Award-winning luxury travel and hospitality PR and digital media agency Modern Currency Public Relations®, today announces the release of its third annual Luxury Travel & Hospitality Trend Report Forecast for 2026, a forward-looking industry lens that examines the cultural, behavioral, and economic forces reshaping how U.S. and global travelers will seek, spend, explore, and experience the year ahead.
Led bytravel industry strategist and CEO & Founder Meghan Patke, the annual trend forecast synthesizes insights and emerging market data, reflecting the agency’s sharpened point of view across high-impact categories including the evolution of domestic tourism, the new expectations defining the ultra-high-networth traveler (UHNWI), and the continued rise of regenerative and wellness-driven hospitality, all taking shape against the backdrop of major domestic moments, milestone anniversaries, and global events fueling renewed excitement around travel.
As traveler psychology continues to evolve, driven by shifting notions of “worth it,” heightened demand for authenticity, and an increasingly connected digital ecosystem influencing discovery behavior, the 2026 travel landscape reveals a more intentional and experience-led approach to trip planning with travelers gravitating toward properties and brands that deliver cultural depth, privacy, and a renewed sense of personal meaning. From the quiet-luxury preferences redefining premium hotel offerings to the expanding role of social media in shaping destination desirability and perceived exclusivity, Modern Currency PR identifies the top 10 most defining themes, movements, and predictions expected to shape the global travel and hospitality industries in 2026:
- The Mega-Dacade Driving U.S. Sports Tourism: U.S. cities are set to become players in the global arena as it prepares for the World Cup to the Olympics.
- The Great American Roadtrip: The classic American journey has been reborn with Route 66’s centennial anniversary, appealing to a new generation of conscious travelers looking to hit the open road.
- PastPorts: From childhood favorites to exploring reimagined escapes, nostalgia is the new itinerary for 2026.
- Quiet is the Ultimate Status Symbol: The new prestige lies in privacy, not presence.
- Self-Care Goes Social: Community-based wellness and social fitness experiences take center stage.
- Second-Life Stays: Story-driven, sustainable design hotels offer growing appeal to culturally attuned travelers.
- Sensorial Dining: The new era of culinary tourism is guided by a desire to activate all five senses.
- Glowmads: Beauty rituals are shaping the where, why & how we travel in 2026.
- Therapy-Cations: From spa treatments to soul treatments, travel is in the process of its own emotional awakening.
- Social as a Search Engine: Booking a trip based on the hotel you found on TikTok is the new status quo.
As we enter a year defined by cultural milestones and once-in-a-generation shared experiences, we’re seeing a meaningful acceleration in how the world’s most discerning travelers decide where, and why, they go. In an industry evolving faster than travelers can refresh their feeds, relevancy is—and always will be—your modern currency. The brands winning in 2026 aren’t chasing headlines; they’re anticipating cultural shifts, reading traveler sentiment in real time, and building experiences rooted in empathy, privacy, and purpose. At Modern Currency, we sit at the intersection of innovation and intuition, where creativity and data collide and thoughtful storytelling becomes the backbone and business driver for hospitality brands willing to evolve. Our role is not only to translate trend signals into strategy but to shape the narrative before it arrives. Meghan Patke, CEO & Founder, Modern Currency Public Relations
With global luxury travel spend projected to increase by more than 6% into 2026, the ultra-affluent are gravitating toward narrative-driven design, privacy as a status symbol, and experiences that feel emotionally restorative. We’re watching artificial intelligence quietly transform the discovery and planning process, shifting search behavior from passive browsing to highly personalized, preference-based curation while the continued convergence of fashion and hospitality introduces new layers of aesthetic storytelling, cobranded retail, and experiential product drops designed to create cultural heat and social capital. Across our agency’s award-winning portfolio, these behaviors are accelerating demand for strategic partnerships that expand reach, deepen relevance, and drive campaign efficacy across channels, reinforcing a future where hospitality success is built not on spectacle or scale, but on intimacy, intentionality, and the art of making travelers feel profoundly understood. Vice President, Jordan Robinson
Since its inception in 2017, Modern Currency PR is renowned for its insight-driven high-impact campaigns that create measurable growth, resonance, and relevancy for some of the world’s most compelling travel, hospitality, lifestyle, and aviation brands including Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, JSX, Casetta Hotels, Castle Hot Springs, The Resort at Pelican Hill, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (Miramar, Breakers, and San Juan, Puerto Rico), Few & Far Luvhondo (South Africa), Omni Hotels & Resorts (West Coast portfolio), The William Vale/EOS Hospitality & more.
