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What will your clients want from their hotels in 2027?
Increasingly, choosing where to stay is about much more than finding the right destination, star rating and price. Travellers are thinking about what they want to get from the trip – whether that’s switching off, spending quality time together, following a passion or simply making every day away count.
For travel agents, understanding those motivations can make it easier to recommend a hotel that really fits the brief.
So, as attention begins to turn towards 2027, here are some of the travel trends worth having on your radar – and the types of properties that could help you tap into them.
The hotel becomes part of the experience
For some travellers, the days of choosing a hotel simply as somewhere to sleep are disappearing. Restaurants, rooftop bars, spas, pools, entertainment and social spaces can all influence the decision, with clients increasingly looking at what they can experience without even leaving the property.
This can be particularly important for shorter trips, where having plenty to do under one roof helps clients make the most of every day.
5* Fontainebleau Las Vegas
Fontainebleau Las Vegas is a destination in its own right. Alongside more than 3,600 luxury rooms and suites, the resort brings together an extensive collection of restaurants, bars and cafés, a six-acre pool area, live entertainment, nightlife and Lapis Spa & Wellness. For clients who want their hotel to deliver almost as much excitement as the destination outside, there’s plenty here to fill a stay.
Family travel is taking different forms
The traditional family holiday is changing. Parents travelling with adult children, grandparents joining the trip and even grandparents holidaying with grandchildren without the parents are creating increasingly varied family groups.
That can make choosing the right hotel more important than ever. Pools and activities might keep younger guests entertained, while good dining, comfortable spaces to relax and facilities aimed at adults can make the same property work for several generations.
4* Walt Disney World Dolphin, Orlando
At Walt Disney World Dolphin, there’s plenty to appeal across the generations. Families can enjoy a three-acre grotto pool complete with waterfalls, caves and a waterslide, alongside additional pools and a white-sand beach. Dining, a health club and Mandara Spa add options for adults, while its location in the EPCOT Resort Area makes it an obvious base for families planning plenty of theme park time.
More trips are being built around a purpose
Sometimes the question isn’t simply “Where shall we go?” but “What do we want to do?”
Concerts, sporting fixtures, festivals and other special events are increasingly becoming the reason to travel in the first place. And rather than simply attending an event and heading home, clients may choose to build a longer break around it – adding extra nights to explore the destination or even combining more than one stop within the same trip.
For agents, understanding the purpose behind the booking can help shape the hotel recommendation too. A client travelling for a concert may prioritise easy transport links, while someone heading to a major sporting event might be tempted to add a few extra nights and turn the occasion into a longer holiday.
4* voco Gold Coast
voco Gold Coast combines a central Surfers Paradise location with the facilities clients need to turn a specific event or activity into a proper getaway. Guests have two outdoor pools, a gym and several dining options to enjoy between days out, while the beach and wider attractions of the Gold Coast are close at hand. It’s an easy option for clients who want to combine what brought them to the destination with some downtime too.
Wellness becomes part of the holiday
Wellness travel has moved well beyond the traditional spa weekend. For many clients, rest and relaxation are becoming part of the reason for travelling in the first place.
That might mean spa treatments and thermal waters, but it can just as easily mean slowing down, spending more time outdoors or choosing a resort where there’s no pressure to fill every day with sightseeing.
As travellers become more conscious of how they spend their time away, hotels that make it easy to relax, recharge and enjoy a slower pace can have an increasingly important role to play in the overall holiday experience.
4* Mabu Thermas Grand Resort, Brazil
Set in Foz do Iguaçu, Mabu Thermas Grand Resort makes its thermal waters a central part of the experience. Guests can relax in thermal pools or visit the spa, while a beach, sports courts, games room and access to Blue Park water park provide plenty of options for more active days. It’s a useful choice for clients who want to balance downtime with activities and exploring the wider destination.
Clients want more from their accommodation
For some travellers, a standard hotel room simply isn’t the best fit.
Longer stays, groups and families can all benefit from accommodation offering extra space, kitchen facilities or separate living areas. Travellers may also want to maintain some of their usual routines while they’re away, particularly when staying for more than a few nights.
For agents, it’s worth looking beyond the star rating. Sometimes the extra space or flexibility offered by the room itself can add more to the client’s experience than moving up a hotel category.
4* Citadines Connect City Centre Singapore
Citadines Connect City Centre Singapore brings a fresh, contemporary approach to a city stay. Stylish rooms are complemented by a rooftop swimming pool and fitness facilities, giving guests useful spaces to relax between exploring. Its central location also puts shopping, dining and some of Singapore’s best-known neighbourhoods within easy reach, making it a versatile base for clients who want to experience plenty during their stay.
Travellers are making every trip count
Another interesting shift is the desire to get more than one experience from a single holiday.
Rather than staying in one place throughout, some clients may be open to splitting their time between different hotels or locations. That could mean combining a lively city-centre stay with a few quieter nights, pairing sightseeing with time at a resort, or experiencing two very different sides of the same destination.
For agents, this creates more opportunities to build a holiday around the individual experiences a client wants, rather than thinking of every trip as one destination, one hotel.
It could also be a great way to encourage clients to extend their stay, explore somewhere new or add something completely different to a trip they were already planning.
What does this mean for 2027 hotel bookings?
If there’s one theme connecting these trends, it’s that hotel choice is becoming increasingly personal.
The right recommendation might be a resort packed with entertainment for one client and somewhere designed for switching off for another. Families may need facilities that work across several generations, while clients travelling for an event might prioritise location and transport links. Others may want more space, greater flexibility or a hotel that becomes a memorable part of the holiday itself.
For agents, asking a few more questions about why clients are travelling – not just where they want to go – can help narrow down the options and find a stay that genuinely suits the way they want to travel.
