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As we look toward 2026, the hospitality landscape is shifting from a period of digital adoption to one of digital refinement. The last few years were about acquiring tools; the next twelve months will be about making them speak to each other.
For hoteliers, the goalpost has moved. It is no longer enough to simply have a booking engine or a chatbot. The winning strategy for 2026 lies in the seamless convergence of data, automation and human hospitality. Drawing on recent industry data and our own market insights, we’ll explore three critical trends – personalised experiences, AI evolution and the resolution of tech fragmentation – that will define the year ahead.
Personalisation has been a buzzword for a decade, but 2026 marks its graduation from reactive to anticipatory.
In 2025, we saw a surge in mobile-first behaviours. Our data highlighted a significant 7% year-on-year increase in mobile bookings in key markets like the UK and Ireland, alongside a growing preference for last-minute, spontaneous travel. For 2026, this means the guest journey begins long before they step into the lobby – it starts with a hyper-personalised digital handshake.
It’s about moving beyond generic “Dear Guest” emails to dynamic landing pages that adapt based on a visitor’s location, device and past behaviour. If a guest is browsing from a mobile device in a local city for a same-day stay, the booking engine shouldn’t just show them a room; it should serve them a ‘tonight only’ rate with a streamlined, two-click checkout.
This optimised path to purchase is central to driving direct bookings. We are seeing a shift where successful hotels are using their websites not just as brochures, but as intelligent sales platforms that mirror the intuitive experience of major e-commerce brands. In 2026, if your direct channel isn’t offering a more personalised experience than an OTA, then chances are you have already lost the guest.
The narrative around AI is maturing. The fear of robots replacing humans has been replaced
by the reality of robots liberating humans. In 2026, invisible automation is expected to rise,
with technology working quietly in the background to remove friction.
At Net Affinity, we are seeing this specifically in the payments and administrative space. By automating the payment collection and reconciliation process, hotels are reducing manual admin hours by double-digit percentages. This allows front-of-house teams to stop being data-entry clerks and start being hosts again.
Furthermore, AI is becoming the engine of revenue management. 2026 will see wider adoption of AI-driven dynamic pricing that reacts in real-time not just to occupancy, but to competitor pricing, local events and even weather patterns. The result is a more robust bottom line where technology captures revenue that human analysis might miss.
However, the ‘human touch’ remains the premium product. The most successful tech implementations in 2026 will be those that are invisible to the guest but highly visible in their impact on staff availability.
Perhaps the most significant trend for 2026 is the industry’s war on tech fragmentation. For years, hotels have accumulated tech stacks that look more like tech towers – isolated silos of PMS, CRS, CRM and booking engines that refuse to talk to one another.
This fragmentation is the silent killer of guest experience. It leads to data gaps where a guest’s preference for a quiet room is known to the booking engine but lost before it reaches the front desk.
The industry solution is strategic partnerships and integration. We are entering a ‘platform era’ where connectivity is king. A prime example of this shift is the strategic alignment between booking technology providers and property management systems. By creating a unified ecosystem, hotels can ensure that data flows unimpeded from the initial Google search right through to the post-stay review.
We are already seeing this tech-first planning in new developments. Take, for instance, The Hawthorn by Galway Bay, set to open in Spring 2026. The property is a bellwether for the industry, placing an integrated technology stack at the centre of its planning phase rather than treating it as an afterthought. This integration-by-design approach ensures that every digital touchpoint reinforces the guest experience rather than interrupting it.
The hospitality industry in 2026 will be defined by connection. The successful hotelier will be the one who connects their systems to eliminate data silos, connects their staff to automation to reduce burnout, and connects their guests to the precise experience they desire before they even ask for it.
Technology is no longer just about ‘being online’. It’s about being aligned – ensuring that your digital presence, your operational tech and your guest service delivery are all pulling in the exact same direction.
As we look toward 2026, the hospitality landscape is shifting from a period of digital adoption to one of digital refinement. The last few years were about acquiring tools; the next twelve months will be about making them speak to each other.
For hoteliers, the goalpost has moved. It is no longer enough to simply have a booking engine or a chatbot. The winning strategy for 2026 lies in the seamless convergence of data, automation and human hospitality. Drawing on recent industry data and our own market insights, we’ll explore three critical trends – personalised experiences, AI evolution and the resolution of tech fragmentation – that will define the year ahead.
Personalisation has been a buzzword for a decade, but 2026 marks its graduation from reactive to anticipatory.
In 2025, we saw a surge in mobile-first behaviours. Our data highlighted a significant 7% year-on-year increase in mobile bookings in key markets like the UK and Ireland, alongside a growing preference for last-minute, spontaneous travel. For 2026, this means the guest journey begins long before they step into the lobby – it starts with a hyper-personalised digital handshake.
It’s about moving beyond generic “Dear Guest” emails to dynamic landing pages that adapt based on a visitor’s location, device and past behaviour. If a guest is browsing from a mobile device in a local city for a same-day stay, the booking engine shouldn’t just show them a room; it should serve them a ‘tonight only’ rate with a streamlined, two-click checkout.
This optimised path to purchase is central to driving direct bookings. We are seeing a shift where successful hotels are using their websites not just as brochures, but as intelligent sales platforms that mirror the intuitive experience of major e-commerce brands. In 2026, if your direct channel isn’t offering a more personalised experience than an OTA, then chances are you have already lost the guest.
The narrative around AI is maturing. The fear of robots replacing humans has been replaced
by the reality of robots liberating humans. In 2026, invisible automation is expected to rise,
with technology working quietly in the background to remove friction.
At Net Affinity, we are seeing this specifically in the payments and administrative space. By automating the payment collection and reconciliation process, hotels are reducing manual admin hours by double-digit percentages. This allows front-of-house teams to stop being data-entry clerks and start being hosts again.
Furthermore, AI is becoming the engine of revenue management. 2026 will see wider adoption of AI-driven dynamic pricing that reacts in real-time not just to occupancy, but to competitor pricing, local events and even weather patterns. The result is a more robust bottom line where technology captures revenue that human analysis might miss.
However, the ‘human touch’ remains the premium product. The most successful tech implementations in 2026 will be those that are invisible to the guest but highly visible in their impact on staff availability.
Perhaps the most significant trend for 2026 is the industry’s war on tech fragmentation. For years, hotels have accumulated tech stacks that look more like tech towers – isolated silos of PMS, CRS, CRM and booking engines that refuse to talk to one another.
This fragmentation is the silent killer of guest experience. It leads to data gaps where a guest’s preference for a quiet room is known to the booking engine but lost before it reaches the front desk.
The industry solution is strategic partnerships and integration. We are entering a ‘platform era’ where connectivity is king. A prime example of this shift is the strategic alignment between booking technology providers and property management systems. By creating a unified ecosystem, hotels can ensure that data flows unimpeded from the initial Google search right through to the post-stay review.
We are already seeing this tech-first planning in new developments. Take, for instance, The Hawthorn by Galway Bay, set to open in Spring 2026. The property is a bellwether for the industry, placing an integrated technology stack at the centre of its planning phase rather than treating it as an afterthought. This integration-by-design approach ensures that every digital touchpoint reinforces the guest experience rather than interrupting it.
The hospitality industry in 2026 will be defined by connection. The successful hotelier will be the one who connects their systems to eliminate data silos, connects their staff to automation to reduce burnout, and connects their guests to the precise experience they desire before they even ask for it.
Technology is no longer just about ‘being online’. It’s about being aligned – ensuring that your digital presence, your operational tech and your guest service delivery are all pulling in the exact same direction.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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