- India’s hotel pipeline nearing existing supply.
- Smaller cities adding more branded rooms.
- 72 percent of planned rooms are active.
Available room nights grew 5.8 percent in 2025-26, while occupied room nights rose 5.6 percent. This was the first time since 2020-21 that demand growth fell slightly behind supply growth.
The pipeline needs to become operational
Of the 161,074 proposed rooms, 116,645 or 72 percent are in active stages of development. The report counts projects that have recently opened, are under construction or are expected to open within five years as active. It leaves out projects that are inactive or still in the early planning stage.
This difference matters because proposed rooms do not always become operating hotels. The active pipeline gives a clearer view of projects that are moving toward opening, but it does not guarantee that they will be completed on time.
The report also shows that supply is growing faster than demand in some markets. From 2016-17 to 2025-26, demand matched or exceeded supply in most markets studied. Dehradun, Navi Mumbai and Udaipur were exceptions, with room supply growing faster than demand.
Smaller markets are adding supply
India added 11,424 branded rooms in 2025-26, a 5.8 percent increase. “Other Cities” accounted for 5,056 of those rooms or more than 44 percent of the net additions. More than 70 percent of the new rooms were in budget, midmarket and upper-midmarket hotels.
Udaipur recorded 32 percent growth in branded room supply, followed by Dehradun at 19 percent, Lucknow at 14.6 percent and Amritsar at 11.5 percent. These figures show that hotel development is reaching more cities beyond India’s largest business centers.
However, the largest markets still hold a large share of existing supply. Bengaluru had 17,057 branded rooms in 2025-26, followed by Mumbai with 16,413 and New Delhi with 15,369. Six major commercial centers accounted for about 35 percent of India’s branded room inventory.
The figures show that smaller cities are adding rooms, while major business markets continue to hold a large part of the country’s supply. Developers need to study local demand and planned competition before adding rooms in any market.
Hotel performance remains uneven
India’s branded hotels recorded 68.1 percent occupancy, an ADR of $94.37 and RevPAR of $64.22 in 2025-26. Five-star deluxe hotels were the only category with average occupancy above 70 percent. Five-star and five-star deluxe hotels also led RevPAR growth over the previous 24 months, at 16.6 percent and 20.2 percent, respectively.
The report also found a shift toward higher room rates. The share of hotels with annualized ADR below $52.65 fell from 41.9 percent in 2024-2025 to 38.4 percent in 2025-26. Meanwhile, the share with ADR of $105.3 or more rose from 18.6 percent to 20.8 percent. This suggests that more hotels are moving into higher rate bands, even as occupancy growth remains modest.
Performance also varied by region. South India recorded the highest RevPAR at $67.43 supported by occupancy of 70.8 percent and an ADR above $94.77. North India recorded the highest ADR at $100.94 but occupancy fell to 64.5 percent. East India remained the lowest-performing region for occupancy, ADR and RevPAR, although its results improved from a lower base.
These results show that hotel performance differs by category and market. A large national pipeline does not mean every location will support the same level of new supply.
A separate JLL report found that India’s hotel investment reached $497 million in the first half of 2026, with smaller cities attracting more capital.
