The latest hospitality trends for 2026: Five themes reshaping the guest experience | By Karen Stephens

In this week’s episode of Hotel Moment, Revinate CMO, Karen Stephens, and Revinate Marketing Coordinator, Brenna Turpin, unpack the five driving forces that will redefine hospitality in 2026, and why hoteliers can’t afford to wait. The message is clear: The era of passive data collection is over, and the properties that harness their data in real time will set the pace for 2026.

And what’s ahead is more than evolution. It’s a fundamental reset of how hotels operate, engage, and deliver value. After a year spent accumulating insights, hotels are now shifting into true data activation — transforming information into anticipatory service, personalized offers, real-time decisions, and unified guest engagement. In a market where expectations are rising fast, the winners will be the brands that prove themselves across every touchpoint.

From unified tech stacks and AI-powered triggers to next-level privacy expectations, tune in to explore the trends that will shape how hotels connect with their guests and drive revenue in 2026.

Meet your host

As Chief Marketing Officer at Revinate, Karen Stephens is focused on driving long-term growth by building Revinate’s brand equity, product marketing, and customer acquisition strategies. Her deep connections with hospitality industry leaders play a key role in crafting strategic partnerships.

Karen is also the host of The Hotel Moment Podcast, where she interviews top players in the hospitality industry. Karen has been with Revinate for over 11 years, leading Revinate’s global GTM teams. Her most recent transition was from Chief Revenue Officer, where she led the team in their highest booking quarter to date in Q4 2023.

Karen has more than 25 years of expertise in global hospitality technology and online distribution — including managing global accounts in travel and hospitality organizations such as Travelocity and lastminute.com

Watch the video