Key takeaways
- Demand is strong, but scrutiny is stronger — approvals will hinge on a CFO-ready “why.”
- Cost pressure persists — protect high-impact moments and cut quietly elsewhere.
- Live events are becoming the antidote to AI noise — trust comes from human interaction.
- Personalization is finally practical — focus on one or two moments attendees actually feel.
- Planning windows and air capacity leave little margin — build buffers and push faster decisions
If the past few years were defined by volatility, 2026 will be defined by selectivity.
Event demand is still high. Optimism hasn’t vanished. But tolerance for cost increases, fluff, and “because we’ve always done it this way” has evaporated.
The meetings and incentive travel industry enters 2026 in a familiar but uncomfortable position: strong underlying demand paired with relentless pressure – from cost increases and attendee expectations.
Michael Dominguez, President and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International, who is known for his in-depth industry-outlook speeches, summarized the mood succinctly as:
“It’s partly cloudy. Chaos and a lot of uncertainty. But overall, we’re doing OK.”
Below are Brightspot’s insights shaping meetings and incentive travel in 2026 – paired with a single action framework leaders can use to make faster decisions, protect experience quality, and keep budgets defensible.
In summary: In 2026, the best events won’t be the biggest – they’ll be the ones where every element earns its line item.
Macro Trends Affecting Both Meetings and Incentive Travel
Confidence Holds, Scrutiny Rises
Meetings aren’t declining — but every event must justify its existence in financial terms.
Event demand remains strong. American Express Global Business Travel reported optimism among planners at a 5-year high – 85% of event professionals are optimistic or very optimistic heading into 2026.
But what has changed is the approval process. Timelines are slower, budgets are scrutinized, and leaders increasingly want clarity on why an event exists – not just whether it should. This is not recession fear; it is decision friction. Events that cannot clearly articulate their business objective struggle to move forward.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Prepare a concise, CFO-ready explanation of purpose tied directly to business outcomes.
Cost Inflation Sustains, but Subsides
Costs remain elevated, but smarter design – not bigger budgets – will determine success.
Every research report reflects the same pressure points – hotel rates and air travel consistently rank as planners’ #1 challenge. The Incentive Report from the global publisher, C&IT (Conference & Incentive Travel), concurs with the global cost challenge. “The primary pressure points are in accommodation and travel fares, which have seen sustained increases.”
Fortunately, inflation is projected to moderate to 2–4%, but cumulative increases from prior years leave little room for waste. Agencies, like Brightspot, are increasingly viewed as cost-offsetting investments, tasked with protecting value through sourcing expertise and efficiency rather than absorbing cuts alone.
Michael Butler, Brightspot VP of Sales, is quick to point out: “Consider the agency an investment. The agency goal is ‘Zero Net Cost’ – where the agency saves significant hard and soft costs that fully offset its fee!”
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Cut quietly in low-visibility areas to protect moments attendees truly feel.
The Value Engineering Era
Planners are becoming editors, forced to make hard trade-offs between ambition and affordability.
With budgets lagging behind expectations, there is a “widening gap between ambition and affordability,” according to C&IT. This gap forces meeting planners into a new role: editor, not just producer. Every element must earn its place in the event spreadsheet. Hard decisions are required, and trade-offs will be made. Value engineering will be both a strategic and creative skill, not a logistical and procurement process. 2026 is a good year to replace expensive spectacles with intimacy and interaction.
Stan Hershenow, Brightspot Account Executive, concurs: “Do you know your audience?” Do you really know what impacts them? Executives might opt for what appeals to them, but they risk their event falling short of expectations.”
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Spend where attendees notice; save where they don’t.
Air Travel is Tighter than a Middle Seat
Full flights, limited capacity, and fragile schedules leave no margin for error in 2026.
Anyone who flew in 2025 knows capacity was tight, flights were full, and delays were plentiful. Demand has risen, but supply cannot keep up. The IRF 2026 Trends Report confirms that meeting planners “report concerns around flight delays, cancellations, fluctuating prices, and a process that is largely out of their control.”
The result is no wiggle room for weather delays or equipment problems, especially for destinations with limited lift. If passengers lack elite flier status, a cancelled flight will require many more hours (or even days), along with rerouting and connections. Incentive travel programs and meetings alike must assume tighter timelines and fewer recovery options.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Build buffers, validate airlift early, and prepare attendees for flexibility.
Meeting Trends for 2026
Live Events Become the Antidote to AI
As AI floods content channels, in-person events are becoming the most trusted form of engagement.
One of the most fascinating predictions on events came from outside the industry. Billionaire, Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, captured the downstream effect from AI:
“Within the next 3 years, there will be so much AI, in particular AI video, that people won’t know if what they see or hear is real. Which will lead to an explosion of F2F engagement, events, and jobs.”
Skift called live events the antidote to “AI slop”, a new term from the Harvard Business Review for AI-generated work content that masquerades as quality work but lacks meaningful substance or is missing crucial context. Freeman research supports this, showing that “in-person events are rated as the most trusted information source… and the most effective means of building lasting trust and driving business results.” Bottom line – live events offer something algorithms cannot: authenticity, credibility, and shared human experience.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Be authentic with live interaction, genuine conversation, and peer exchanges.
AI Is Accepted Backstage — Contested Onstage
AI is welcomed for logistics and planning, but thought leadership must remain unmistakably human.
AI adoption is widespread, but uneven. Adoption is still in its early stages, according to C&IT and Northstar Meetings Group, with limited use among planners, suggesting its full impact on workflows has not yet been realized. McKinsey agrees: “Most organizations are still in the experimentation or piloting phase. Nearly two-thirds of respondents say their organizations have not yet begun scaling AI across the enterprise.”
Mary Muldoon, Brightspot Senior Sourcing Manager, called this current phase: “Pilot to Production,” where we shift through:
- Past: One size fits all
- Present: One size fits some
- Future: One size fits one
Planners increasingly use AI to support research, logistics, and early drafts, but Skift suggests a clear ethical line at AI-generated thought leadership. Audiences expect ideas, perspectives, and stories to be human-led.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Use AI as a helper – not a voice.
The Personalization Imperative: Make Every Attendee Feel Like a VIP
AI finally makes personalization scalable — but only when used selectively and intentionally.
Connect Space deserves credit for naming that trend headline, but AI may get credit for executing it. The entire meetings industry has been pursuing personalization for years. It is a super goal, but a heavy lift. A convergence of detailed registration data, AI, and smart meeting planners is making better progress on personalization for 2026.
Carson Fitzgerald, Brightspot Senior Manager of Events Technology, highlights these personalization examples:
- Content recommendations based on professional interests
- Targeted session selection, where only relevant options display (without filtering or scrolling)
- Personalized travel communications
- Smarter networking suggestions connecting compatible attendees through event apps (with recommended meeting times and locations)
- Table assignments for guests of similar networking interests
- Preference-driven on-site experiences, based on selections such as favorite color, drink, or snack, to curate personalized room drops, welcome gifts, and in-the-moment touches
- Targeted sponsor interactions that feel valuable, not intrusive
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Use AI time savings to deliver personalization that attendees actually notice.
Attendees Become Co-Curators
Attendees expect agency, choice, and participation — not passive consumption.
Formats like unconferences and build-your-own agendas reflect a shift in power. Delegates are no longer passive recipients – they expect agency over how they spend their time. C&IT describes a shift “from delegates to deciders,” with a radical empowerment of the audience, not as a passive recipient of content but as an active co-curator of the event experience itself. It is hard to pull off, but let attendees shape content live.
Format changes, driven by attendees, include:
- Less general session and death-by-PowerPoint
- More breakouts, more interactive roundtables
- Faster pacing throughout
- Tighter travel windows, with attendees desiring to return to their home, office, or remote desk
Michelle Hiltabidel, Brightspot Senior Meeting Manager, comments: “More downtime, or white space, allows for more organic conversations or simply time to catch up on emails. And lots of nostalgia-themed elements to help people connect emotionally with events or content.” Pillsbury even brought back the Doughboy last year! Michelle is right; nostalgia is back.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Offer modular agendas, optional tracks, and intentional white space.
Planning Windows Shrink
Slower approvals and faster competition are compressing timelines and increasing risk.
Meeting planners are matchmakers between hotels and companies seeking a love connection among space availability, calendar fit, and budget constraints. But, public companies live within quarter-to-quarter cycles that disrupt lead times (and cost savings). Skift Meetings Megatrends 2026 calls it a time crunch for sourcing and a scheduling puzzle, where last-minute approvals, geopolitical instability, and budget caution compress planning timelines.
Hotels are less willing to hold space, and “courtesy holds” are largely obsolete. Just-in-time planning is becoming common, but it increases risk and stress.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Push leadership for quicker decisions to protect cost and quality. (It’s for their own good!)
Experience-First Design Becomes the Baseline
Events are now judged by how they feel, not just how they look or what was said.
Attendees evaluate events emotionally. Sense of place, cultural immersion, and experiential flow are no longer differentiators — they’re expectations. Events increasingly move beyond ballrooms into neighborhoods, venues, and community spaces. Giving participants a change of scenery and local, immersive experiences allows for greater emotional connection and a sense of place.
“A greater focus on transformational events” was interesting terminology from an IBTM Trends Report. “For companies to stay relevant and hold the competitive edge, they must move from being experience providers to transformation architects. The future of the industry lies not in events that we attend but in experiences that become part of who we are.”
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Use local culture as programming, not decoration.
Micro-Events and Regional Formats Gain Share
Depth, proximity, and relevance are outperforming scale and spectacle.
Brightspot predicted this trend back in 2022, coming out of COVID, when we thought attendees would be reluctant to travel to big-tent meetings, but now we see the reluctance was not due to fear of illness but due to calendar fatigue. Instead of relying on a single massive annual event, organizations are building localized event portfolios: regional gatherings, curated dinners, and collaborative working sessions. Proximity is now strategic.
Skift Megatrends noted “bigger isn’t always better: micro events are the next big thing.” Cvent (which sees a big data compilation of event registrations) commented that small events have a big impact and are driving business growth. And, the Channel Marketing Association sees a pronounced shift away from large, generic, pay-to-play events toward education-focused, community-based, and localized events – getting closer to partners and customers than large expos.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Prioritize depth over scale; reconsider roadshows.
The Attendee–Organizer Perception Gap
Organizers think they’re delivering peak moments — attendees often disagree.
A stark disconnect was reported by Ken Holsinger, Senior Vice President of Industry Research and Insights at Freeman, at IMEX Americas. The most recent Freeman Trends Report found that 78% of organizers believe attendees experienced a “peak moment,” but only 40% of attendees agreed.
Attendees prioritize learning, discovery, and connection, while organizers often over-rotate toward ceremony and spectacle. They broadcast, rather than facilitate. The gap is no longer ignorable – it’s time to redefine peak moments around attendee goals for interaction and learning.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Trade some ceremony time for facilitated interaction.
Infrastructure Expansion Brings Opportunity
New convention centers and airports create opportunity, but timing and risk management matter.
For many years, the supply of meeting space grew more slowly than demand. Hotel development paused during COVID and was slow to regain momentum.
We’re now in “The Expansion Era”, with billions now being invested in convention center and airport expansions nationwide, creating new opportunities and opening doors to new destinations. Major convention expansions are currently underway in Las Vegas, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and Cincinnati. However, construction delays and phased openings require caution and early planning.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Book early in new spaces – and give yourself plenty of lead time.
Europe Pulls Sustainability Forward
Sustainability remains important but cost pressure is reshaping how it’s implemented.
Sustainability is a passionate topic for meeting planners, CEOs, and Millennial attendees alike, with European regulations and reporting requirements continuing to influence global standards.
However, if sustainability increases costs or alters the banquet menu, many companies back off and do what can be done sustainably without additional charges. Practical, low-cost adjustments are gaining traction, including waste reduction, locally sourced food and beverage, and experiences that benefit local communities.
Which brings us to an interesting shift to watch in the years ahead – UK-based C&IT noted “wellness and sustainability, while still present, are no longer the primary focus they were predicted to be and have settled into being secondary to the core challenges of budget management and delivering a high-quality, authentic experience.”
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Go green without spending green.
Incentive Travel Trends for 2026
Incentive Travel Remains Valuable, but Faces Headwinds
Belief in incentive travel is strong, even as costs, complexity, and stress rise.
The Incentive Travel Index shows optimism softening even as belief in the value of incentive travel remains strong. Stephanie Harris, president of the Incentive Research Foundation, notes: “While 75% agree that the value of incentive travel remains strong, they also say the business gets tougher every year.” Cost pressures, global instability, and slow decision-making are raising planner stress levels.
A staggering 92% of C&IT survey respondents said they were concerned about rising costs. The pressure to “deliver more with less” is intensifying, particularly as trends indicate that the scope of each event is growing.
In response to recent budget pressures, the IRF 2026 Trends Report says the ability to do more with less is simply gone. Small tweaks are no longer possible. Incentive professionals are now having to make program cuts. Trip hosts most often reduced gifts and décor. Other common adjustments by planners include less-expensive destinations, shorter trip durations, or fewer winners.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Focus on emotional impact, not scale.
New Places Gain Momentum
Winners are increasingly motivated by novelty — but infrastructure still matters.
Almost 70% of trip winners are seeking destinations they haven’t experienced before, with sales reps acknowledging they would be more motivated to win if the trip were to a new-to-them destination.
The planner paradox is the challenging pursuit of a new destination must also include incentive-quality tourism support with direct air access, top-tier accommodations, and strong DMC partners. Novelty is expected, but without excessive risk. Perhaps, a good alternative is to revisit a past, popular destination – in a new way.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Look beyond traditional gateways – thoughtfully.
Authenticity Replaces Generic Luxury
Destination-driven experiences now outperform traditional luxury signals.
This theme has been repeated in recent years. Generational shifts in attendee expectations crave authenticity and genuine connection to the destination, rather than open bars and luxury dining. Localized activities over generic catamarans and ziplines, and dining options that truly match the destination flair allow the destination to become the hero – not the hotel.
Authenticity is being fueled heavily by next-gen attendees. Younger travelers crave local, experiential, and culturally rooted programs — not generic five-star routines. From destinations and hotels to entertainment and activities to gifting to food and beverage – it influences every aspect of incentive program design.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Swap one typical element for a local, story-rich experience
Free Time and Autonomy Become Premium
Flexibility itself has become one of the most valued rewards.
Two years ago, winners ranked “ample time to relax” as the #1 most important quality of an incentive trip. Sales reps have been stretched thin professionally and personally. Flexibility itself becomes a reward, and top performers increasingly value autonomy.
Rudy Garza, the new President and CEO of Brightspot, always adds here, “The good news is free time is free for the budget too!” Downtime at a 5-star resort is a win-win.
This still rings true today. Less programming often feels more luxurious – and costs less!
“As we look ahead to 2026, it’s clear that the meaning behind each journey matters more than ever. People are traveling with purpose, whether that’s to reconnect, recharge, (re)discover, or just take a breath. At Hilton, we call this shift the whycation: it’s a global movement rooted in intentionality, where travel begins not with a destination, but with a motivation.”
– Chris Nassetta, President & Chief Executive Officer, Hilton
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Avoid over-programming; add free time.
Alcohol-Centric Incentives Fade
Wellness-forward, inclusive experiences are replacing boozy norms.
Say goodbye to the typical boozy incentive! Attendees now expect alcohol-free options to be a requirement on their trips. The C&IT Incentive Report recommends “wellness-led itineraries, alcohol-free mixology sessions, and more inclusive social formats” as you plan your next incentive trip.
The societal change away from heavy alcohol consumption is being significantly fueled by Gen Z, which has higher rates of teetotalism than previous generations. In fact, Gallup surveys report alcohol consumption at a 90-year low, with only 54% of US adults saying they drink alcohol. Meanwhile, wellness is soaring, especially among younger generations and aging Baby Boomers. Zero-proof, low-proof, and wellness-forward experiences are no longer niche – they’re expected.
Functional wellness beverages that support health without the negative effects of alcohol are rising in popularity. Adaptogenic drinks and smoothies infused with ingredients like collagen, magnesium, and herbs are becoming popular for their ability to improve focus, enhance cognition, and provide balanced energy without alcohol. Wellness-focused drinks are better for attendees, inclusive for non-drinkers, and offer new sensations while leaving everyone feeling refreshed and connected with healthy socialization.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Treat alcohol-free offerings as premium.
Pop Culture Shapes Incentive Design
Incentives are becoming identity statements participants want to talk about afterward.
Annette Gregg of SITE predicts: “As incentive travel participants are trending younger, we see a trend of combining pop culture in program design”. From planning around filming locations featured on The White Lotus, bringing in a singer from The Voice for a private concert, or hosting a workshop on how to create a good TikTok video, seek to design moments people want to talk about after the trip.
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Ask local travel partners about pop culture connections.
Clean Drone Spectacle Replaces Excess
New technology enables high-impact moments with lower environmental and community cost.
New technology enables drone shows and low-impact spectacles to replace fireworks, delivering shareable moments with less environmental and operational risk. Fleets of drones equipped with LED lights can be choreographed into logos, animations, and dynamic stories in the sky, resulting in a memorable kickoff or farewell. They create less noise and debris fallout, and they can be synchronized with music. It is still new and exciting – and very shareable. It balances wow with sustainability and community impact.
Genny Castleberry, Brightspot Director of Sourcing, notes: “The ‘goodbye’ experience is so memorable, but many times, we are so focused on the welcome experience that we don’t always close the loop with the same impact.”
TO-DO RECOMMENDATION: Use new tech to close strong, not just open big.
Taken together, these trends point to a clear shift in how meetings and incentive programs must be designed and defended. Success in 2026 isn’t about reacting to every trend — it’s about making better, intentional decisions faster. The most effective teams are using a small set of principles to guide where they invest, where they simplify, and where they say no.
Brightspot’s 2026 Event Decision Playbook
Rather than treating each trend in isolation, Brightspot sees the strongest 2026 programs guided by a consistent set of decision principles. This playbook reflects how leading organizations are navigating tighter budgets, higher expectations, and growing complexity — without sacrificing experience quality.
1. Start With Purpose, Not Production
In 2026, events that move forward fastest are those that clearly articulate why they exist. Leaders want to understand the business outcome before approving the format, scale, or spend.
In practice: Anchor every program to a primary objective — pipeline acceleration, enablement, loyalty, retention, or alignment — and let that objective shape all downstream decisions.
2. Protect What Attendees Feel
When budgets are under pressure, the instinct is often to trim across the board. The programs that perform best do the opposite: they reduce quietly in low-visibility areas while protecting moments that attendees actually experience and remember.
In practice: Cut redundancy and décor excess to preserve high-impact moments like meaningful content, facilitated connection, strong openings, and memorable closings.
3. Design for Trust in an AI-Saturated World
As AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, live events carry a heavier responsibility — and opportunity. They are increasingly trusted as spaces for real learning, real dialogue, and real connection.
In practice: Use AI to improve planning efficiency, personalization, and logistics — but keep insight, storytelling, and thought leadership unmistakably human.
4. Make Personalization Selective — Not Exhaustive
Personalization has long been an industry aspiration. In 2026, it becomes practical — but only when applied intentionally. Attendees don’t need everything customized; they need relevance.
In practice: Focus on one or two personalization moments that attendees genuinely feel, supported by smarter data, registration insights, and AI-assisted execution.
5. Design With Less Margin for Error
Air travel constraints, compressed planning windows, and faster-moving competitors leave little room for disruption. Resilience is now a core design requirement.
In practice: Validate airlift early, build realistic buffers, and push for faster internal decisions to protect cost, quality, and attendee experience.
6. Choose the Right Format — Not the Biggest One
Organizations are increasingly questioning whether a single flagship event is the best answer. In many cases, smaller, regional, or modular formats deliver better engagement with less fatigue.
In practice: Evaluate portfolios of events, micro-formats, or regional gatherings that trade scale for relevance and depth.
2026 Trend Priorities: Where to Focus First
Not every trend requires equal attention. Based on Brightspot’s experience and industry data, the following priorities are emerging as the most impactful for 2026 planning.
1. Highest-Impact Priorities
These trends consistently deliver the strongest return on experience, budget, and approval confidence:
- Experience-first design that prioritizes how events feel
- Value engineering that protects attendee-facing moments
- Live, human-centered formats that build trust and connection
- Micro-events and regional approaches that reduce fatigue and increase relevance
2. Build Into Your 2026 Planning Rhythm
These trends are becoming standard expectations rather than differentiators:
- Backstage AI adoption for efficiency and planning support
- Practical personalization driven by better data and tools
- Intentional white space, flexibility, and attendee autonomy
3. Use Selectively When They Fit the Story
These trends can elevate programs when aligned with the audience and objectives:
- New destinations and nontraditional venues
- Zero- and low-proof hospitality as premium, inclusive options
- New spectacle technologies (such as drone shows), when they support narrative and close
A simple filter: If a trend doesn’t improve attendee experience, reduce risk, or strengthen business alignment, it doesn’t need to be prioritized.
The programs that will succeed in 2026 won’t be louder, larger, or more expensive. They’ll be more intentional. More selective. And more grounded in what attendees actually value. As expectations rise and tolerance falls, the role of the planner continues to evolve — from producer to editor, from coordinator to strategist. The opportunity ahead isn’t to do more, but to do fewer things better. And for organizations willing to make those choices thoughtfully, 2026 offers not less potential — but sharper, more meaningful impact.
Turning trends into decisions is where the real work begins.
Brightspot partners with organizations to translate industry insight into practical, experience-driven programs — from meetings to incentive travel — designed for today’s constraints and tomorrow’s expectations.
