10 Hotel Guest Spending Statistics Every Hotel Owner Should Know in 2026

Hotel guest spending is easy to describe badly. A guest may pay a room rate, taxes, food and beverage, parking, spa or fitness fees, upgrades, and other ancillary charges. Some of that money becomes hotel revenue, some is a tax collected for government, and an industry total cannot be turned into an average guest ticket unless the guest, stay, or occupied-room denominator is known.

We reviewed the American Hotel and Lodging Association's 2026 State of the Industry page and the J.D. Power 2026 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study. AHLA expects hotel guest spending to reach nearly $805 billion in 2026, up 1.7% from 2025, but its public key findings do not publish a guest count, stay count, occupied-room denominator, or category breakdown for that total. J.D. Power provides experience context for food and beverage, facilities, value, room rates, and the overall stay.

The figures below are a source-led reference for hotel owners, operators, and hospitality writers. Aggregate guest spending is not average spend per guest. Hotel taxes are not hotel revenue. Wages and benefits are operating costs. Satisfaction movement is not ancillary revenue. The original sources and their dates are listed at the end.

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The table separates aggregate totals, operating costs, performance measures, and guest-experience indices. "Not published" means the public source does not give the matching denominator needed for a per-guest, per-stay, or per-room calculation.

AHLA expects hotel guest spending to reach nearly $805 billion in 2026

The American Hotel and Lodging Association expects hotel guest spending to reach nearly $805 billion in 2026, a 1.7% increase over 2025. This is the clearest public national spending total in the named source set and the most linkable headline for an article about hotel guest spending.

The number is an industry total, not an average guest ticket. AHLA's public key findings do not give the guest count, completed-stay count, occupied-room nights, hotel revenue categories, or share that comes from room rates versus food and beverage or other ancillary activity. The headline should therefore be quoted exactly as an aggregate forecast.

The 1.7% growth figure is a forecast, not a measured average guest-spend increase

AHLA describes the nearly $805 billion figure as expected 2026 hotel guest spending and reports a 1.7% increase over 2025. The percentage is a year-over-year change in the aggregate forecast. It does not say that the average guest will spend 1.7% more, that every hotel will grow 1.7%, or that ancillary spend is growing at that rate.

To turn the market figure into a property benchmark, an operator needs aligned local totals. Use the same period for total guest spend, completed stays, occupied room nights, and guests. If one numerator includes taxes or room revenue while another denominator contains only occupied rooms, the result will look precise while measuring the wrong thing.

Hotel taxes reached $85.1 billion in 2025 and are projected near $87 billion in 2026

AHLA reports that hotels generated $85.1 billion in local, state, and federal taxes in 2025, up $1.7 billion from 2024. It projects the total to rise to nearly $87 billion in 2026. Taxes are an important part of the money moving through hotel stays, but they are not hotel operating revenue and should not be added to room or ancillary revenue when calculating a property's guest spend.

The tax total also cannot be divided by the number of hotel rooms to create a tax-per-room benchmark without an aligned room-night denominator. A property-level report should keep tax collected, tax remitted, room revenue, food and beverage revenue, and other ancillary revenue in separate fields.

Hotel wages and benefits are projected to approach $131 billion, so spending is not profit

AHLA says the hotel industry paid nearly $128 billion in wages and benefits in 2025 and projects that figure to approach $131 billion in 2026. The labor total is an operating-cost context for the spending forecast, not a deduction that can be applied directly to the $805 billion guest-spending figure.

The distinction matters for operators deciding whether a higher-spend experience is worthwhile. A hotel can increase food and beverage or ancillary revenue while also increasing staffing, service hours, inventory, payroll taxes, waste, and maintenance. The relevant local measure is contribution after the costs required to deliver the spend, not gross guest spend alone.

GOPPAR remains roughly 90% of 2019 levels despite the guest-spending forecast

AHLA identifies rising operating expenses as a primary factor keeping gross operating profit per available room, or GOPPAR, at roughly 90% of 2019 levels. GOPPAR is a profitability measure per available room, not a guest-spending measure per guest or per occupied room.

The contrast is one of the most useful insights in the source. Aggregate spending can rise while profitability remains below a prior benchmark if labor, supplies, utilities, distribution, maintenance, and other operating costs rise faster. An article that reports $805 billion without showing this cost and profit context would overstate what the total means for hotel owners.

Direct hotel operations employment is about 2.2 million jobs, with more than 30,000 projected additions in 2026

AHLA projects direct hotel operations employment at approximately 2.2 million jobs and expects the workforce to grow by more than 30,000 jobs in 2026. Employment is not guest spend, but it is part of the capacity required to turn a booking into the experience that produces room, food and beverage, and ancillary revenue.

For a property, the useful comparison is between revenue-producing activity and the labor hours required to deliver it. Track spend per occupied room night alongside labor hours, payroll cost, service hours, outlet hours, room turns, and complaint or recovery volume. This prevents a high spend figure from hiding a service model that cannot be delivered consistently.

Food and beverage satisfaction rose 14 points, but satisfaction is not food and beverage revenue

J.D. Power reports that food and beverage satisfaction increased 14 points in 2026 across its North American branded-hotel study. The study covers 44,787 branded hotel guests, 104 brands, and nine hotel segments. This is useful context for examining food and beverage as a guest-experience and ancillary-revenue category.

The 14-point change does not provide food and beverage revenue, average check, outlet capture rate, spend per occupied room, or profit margin. Operators should connect the satisfaction measure to local revenue fields such as restaurant, bar, room service, breakfast, minibar, and event spend, while keeping the denominators visible.

Value for prices paid rose 18 points while U.S. hotel ADR rose about 1%

J.D. Power reports an 18-point increase in value for prices paid and says the 2026 improvement occurred while the average daily rate for a U.S. hotel room rose about 1% year over year. The result suggests that guests can perceive better value even when the room rate is not falling.

Value is still not a spending total. It is a guest perception measured in the J.D. Power index. A property can use the pairing as a diagnostic question: did higher rates come with better room condition, service, inclusions, food and beverage, facilities, technology, or recovery? That answer requires property data, not a division of the $805 billion forecast.

Overall satisfaction reached 665, but an index score cannot be converted into spend

The 2026 J.D. Power overall hotel guest satisfaction score rose 13 points to 665 on a 1,000-point scale. It is based on guest responses to the broader stay experience across seven dimensions, including guest room, staff service, facilities, food and beverage, connectivity, check-in and checkout, and value for prices paid.

There is no valid formula that converts 665 points into dollars per guest. The score can be analyzed alongside spend, but the property must join the survey and revenue data at a consistent level, such as stay, room night, guest, or segment. Otherwise the article risks presenting an experience index as a financial benchmark.

The correct property-level spend metrics use matching guest, stay, and room-night denominators

The public AHLA total is useful for market context, but owners need local formulas:

• Spend per completed stay = eligible guest spend divided by completed stays.
• Spend per occupied room night = eligible guest spend divided by occupied room nights.
• Spend per guest = eligible guest spend divided by counted guests.
• Ancillary spend share = food and beverage plus eligible ancillary revenue divided by total hotel revenue or the defined guest-spend numerator.
• Food and beverage capture per occupied room = food and beverage revenue divided by occupied room nights.
• Net ancillary contribution = ancillary revenue minus directly attributable labor, inventory, payment, distribution, and service costs.

Define the numerator before publishing the result. State whether the figure includes room revenue, taxes, gratuities, parking, spa, resort fees, upgrades, or only on-property ancillary purchases. Then cut it by property type, room type, guest segment, channel, length of stay, season, and rate plan. That is how an aggregate market forecast becomes a useful, linkable operating statistic without pretending to be an average guest ticket.

Sources

• American Hotel and Lodging Association 2026 State of the Industry, published January 27, 2026. Provides the $805 billion guest-spending forecast, tax totals, wages and benefits, GOPPAR context, and direct hotel operations employment.
• J.D. Power 2026 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study press release, published July 14, 2026. Provides the overall satisfaction score, dimension changes, sample, segment scope, smart TV measures, and U.S. ADR context.
• J.D. Power North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study overview. Defines the seven guest-experience dimensions and segment benchmarking.