2026 Travel Trends: Less Noise, Better Value, Smarter Choices

We're here, it's happening, 2026 is officially a thing. As we restart our brains for the new year, we ponder:

• Is Hushpitality a thing?
• The good news about global growth
• Fatigue as a good thing in travel
• The shift away from marquee names and places
• The shift toward shoulder seasons and cost concerns
• How travel will be shaped less by whims and more by economic realism
• Eastern Europe's rise as a travel alternative
• How refinancing pressure is going to reshape hotel ownership structure
• The literary and movie travel trend