Marriott International, the largest hotel company globally, operates over 150 properties in India and plans to add 80 more in the next five years. Its hospitality pipeline spans luxury resorts, urban business hotels and midscale offerings tailored to India’s fast-growing middle class.
Hilton is scaling up rapidly with 25 hotels open, 20 more in development and four new brands launching in India by 2025.
Hyatt has over 45 hotels there and continues expanding into so-called Tier-2 cities to serve both corporate and leisure travelers.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts operates 50 hotels in 35 Indian cities and aims to double that figure through partnerships in midscale and budget properties.
Behind these ambitious plans are the fact that India was ignored by the big chains for decades—and, as a destination for international tourists, is hardly on the map.
In 2019, India attracted just 10.9 million foreign visitors—a fraction of the 80 million who visited the U.S. or the 90 million who traveled to France. Almost as many visited a single city—London—last year. Within Asia, Thailand and Malaysia attract far more tourists than India. This gap, of course, presents a major opportunity. U.S. hotel brands are well-positioned not just to support India’s thriving domestic travel base but to shape the next chapter of its rise.
Indians in the U.S.
Then there is the other side of the coin. Indian travelers are reshaping the American hospitality market.
India is now one of the fastest-growing sources of inbound tourism to the United States. In 2024, 2.2 million Indian tourists visited the U.S., a 24% increase over the previous year, making India the second-largest overseas market for U.S. tourism outside of North America. By 2025, India is projected to become the third-largest source of international visitors to the U.S., behind Canada and Mexico. Indian travelers are not just arriving in greater numbers—they are also spending more. In 2023, Indian tourists spent over $20 billion in the U.S. by some estimates, placing them among the top-spending international traveling demographics.
American hotels are aware and seizing the opportunity. Luxury chains are expanding vegetarian, vegan and Jain-friendly dining options. Business hotels in New York, San Francisco and Chicago are offering India-specific amenities, from electric tea kettles to Indian news channels. In leisure destinations like Orlando, Las Vegas and Honolulu, hotels are tailoring packages for Indian weddings and multi-generational travel.
Policy changes have helped build this momentum. Visa wait times for Indian travelers have dropped significantly, and direct flights between Indian and U.S. cities continue to expand. Indian travelers are no longer a niche segment: they are shaping design, staffing and service strategies across the U.S. hospitality landscape.
Architecture of U.S. Hospitality
Indian Americans form a kind of connective tissue binding both trends. Their economic footprint in the U.S. hospitality industry is deep and enduring. Today, over 60% of all motels and hotels in the U.S. are owned by Indian Americans, translating to more than 40,000 properties generating an estimated $40 billion in annual revenue and employing hundreds of thousands.
That economic footprint is matched by political and organizational influence. The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), founded in 1989, now represents more than 20,000 hotel owners and is the largest hospitality trade organization in the world by membership. Its members own nearly two-thirds of all economy and midscale hotels in the U.S., and the association plays an increasingly visible role in policy advocacy, regulatory engagement and workforce development.
“The ties between our two countries run deep, and no sector reflects that better than hospitality,” says incoming AAHOA Chairman Kamalesh “KP” Patel.
Indian American hoteliers are uniquely positioned to help shape the bilateral policy agenda on investment, workforce mobility, visa policy, and infrastructure.
Indian companies are no longer just participating in the American market: they’re reshaping it. In 2024, Indian hospitality company OYO acquired the iconic Motel 6 and Studio 6 in a $525 million all-cash deal, marking one of the most consequential cross-border acquisitions in the sector’s history.
This move reflects a broader shift. Indian hospitality firms are no longer looking outward for validation. They are now exporting capital, models and management expertise—embedding themselves in the heart of the U.S. economy.
The Hospitality President
President Donald Trump’s return to the White House introduces a distinctive variable into this evolving dynamic. His global business empire has long centered on hotels, resorts and branding. Trump brings a degree of familiarity with hospitality unmatched by any previous U.S. president. His administration may view the sector through a commercially attuned lens: opening space for bilateral engagement on tourism, infrastructure and services.
At the same time, India is investing heavily in upgrading its physical and policy infrastructure to support international tourism. The convergence of U.S. brand interest, Indian consumer growth and diasporic leadership creates a rare alignment of interests as well as an opening for policy frameworks that reflect a new reality on the ground.
By Ronak D. Desai, Contributor
