Market Trends

Travel continues to hold a treasured place in holiday plans, but many Americans are holding their wallets a little closer this year. Our 2025 Deloitte Holiday Travel Survey finds that financial concerns appear to lie at the root of several indicators of a softer season, despite the continued enthusiasm for travel.

Sydney, Australia - Online travel agencies (OTAs) have overtaken search engines as travellers’ primary starting point for hotel discovery, according to SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2026, released today. Twenty-six percent of travellers surveyed will now begin their hotel research on an OTA, up from 18% last year, while those who will start with a search engine have fallen to 21% from 36%.Word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family have doubled from 7% to 14%, familiar hotel brands have grown from 3% to 7%, while AI use as a discovery starting point has reached 4%, up from 1% last year — rising higher among Gen Zs and Millennials.The hotel discovery landscape is more dynamic than it’s ever been before. Not only is the starting point of research diversifying, but travellers are moving more seamlessly between channels, often using several simultaneously to build confidence in their choices. This non-linear journey has become the natural rhythm of modern travel plannin...

According to the Q3 2025 Middle East Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), the region’s hotel construction pipeline reached a new all-time project high, standing at 659 projects/163,816 rooms at the close of the quarter. The total pipeline increased 8% by projects and 9% by rooms year-over-year (YOY), showing steady growth for the region’s hospitality sector.