Key Tourism & Hospitality statistics in the United States, 2026

20 sector benchmarks and 99 key figures for tourism & hospitality in the United States, drawn from the 20 monthly intelligence reports Kenmei Drive published for this industry. Every figure carries the month it was published and links to the report it came from, where its sources are listed.

Last updated: 2026-06-16

How does tourism & hospitality in the United States compare? Sector benchmarks

One benchmark figure per monthly report, newest first.

FigureWhat it measuresPeriodSource report
$235 vs $96 daily traveler spendThe top 10% of US households account for 50% of all discretionary travel spending, and luxury guests spend $235 a day versus $96 for budget travelers. Which guest are you actually built to serve? What about you?June 2026Audience Profiles: Luxury travelers dominate June 2026 World Cup to...
22.4%Loyalty members spend 22.4% more per stay and stay 28% longer. Do you have any way to reward repeat guests?June 2026Competitive Benchmark: Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt lead hospitality rec...
15–30%Booking sites charge 15% to 30% commission versus 4.25% to 4.5% for direct bookings. What share of yours comes direct?June 2026Market Analysis: FIFA World Cup 2026 drives hotel revenue surge acr...
77%77% of U.S. travelers say price and value drive their booking decision. What about you, is your real, all-in price the first thing a guest sees?June 2026Social Listening: Summer 2026 travel planning surge shows budget-co...
67% prefer certified sustainable propertiesOver 67% of Pacific Northwest travelers prefer certified sustainable properties and will pay premiums of up to 38%. Can a guest tell, before booking, that your property is sustainable? What about you?June 2026Trend Analysis: Sustainability and eco-tourism driving hospitality ...
$7,900Affluent travelers spend $7,900 per trip versus the $3,700 national average. Where does your top package sit? What about you?May 2026Audience Profiles: Affluent travelers and experience seekers drivin...
15-25%Independent hotels pay 15-25% commissions to OTAs that big chains largely avoid through direct booking. What share of your bookings are direct?May 2026Competitive Benchmark: Major hospitality chains' competitive strate...
33-43%Labor now eats 33-43% of hotel revenue and wage cost per occupied room jumped 21.1%. What about you - do you know your labor cost per occupied room?May 2026Market Analysis: U.S. hospitality market bifurcation: luxury outper...
71%71% of American travelers are choosing road trips this year. What about you, do you have an easy road-trip package ready?May 2026Social Listening: Summer 2026 travel demand surge: domestic experie...
$516Direct bookings bring in $516 per transaction versus $312 through an OTA. What share of yours come direct?May 2026Trend Analysis: Agentic AI and autonomous hospitality systems redef...
85%85% of US families are planning a multi-generation trip, yet most small properties still sell single rooms. What about you - do you offer anything for a whole family traveling together?April 2026Audience Profiles: Multigenerational family travel and budget-consc...
35-40%Member direct rates run 10-15% below OTA prices, and direct bookings are now 35-40% of the market. What share of your bookings comes direct, with no commission?April 2026Competitive Benchmark: OTA market consolidation versus direct booki...
15%Short-term rentals have doubled to 15% of all US lodging. How is that shift showing up in your own occupancy?April 2026Market Analysis: Short-term rental market growth challenging US hot...
26%Slow travel grew from 22% to 26% of US travelers. Are you offering it?April 2026Social Listening: Airline pricing frustration and overtourism senti...
40%Wellness travelers spend 40% more per trip. Could you add one experience that lifts your average guest's spend?April 2026Trend Analysis: Whycations and road trip renaissance reshaping US t...
36-175%Wellness travelers spend 36-175% more per trip than conventional tourists. Is your property set up to attract and keep them?April 2026Audience Profiles: Wellness and nature-seeking US travelers reshapi...
22-35%AI dynamic pricing lifts revenue per room by 22-35%. Are you still charging flat rates every night of the week?April 2026Competitive Benchmark: Top US hotel chains competing on AI adoption...
12-18%Hotels using smart, demand-based pricing report 12-18% more revenue per available room than those who don't. What about you - do you change your rates by day, or charge the same all week?April 2026Market Analysis: US hotel market bifurcation: luxury premiumization...
8.2%US inbound tourism fell 8.2% even as global travel rose 4%, with domestic travelers picking up the slack. What about you - do you know what share of your guests are domestic versus international?April 2026Social Listening: Online sentiment around US inbound tourism declin...
65%Direct bookings carry a 65% higher value than booking-site reservations ($516 vs. $312). What share of your bookings come direct today?April 2026Trend Analysis: Agentic AI and LLM-driven hotel booking disrupting ...

What are the key tourism & hospitality figures in the United States?

June 2026

  • Luxury accommodation demand surge: World Cup host city hotels report luxury RevPAR premiums of 25.1% above 2019 levels, with ultra-premium packages ranging $31,000–$75,000/night, while 80% of properties are underperforming overall booking forecasts due to the budget segment squeeze. — Audience Profiles
  • Income bifurcation in traveler spending: The top 10% of US households account for 50% of all discretionary travel spending, with luxury traveler average daily spend of $235 vs. $96 for budget segment — a 2.4x differential that widens further during mega-events like the World Cup. — Audience Profiles
  • Digital booking channel stratification: 68% of all US travel searches now originate on mobile devices, but luxury travelers disproportionately use direct booking and white-glove concierge channels, while budget travelers rely on OTAs for price comparison — creating a bifurcated marketing imperative for hospitality players. — Audience Profiles
  • Generational transition accelerating: Gen Z travelers show 83% World Cup attendance intent versus 38% for the general population, and 72% of younger travelers prefer affordable hotels to redirect spend toward experiences — signaling a structural shift away from amenity-centric luxury for under-35 demographics. — Audience Profiles
  • Sports tourism as structural growth engine: The US sports tourism sector generates $274.5 billion in economic impact annually, with football/soccer representing 41.7% of activity. World Cup 2026 is projected to attract 13.1 million visitors and generate 21.3 million room nights, establishing sports tourism as a permanent high-value audience segment for US hospitality. — Audience Profiles
  • Hilton surpassed Marriott in net unit growth rate (7.3% vs. ~4%) in 2024, narrowing the rooms supply gap to roughly 480,000 rooms while achieving a best-in-class ROIC of 17.37%, signaling a shift in competitive momentum toward the Hilton portfolio. — Competitive Benchmark
  • AI-driven revenue management delivers an estimated 8–18% RevPAR uplift versus traditional methods; Marriott committed $1.0–1.1 billion to technology in 2026 (35–40% earmarked for digital/AI), while Hilton logged 41 active AI use cases with verified ROI across marketing, food waste, and customer service. — Competitive Benchmark
  • Short-term rental platforms led by Airbnb captured 16%+ of total U.S. room nights and 50% of stays of 7 nights or longer, with STR demand growing at +6.0% year-over-year versus hotel demand at -0.3%, representing the most structurally disruptive force in the competitive landscape. — Competitive Benchmark
  • Loyalty programs have become the primary competitive moat: Marriott Bonvoy reached 271 million members (73% of U.S. room nights penetrated), Hilton Honors 210 million members, and World of Hyatt 63 million, with loyalty members spending 22.4% more per stay and staying 28% longer than non-members. — Competitive Benchmark
  • The U.S. hotel development pipeline reached 720,089 rooms across 6,146 projects in Q4 2025, with Marriott, Hilton, and IHG controlling 68% of pipeline rooms—reinforcing an oligopolistic concentration that will further squeeze independent and boutique operators over the next 3–5 years. — Competitive Benchmark
  • $900 million in incremental hotel room revenue projected across 11 FIFA World Cup 2026 U.S. host cities, with ADR premiums ranging from 7% to 25% depending on market and segment — luxury properties are capturing the upper tier of this range. — Market Analysis
  • The U.S. hotel industry is valued at $247.8 billion in 2026, growing at a 4.28% CAGR through 2031, with luxury chain scales posting the strongest performance (+6.47% CAGR) while economy segments face RevPAR declines of up to 4.4%. — Market Analysis
  • OTA dependency remains a critical margin pressure point, with commission rates of 15–30% versus direct booking costs of 4.25–4.5%, while 80% of World Cup host-city hotels reported below-forecast occupancy due to late booking patterns and visa friction constraining long-haul international demand. — Market Analysis
  • AI-driven dynamic pricing and cloud PMS adoption are accelerating: the hotel AI market grew from $15.7B (2024) to $20.5B (2025) at a 30.5% CAGR, with AI revenue management delivering 5–15% RevPAR gains for early adopters during World Cup peak demand periods. — Market Analysis
  • U.S. hospitality M&A surged 83% YoY to $51.6 billion in 2025, with 938 new hotels under construction in 2026, yet a $48 billion CMBS refinancing wave and luxury cap rates of 8.3% (300+ bps above mid-market) signal a bifurcated investment landscape where capital is concentrating in distressed and luxury assets. — Market Analysis
  • Budget-conscious sentiment reached a tipping point in summer 2026, with 77% of U.S. travelers citing price and value as their primary decision driver, while hotel booking platform 'budget filter' usage surged +1,800% year-over-year — signaling a structural shift in consumer expectations rather than a temporary downturn. — Social Listening
  • World Cup 2026 generated the highest social media buzz in U.S. tourism history for a single event, yet 80% of surveyed hotel operators in host cities reported bookings below initial forecasts, revealing a dangerous disconnect between conversation volume and commercial conversion that threatens industry planning models. — Social Listening
  • Over-tourism backlash emerged as the industry's fastest-growing reputational risk, with 61% of travelers reporting they avoided destinations due to crowding concerns — a sentiment amplified by 124% growth in 'off-grid' and 'alternative destination' social conversations and mounting protests at iconic U.S. sites including Hawaii and Yellowstone. — Social Listening
  • Generational divergence is reshaping platform strategy: Gen Z travelers demonstrate 90% social media dependency for trip discovery (vs. near-zero for Boomers), with TikTok travel content exceeding 74 billion views and hostel bookings among 18–24 year-olds rising 35% YoY — creating urgent pressure on industry digital communication investments. — Social Listening
  • Emerging narratives including 'destination dupes' (+45% consumer interest), set-jetting (projecting $8B U.S. market impact), and AI-powered travel planning (65% distributor adoption) are collectively disrupting traditional destination marketing, offering industry participants a critical window to own nascent conversation spaces before they become mainstream. — Social Listening
  • IoT energy management systems are delivering 20–45% reductions in energy consumption for Pacific Northwest hotels, with an average 18-month ROI payback period, making them the single highest-return sustainability investment available to operators in 2026. — Trend Analysis
  • The eco-conscious traveler segment now drives over 67% of Pacific Northwest leisure bookings, with Gen Z travelers — who will represent the dominant travel cohort by 2028 — showing 87% willingness to pay sustainability premiums averaging 38% above standard rates. — Trend Analysis
  • Washington's Clean Buildings Act Tier 2 (effective 2026–2028) imposes penalties of $5,000 plus $1 per square foot annually on non-compliant hotels, creating an immediate financial imperative for energy efficiency investment that makes compliance economically advantageous over penalty avoidance. — Trend Analysis
  • Boutique and independent Pacific Northwest properties are outperforming major chain averages by 7.2% CAGR in sustainability adoption, with 44% having achieved meaningful green certifications versus the chain average, translating into measurably higher guest satisfaction scores and rate integrity. — Trend Analysis
  • Climate risk — particularly wildfire smoke events that have historically reduced PNW visitation by 60–80% during peak season — represents an existential uncertainty for the industry, with climate-resilient properties and diversified seasonal programming emerging as critical strategic differentiators for the 2027–2030 horizon. — Trend Analysis

May 2026

  • The top 10% of U.S. earners are projected to generate an estimated $544 billion in leisure travel spending in 2026, with affluent travelers spending an average of $7,900 per trip versus the $3,700 national average — a 113% premium that is widening annually. — Audience Profiles
  • AI adoption among U.S. leisure travelers crossed the majority threshold in 2025 (56%), with Millennials leading at 74% adoption — representing the fastest behavioral shift in a decade and fundamentally restructuring the decision journey across inspiration, planning, and booking stages. — Audience Profiles
  • U.S. inbound international arrivals declined 5.5% in 2025 (68.3M vs. 72.4M in 2024) — the first drop since the pandemic — driven by visa complexity, processing delays averaging four months, and shifting global sentiment, with 46% of potential visitors reporting they are less likely to visit the U.S. — Audience Profiles
  • The wellness travel segment is the industry's fastest-growing audience cluster, with the U.S. market valued at $229.2 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $493 billion by 2034 (11.62% CAGR), led by a consumer base that is 78% female and willing to spend 175% more per trip than conventional leisure travelers. — Audience Profiles
  • Bleisure travel has emerged as the highest-growth emerging audience segment at 18.08% CAGR, with a current U.S. market of $205.7 billion, while the digital nomad population reached 18.5 million Americans in 2025 — a 153% increase since 2019 — signaling a structural transformation in how Americans integrate work and travel. — Audience Profiles
  • The US hotel market's apparent stability at the company level — with Marriott and Hilton each at ~10% room share — conceals a rapid consolidation dynamic: independent hotels are converting to brands at record rates while Hilton's pipeline share (17.9% of global construction) signals that the top-3 chains' combined grip on US rooms will meaningfully tighten by 2028. — Competitive Benchmark
  • The financial scorecard confirms that the asset-light franchise model has permanently won: chains with near-zero owned assets achieve EBITDA margins of 75–83% while absorbing a $128 billion industry wage bill without touching their P&L — the fundamental structural advantage that will compound further as labor cost inflation persists through 2026–2027. — Competitive Benchmark
  • The World Cup 2026 booking shortfall exposes the key strategic risk that differentiates luxury-positioned chains from mass-market competitors: when international demand is suppressed by geopolitical friction, only premium segments — where domestic high-income travelers drive demand regardless of visa barriers — maintain their pricing power. — Competitive Benchmark
  • Marriott's exclusive FIFA World Cup 2026 official hotel partnership — spanning all 16 host cities, 104 matches, and co-activation with Visa — creates a product/experience differentiation that no competitor can replicate for this event cycle, making it the single most valuable brand activation in US hospitality in 2026. — Competitive Benchmark
  • The U.S. hotel market is projected to reach $285.4 billion in 2026 with a 6.8% CAGR through 2030, but growth is bifurcated: luxury segment RevPAR reached $184 vs. $48 for economy — a 3.7x gap — reflecting K-shaped consumer demand driven by top-income travelers accounting for 50% of Q2 2025 hospitality spending. — Market Analysis
  • The $131 billion industry labor cost burden grew 21.1% in wage cost per occupied room in Q4 2025, representing 33–43% of total revenues and constituting the industry's most critical profitability threat, with economy and midscale operators disproportionately impacted due to limited pricing power. — Market Analysis
  • The FIFA World Cup 2026 is forecast to generate $900 million in incremental hotel revenue across 11 host cities, though industry tracking shows 80% of host-city hotels booking below initial forecasts, with the national RevPAR lift estimated at a more modest 1.7%, constrained by visa processing delays and short-term rental competition. — Market Analysis
  • AI and automation adoption is accelerating as the primary margin-recovery strategy, with 82% of hotel operators expanding AI deployment in 2026 and early adopters reporting 5–15% RevPAR improvements; AI revenue management systems are demonstrating 400–800% ROI, directly addressing the $131 billion labor cost crisis. — Market Analysis
  • Investment flows signal structural bifurcation: luxury hotel transactions dominate deal flow with $2B+ acquisitions, while a $48 billion CMBS maturity wave in 2026–2027 is creating distressed asset opportunities in the mid-scale segment, with economy cap rates reaching 10.5% vs. 8.1% for luxury — a 240-basis-point premium reflecting higher risk and lower growth expectations. — Market Analysis
  • Road trip culture is the dominant summer 2026 travel narrative in the US, with 71% of American travelers choosing road trips — a trend generating strong positive sentiment and +35% YoY growth in related social conversations, particularly among Gen Z and Millennials. — Social Listening
  • FIFA World Cup 2026 is generating bifurcated sentiment: strong economic optimism ($1.5B projected Florida impact, 600K–1M visitors) is offset by social media outrage over ticket prices ($11K finals) and international accessibility concerns, with 65% of hoteliers citing visa barriers as their primary obstacle to international arrivals. — Social Listening
  • Visa policy risk represents the industry's most systemic reputation threat, with potential $15.7B in lost national tourism revenue if proposed ESTA social media disclosure mandates are enacted — 63% of international travelers cite US political climate as a deterrent, and Canadian visitors to Florida have already declined 15%. — Social Listening
  • TikTok has overtaken Instagram as the primary discovery and booking-influence platform for travel, delivering 3.0–3.5% engagement rates versus 0.15% for Facebook, with 68% of all travel bookings now influenced by social media content and short-form video driving 49% of social ROI. — Social Listening
  • AI-powered trip planning has tripled in adoption since 2023, with 58% of travelers now using AI agents — alongside the rise of set-jetting ($8B US industry), slow travel (+22% to 26% adoption YoY), and bleisure (500% growth projected by 2033) as the highest-disruption emerging narratives reshaping how the industry must position itself. — Social Listening
  • Agentic AI booking platforms launched by OpenAI, Google, Expedia, and Booking.com in late 2025 are projected to handle 30% of all travel bookings autonomously by 2030, creating a new distribution battleground that bypasses traditional OTA and direct-booking channels. — Trend Analysis
  • The US hospitality labor shortage — with 8.6 million worker shortfall projected by 2035 and 74% annual turnover rates — is the primary catalyst accelerating automation adoption, with robotics in hospitality growing at a 25.5% CAGR from $0.72B (2024) to $5.56B by 2033. — Trend Analysis
  • US hotel investment reached $24 billion in 2025 (up 17.5% YoY) with M&A activity totaling $49.2B across 774 deals, signaling investor confidence in a sector consolidating around AI-enabled, asset-light, and luxury-experience models. — Trend Analysis
  • Wellness tourism in the United States is growing from a $227B market to a projected $493B by 2034, representing the largest demand-side structural shift as travelers prioritize mental health, longevity, and regenerative experiences over traditional lodging. — Trend Analysis
  • Short-term rental platforms now capture over $32B in US accommodation revenue (projected to reach $91B by 2034), while OTAs maintain 55% of hotel bookings at commission rates that have driven direct-booking revenue per transaction to $516 vs. $312 via OTA — making distribution strategy a top profitability lever. — Trend Analysis

April 2026

  • Multigenerational family travel is the fastest-growing segment in Southeast Tourism & Hospitality, with 85% of families planning intergenerational trips in 2026 and a 67% year-over-year surge in multigenerational bookings, driven by Boomer grandparents subsidizing family experiences. — Audience Profiles
  • Financial pessimism is compressing travel demand: 39% of US travelers plan to spend less in 2026, and economic anxiety has risen even among high-income households ($200K+, up 9% to 15%), pushing families to trade trip frequency for fewer, more meaningful Southeast beach destinations. — Audience Profiles
  • Road trips dominate Southeast travel—71% of Americans prefer car-based domestic travel—making Florida (143.3M visitors, $120.1B in domestic spending), the Carolinas, and Georgia the primary drive-to beneficiaries, with metro origin markets in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh fueling corridor demand. — Audience Profiles
  • Social media has become the primary travel inspiration channel (75–83% of travelers), with TikTok driving 32% direct hotel booking conversions among Gen Z, while online reviews generate a 370% conversion lift, making peer-generated content the most influential touchpoint in the decision journey. — Audience Profiles
  • Emerging audiences—workcationers (41% of Americans), Hispanic/Latino families ($165B annual travel spend), and Gen Z independent travelers (75% solo travel intent, $1T market by 2030)—represent the Southeast's highest-growth opportunity, with sustainable tourism growing at 22.6% CAGR and the RV/van life segment at 8.25% CAGR through 2031. — Audience Profiles
  • The US OTA market surpassed $100 billion in revenue for the first time in 2024, with Booking Holdings ($23.7B) and Expedia Group ($13.7B) controlling an estimated 65%+ of digitally mediated hotel bookings. — Competitive Benchmark
  • Hotel direct booking channels now account for approximately 35-40% of total bookings, driven by major loyalty programs — Marriott Bonvoy (228M members), Hilton Honors (195M), and World of Hyatt (45M) — offering exclusive member rates averaging 10-15% below OTA prices. — Competitive Benchmark
  • FIFA World Cup 2026 host cities Dallas and Houston are projected to see hotel ADR surges of 40-80% during match weeks, with Dallas reporting a record hotel construction pipeline and Houston receiving an estimated 1.5 million FIFA-related visitors. — Competitive Benchmark
  • AI-native travel disruptors raised over $500 million in venture capital in 2024-2025, with Google's agentic AI booking interface threatening to disintermediate traditional OTAs by enabling direct hotel connections without commission-based distribution. — Competitive Benchmark
  • OTA marketing spend exceeded $20 billion in 2025, with Booking Holdings and Expedia together accounting for over 85% of that total, highlighting the winner-take-most economics entrenching the top two platforms against smaller OTA rivals. — Competitive Benchmark
  • The US hospitality market reached $247.81 billion in 2026, with extended-stay hotels (9.3% CAGR) and serviced apartments (9.18% CAGR) growing 6–7x faster than the overall market, while traditional mid-scale hotels face RevPAR stagnation at +0.6% projected growth. — Market Analysis
  • Short-term rental platforms have doubled their US accommodation market share from 8% (2018) to 15% (2026), with over 1.7 million active listings, directly compressing occupancy rates at mid-range and economy hotels whose RevPAR declined 0.3% in 2025—the first non-recessionary decline since 2020. — Market Analysis
  • Extended-stay demand surged 136% from 2019 to 2025 (20 million to 46 million nights), and now comprises 40% of the entire US hotel construction pipeline (2,468 projects), representing a decisive capital reallocation from traditional transient lodging toward longer-stay formats. — Market Analysis
  • Regulatory intervention is reshaping the STR competitive balance: NYC's Local Law 18 reduced short-term rental supply by over 90%, with similar regulation spreading to Austin, Nashville, and other high-tourism markets, creating measurable demand reallocation to regulated hotels. — Market Analysis
  • Hospitality technology investment exceeded $1 billion in the April 2025–March 2026 period, with AI-powered revenue management systems demonstrating 10–22% RevPAR gains for early adopters, creating a widening digital capability gap between large chain hotels and independent operators. — Market Analysis
  • Airline pricing complaints reached 89,094 DOT filings in 2024 (+9% YoY), making hidden fees and airfare surges the dominant negative driver of travel industry sentiment across all social platforms. — Social Listening
  • Overtourism discussion at Pacific Northwest national parks surged 185% YoY on TikTok and Instagram, with Mount Rainier and Multnomah Falls generating viral complaint content and prompting timed-entry reservation systems. — Social Listening
  • ESTA fee increases and US visa policy changes triggered a 285% spike in travel barrier discourse in March–April 2026, with industry projections estimating a 5.7B economic impact from declining international inbound visitors. — Social Listening
  • 77% of Gen Z travelers prefer eco-certified accommodations, and 40% of their bookings are now influenced by TikTok content — creating a structural marketing attribution shift that traditional tourism operators have yet to fully address. — Social Listening
  • Slow travel adoption grew from 22% to 26% of US travelers between 2025 and 2026, emerging as a mainstream response to overtourism and representing a strategic narrative opportunity for Pacific Northwest dispersal tourism campaigns. — Social Listening
  • 71% of Americans are planning road trips in 2026, fueled by America's 250th anniversary celebrations, with D.C. hotel bookings pacing +19% at a 333-day lead time — the longest advance booking window ever recorded for the destination. — Trend Analysis
  • AI adoption in hospitality reached a tipping point with 82% of hotels expanding AI use in 2026, yet only 25% of companies are scaling AI capabilities and just 2.9% of hospitality employees hold AI-relevant skills, creating a critical execution gap. — Trend Analysis
  • The US wellness tourism segment is growing at a 9.6% CAGR, with wellness travelers spending 40% more per trip and properties offering nature-immersive, purpose-driven programming commanding 20-35% ADR premiums over standard leisure product. — Trend Analysis
  • Hospitality M&A rebounded sharply to $51.6B in H2 2025 (+83% YoY), with strategic buyers capturing 53.7% of deal value, reflecting investor conviction in loyalty-as-asset-class and AI-enabled platform models over traditional asset-heavy ownership. — Trend Analysis
  • The US hospitality industry faces a projected 8.6M-worker shortfall by 2035 (WTTC), with 70-80% annual turnover rates in front-line roles and Gen Z workforce misalignment — only 8.4% accept on-site-only roles versus the industry's predominant operational model. — Trend Analysis
  • 76% of global travelers are considering mountain getaways in 2026 (Skyscanner), driving a 103% year-over-year surge in mountain view hotel bookings and positioning the Mountain West as the leading domestic wellness destination for US high-net-worth travelers. — Audience Profiles
  • Wellness travelers spend 36–175% more per trip than conventional tourists, with the global wellness tourism market projected at $1 trillion+ by 2027 and the US market reaching $258 billion in 2024 — making wellness the highest-yield customer segment in Mountain West hospitality. — Audience Profiles
  • The $124 trillion generational wealth transfer (Cerulli Associates/BCG, 2025) is directly reshaping Mountain West luxury hospitality demand, with high-net-worth Millennials averaging $4,141 per wellness trip and Boomers — 23% of whom spend $6,000+ per destination — increasing luxury hotel spending by 2.5% year-over-year through peak retirement travel. — Audience Profiles
  • Mountain West visitors have become significantly older (median age 65–69 in Montana), richer (55% earn $100K+), and more wellness-focused since 2019, while women now control 73% of wellness travel spending — a demographic shift demanding immediate product repositioning by regional resort operators and independent wellness properties. — Audience Profiles
  • Five fast-growing emerging audience segments — biohacking/performance travelers, digital nomads (15M+ US relocations), solo female wellness tourists ($549B market at 14.6% CAGR through 2033), regenerative travel advocates, and silver economy travelers (35% of international travelers by 2030) — represent the highest-growth vectors for Mountain West hospitality over the next five years. — Audience Profiles
  • Luxury segment RevPAR grew 5.3% year-to-date in 2025 while economy RevPAR contracted 1.8%, driving a structural bifurcation in chain performance with Marriott and Hyatt overexposed to premium segments outperforming Wyndham and Choice Hotels. — Competitive Benchmark
  • All four major chains launched LLM-powered AI assistants in 2025-2026 (Marriott Q1 2026, Hilton March 2026, IHG Q4 2025, Hyatt Q4 2025), with Hilton leading in deployment breadth at 80%+ digital key penetration and dynamic pricing AI delivering 22-35% RevPAR uplift. — Competitive Benchmark
  • Hilton's Outset Collection (launched October 2025) and Hyatt's Unscripted brand (May 2025) reflect the industry's conversion-over-construction pivot, with extended-stay projects now comprising 40% of the total US hotel construction pipeline. — Competitive Benchmark
  • Marriott leads market share with approximately 1.7 million rooms globally and the largest loyalty program at 228 million Bonvoy members, while Hilton's 6.7% net unit growth in 2025 and 520,000-room development pipeline represent the most aggressive near-term expansion trajectory. — Competitive Benchmark
  • Agentic commerce — AI autonomously booking travel on behalf of consumers — is projected to go live in Q2 2026 via Sabre/Google partnerships, positioning chains with superior API infrastructure, MCP compatibility, and direct booking channels to capture distribution share at the expense of OTA-dependent competitors. — Competitive Benchmark
  • National RevPAR growth of just 0.2% YTD in 2026 masks a structural K-shaped divide: luxury properties are posting +5.3% RevPAR growth while economy hotels face a second consecutive year of decline at -1.8%, confirming a bifurcated rather than cyclical market dynamic. — Market Analysis
  • Only 16 full-service hotels are currently under construction nationwide, creating a structural supply constraint in premium segments that translates to sustained pricing power and rate-setting leverage for existing full-service and luxury properties through at least 2027. — Market Analysis
  • The top 10% of US households now drive the majority of leisure travel spending — approximately $544 billion annually — sustaining luxury segment demand even as broader consumer confidence softens under labor market and inflation pressures, reinforcing the premiumization thesis. — Market Analysis
  • Hospitality technology investment surpassed $1 billion across 40 startups in the 12 months ending April 2026, with AI-driven revenue management and PMS platforms capturing the largest share; hotels adopting AI revenue management are reporting 12–18% uplift in RevPAR versus non-adopters. — Market Analysis
  • Secondary Sun Belt markets — including Nashville, Phoenix, Austin, and Dallas — are emerging as the highest-growth hotel investment destinations, with the Southern US accounting for a disproportionate share of the 6,146-project national development pipeline, while gateway markets face post-peak occupancy normalization. — Market Analysis
  • US inbound tourism fell 8.2% in 2025 while global arrivals rose 4%, with Canadian visitation declining 23.7% and European airline bookings dropping 14.2%, generating the highest-volume negative online conversation about the US as a destination since at least 2010. — Social Listening
  • The WTTC projects that the proposed social media history screening requirement alone could reduce visitor spend by $15.7 billion and eliminate 157,000 American jobs — a data point that has become the #1 amplified statistic in industry advocacy discourse across LinkedIn, travel media, and congressional testimony. — Social Listening
  • 74% of international travelers surveyed across 22 nations report their perception of the United States has worsened in 2025–2026, with FTI Consulting finding that 40% of global consumers are actively avoiding US products and services, a sentiment directly translating into trip cancellation behavior. — Social Listening
  • 61% of international FIFA World Cup 2026 fans express significant travel concerns in survey data, with host cities presenting highly divergent sentiment profiles: Miami leads on accessibility and excitement (average trip cost $2,614), while Los Angeles faces the steepest access premium ($5,630) and Kansas City contends with infrastructure funding gaps and a 264% Airbnb price surge. — Social Listening
  • TikTok is the decisive amplification engine for negative US travel content, with border detention stories and visa policy explainer videos achieving mass organic reach that outpaces paid destination marketing campaigns; Gen Z travelers lead boycott sentiment (Harris Poll: Gen Z drives the majority of economic boycott participation), while Canadian Millennials show higher resilience, partially breaking the boycott for spring break 2026. — Social Listening
  • Approximately 40% of US travelers now use AI tools for trip research and planning (HUB International/GuideGeek, 2025), with 96% reporting intent to use AI again — signaling a structural shift in the consumer decision journey that directly threatens OTA search dominance. — Trend Analysis
  • Hotel AI adoption has surged to 82% of hoteliers planning to expand AI usage in 2026 (Canary Technologies), delivering measurable revenue impact: 17% total revenue lift, 10–15% ADR improvements, and 19% group revenue optimization for early adopters. — Trend Analysis
  • Agentic AI booking channels are projected to capture 30% of all travel bookings by 2030 (IDC), with Google and Sabre/PayPal/MindTrip already launching agentic booking pipelines in Q2 2026 — making 2026 the last window for proactive distribution strategy repositioning. — Trend Analysis
  • Direct booking economics increasingly favor hotel brands: direct bookings carry a 65% higher average order value ($516 vs. $312 via OTAs) and 32-point lower cancellation rates — yet OTAs still hold ~55% of US hotel booking share, representing a major value repatriation opportunity. — Trend Analysis
  • The US hospitality industry faces an 8.6 million worker shortfall by 2035 (WTTC), with 70–80% annual turnover and wage growth of 26% since 2020 still insufficient to close the gap — making AI automation investment an operational survival imperative. — Trend Analysis

Where do these figures come from?

Each figure is taken verbatim from a Kenmei Drive intelligence report for tourism & hospitality in the United States, and links back to it. Reports are produced with AI-assisted research and reviewed by analysts before publication, drawing on publicly available market information. See our methodology for the full process and its limitations.

Cited organizations: IndexBox · Nielsen · Condor Ferries · Hotels.com via Expedia Group · YouGov · American Express via eMarketer · eMarketer · State of California Governor's Office · Travel and Tour World · American Hotel and Lodging Association via Hotel News Resource · ABC News · U.S. International Trade Administration, "2024 Forecast Tables", https://www.trade.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/2024-Forecast-Tables.pdf; Tourism Economics · Grand View Research · Mordor Intelligence · American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) · IBISWorld · AHLA · OysterLink · STR / CoStar · CBRE Hotels Research

How often is this updated?

Every month. Kenmei Drive publishes five new tourism & hospitality reports for the United States each month, and this page picks up their figures automatically.

All tourism & hospitality reports · Tourism & Hospitality intelligence

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