India’s branded hotel sector recorded steady occupancy and higher room rates in 2025/26, even as performance varied across cities and a large development pipeline raised questions about future supply absorption, according to the 2026 Indian Hospitality Trends & Opportunities Report by Hotelivate-Savills.
The 29th edition of the annual report draws on data from 2,168 hotels representing 2,09,180 rooms. National occupancy stood at 68.1%, while average daily rate (ADR) increased 6.4% to INR 8,962. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose 6.2% to INR 6,099. Nearly three-fourths of the surveyed hotels recorded RevPAR growth, while around one-fourth reported a decline.
Bengaluru and Hyderabad led RevPAR growth among the 20 major hotel markets, recording increases of 14.8% and 13.2%, respectively. New Delhi followed with 10.9% growth. Mumbai continued to rank among the leading markets by RevPAR, although growth was more moderate at 3.2%. Jaipur also reported healthy growth, while Goa and Amritsar saw declines.
The report highlighted the scale of planned hotel development across India. The five-year branded hotel pipeline has reached 1,61,074 rooms, equivalent to about 77% of the country’s existing branded inventory. Nearly 1,17,000 rooms are already in active development.
Almost 80% of the proposed rooms are outside Tier 1 markets, with close to half planned for Tier 3 destinations. The pipeline is particularly significant in Tirupati and Varanasi, where proposed rooms are equivalent to approximately 477% and 442% of their existing branded inventories, respectively. These figures underline the need to assess local demand, infrastructure and the pace at which new rooms can be absorbed before committing to further development.
Only five of the 20 major hotel markets have at least 10,000 rooms, despite the expansion of branded supply. This points to substantial differences in market maturity and development potential across the country.
The report, themed India, À La Carte, examines hotel performance by positioning, city tier, administrative zone and major market. It calls for developers and investors to assess location-specific demand, product positioning and project timing rather than rely solely on national growth trends.
“Demand is growing, rates are rising and the development pipeline suggests that nobody intends to leave the table hungry. Yet the same helping of new supply could be welcome in one market and difficult to digest in another,” said Achin Khanna, managing partner, strategic advisory, Hotelivate-Savills. He said a market-specific approach would be increasingly important for hotel development decisions.
By HBI Staff | Hyderabad
