrival flexibility. Room size upgrades attract significant interest globally, while views remain highly valued, particularly among Mexican travellers.

Room features matter differently across markets, informing both renovation priorities and marketing messaging. Pillows and bedding emerge as the most critical feature globally, though Spanish travellers place the highest emphasis on this element. Views rank as a close second, with Mexican guests showing particular priority. Temperature control matters especially to German travellers, while WiFi speed and reliability appears consistently across all markets as a baseline expectation rather than a premium feature.

How to capitalise on the premium room trend:

• Review your inventory mix: If the majority of travellers want premium rooms but you’re selling mostly Standard, you’re misaligned with current demand. Evaluate whether your room category distribution reflects 2026 booking behaviour or pre-pandemic assumptions.
• Differentiate and target strategically: Ensure Superior/Deluxe distinctions are visible across all channels with specific feature callouts (square metres, view type, bedding quality, bathroom features). Focus marketing on high-premium markets like China, Indonesia, and India where non-standard room preference exceeds 70%.
• Bundle based on market preferences: Australians showing strong breakfast add-on rates suggest bundled packages combining superior rooms with morning meals will outperform room-only offerings. Singaporeans’ willingness to pay for arrival flexibility indicates packages with guaranteed early check-in could command premium rates.

Which traveller markets should hotels target for premium revenue in 2026?

Revenue optimisation in 2026 requires understanding which markets deliver premium value across the complete guest journey. Chinese travellers lead non-standard room bookings at 84% and show the strongest luxury hotel preference, while Australian travellers deliver the highest direct booking rates and breakfast add-on purchases. US travellers place the highest value on loyalty programmes, making them ideal for relationship-based marketing, while Indonesian travellers’ strong OTA booking preference signals where channel investment should concentrate.

The “Money makers” in 2026 aren’t defined by a single metric. They’re characterised by spending patterns across room categories, add-ons, and booking channels. Understanding which markets over-index in each revenue category allows hotels to align their distribution strategy, inventory mix, and marketing spend with the highest-value opportunities.

Asian markets represent the clearest premium room opportunity, but their channel preferences require different approaches. Chinese travellers combine premium room selection with strong big chain and luxury property preferences, indicating a comprehensive quality-first mindset rather than isolated splurges.

Indonesian travellers show similarly strong premium preferences but book predominantly through OTAs, requiring robust third-party presence to capture this high-value segment. Indian travellers complete the Asian premium trio with strong non-standard room selection, though they also show the highest booking abandonment rates, signalling that user experience and trust signals become critical conversion factors.

Western markets deliver value through different mechanisms. Australian travellers lead in direct booking rates and show the strongest willingness to pay for breakfast add-ons and arrival flexibility, making them ideal candidates for bundled packages through direct channels. US travellers place the highest value on loyalty programmes as a return driver, justifying investment in retention mechanics and member-exclusive benefits. French travellers demonstrate strong premium room preference combined with high “value for money” consciousness, suggesting that transparent pricing and clear benefit communication matter more than promotional discounts in this market.

Channel strategy must adapt to market-specific booking behaviour. North American markets justify premium investment in direct booking infrastructure and loyalty programmes, with direct booking rates substantially above global averages. Asian markets require excellence in OTA presence—strong photography, complete information, competitive positioning—as these platforms serve as the primary discovery and booking mechanism. European markets split between these approaches, with Italian travellers maintaining the strongest search engine orientation globally, while others lean toward OTA platforms.

For complete room preferences by market, explore the detailed breakdown in the Money makers section of SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2026.

How to target high-value traveller markets:

• For premium room revenue: Prioritise marketing to Chinese, Indonesian, and Indian travellers where non-standard room preference exceeds 70%. These markets justify inventory investment in Superior and Deluxe categories, with imagery and messaging that emphasise elevated experiences, quality, and memorable stays.
• For direct booking growth: Focus channel investment on US and Australian travellers who show the strongest direct booking rates and loyalty programme engagement. Build packages around breakfast inclusions and arrival flexibility—the add-ons these markets value most—and emphasise control, service quality, and direct communication benefits.
• For OTA-dependent markets: Strengthen presence on Booking.com and similar platforms to capture Indonesian and Chinese travellers who research and book primarily through these channels. Ensure listings feature complete property information, current photography, and competitive positioning, while implementing retargeting strategies to encourage direct bookings on return visits.

How do travellers feel about dynamic hotel pricing?

Survey data reveals shifting attitudes toward dynamic hotel pricing. 65% of travellers agree that hotels should adjust rates during busy periods even if it costs them more, with strong acceptance growing year-over-year. This indicates that transparency around demand-based pricing builds trust rather than resentment. However, flexibility remains important: 83% would consider booking at different times if incentivised, creating opportunities for hotels to shift demand through strategic rate positioning.

Acceptance patterns vary by demographic and travel experience. Younger urban travellers show the strongest support, having grown accustomed to variable pricing through ride-sharing and airline models. In contrast, older travellers and those from markets with less dynamic pricing exposure remain more cautious. This generational divide means hotels must balance rate optimization with clear communication about pricing logic.

The willingness to shift booking timing based on incentives reveals strategic opportunities beyond simple rate increases. Hotels can use this flexibility to smooth demand peaks, offering discounts for shoulder dates or advance purchase rates that move bookings away from high-demand windows. This isn’t just about charging more during busy periods—it’s about giving price-sensitive travellers clear alternatives that benefit both parties.

How hotels can implement dynamic pricing successfully

• Lead with transparency: Clearly communicate why rates vary (event demand, seasonal patterns, local factors). Travellers accept dynamic pricing when the logic is visible, but resist when it feels arbitrary or hidden.
• Offer flexible alternatives: Since 83% will consider different dates for better rates, provide visible calendar pricing or “save X% by booking these dates instead” prompts during the booking process.
• Leverage real-time revenue intelligence: Take advantage of revenue management features that provide tailored pricing recommendations from real-time property and market performance data. SiteMinder’s Dynamic Revenue Plus helps hotels maintain rate parity across channels while identifying optimal direct booking rates to maximise returns. 

How can hotels capture direct bookings from OTA researchers?

Eighteen percent of travellers who start their hotel search on an OTA ultimately book directly with properties, a 3.3% increase as guests seek greater control over bookings and better service. This two-step behaviour reveals a strategic opportunity: travellers use OTAs for research and comparison, then switch to direct channels for the transaction itself. Capturing this segment requires understanding what drives the channel switch and removing friction from the direct booking experience.

The OTA-to-direct switchers represent a high-value segment worth strategic focus. These travellers have already decided on your property. They’re not comparison shopping anymore. They’re looking for reasons to book directly: better cancellation policies, loyalty benefits, direct communication with the property, or confidence that their specific requests will be handled. Australian and Canadian travellers lead this behaviour, citing control and service quality as primary motivations.

The challenge lies in visibility and trust. After researching on an OTA, travellers need to easily find your direct booking channel and immediately see the advantages. Rate parity keeps pricing neutral, so the differentiators become service elements: flexible policies, room guarantees, direct communication access, and loyalty programme benefits that OTAs cannot replicate.

How to capture OTA researchers for direct bookings:

• Ensure discoverability: Make your direct booking engine prominent in search results and easy to navigate. OTA researchers often search “[hotel name] website” after choosing a property, so ensure you rank for your own brand terms and that your booking flow is as smooth as the OTA experience.
• Highlight direct booking advantages: Prominently display benefits unavailable through OTAs such as flexible cancellation, room type guarantees, loyalty points, ability to submit special requests directly to the property. Make these visible before the booking click, not buried in confirmation details.
• Target high-intent markets: Focus direct booking campaigns on Australian and Canadian travellers who show the strongest direct booking preference. Use retargeting for visitors who viewed your property on OTAs, emphasising control and service quality in messaging.

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Frequently asked questions about traveller booking habits for 2026

What is the biggest change in hotel booking behaviour for 2026?
OTAs now lead as the primary research starting point at 26%, overtaking search engines (21%) for the first time in industry history.

Are travellers using AI to book hotels in 2026?
Yes. Eight out of 10 travellers now want AI assistance, primarily for price monitoring and scam detection, representing 4x growth.

Why are more travellers choosing premium hotel rooms?
58% now select Superior or luxury rooms (up 4pp), prioritising elevated experiences and allocating larger accommodation budgets.

How many travellers book directly after researching on OTAs?
18% switch from OTA research to direct booking (up 3.3pp), seeking greater control and better service.

Do travellers accept dynamic hotel pricing?
65% agree hotels should adjust rates during busy periods, indicating broad acceptance when pricing logic is transparent.

Which traveller markets spend the most on premium rooms?
Chinese (84%), Indonesian (74%), and Indian (71%) travellers lead non-standard room bookings globally.

What do hotel guests want from AI technology?
Financial protection features: 44% want price monitoring, 39% want scam detection, 35% want spending habit tracking.

How can hotels use the Changing Traveller Report data?
Hotels should adjust distribution strategies, room inventory mix, and pricing models based on source market preferences and booking patterns.

When should hotels implement these booking behaviour changes?
Immediately—the shifts are already underway. OTA optimization, premium room differentiation, and direct booking advantages should be prioritised now.

Where can I see country-specific traveller data?
Visit SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2026 for detailed profiles of 14 source markets including booking preferences, spending patterns, and technology adoption.