Global Hotel Brands Zoom In on India: 4 Days, 6 New Announcements

If this week’s announcements from global hospitality players are an indication, everyone seems to be racing to stake their claim in India. The reason? A mix of sustained domestic demand, an explosion in meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) and wedding travel, and a rapidly growing base of business and leisure travelers.

Credit ratings agency ICRA’s latest forecast predicts that industry revenues will grow 7-9% year-on-year in fiscal 2025 and another 6-8% in fiscal 2026 — a remarkable performance considering the already high base of fiscal 2024. It also expects occupancy in premium hotels to reach 74% by fiscal 2026, while average room rates (ARRs) will exceed INR 8,000 ($95).

Here’s a round-up of this week’s developments: 

Accor on Wednesday laid out a roadmap to quintuple its growth pace in India. “There is certainly no uncertainty when it comes to India… you are going to have a fast-growing travel and hospitality market for the next 20 years,” said Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin on CNBC on Wednesday.

With 100 properties in 18 years in India, Accor now plans to scale up to 300 in under five years, with 25-35 openings annually. This includes everything from lifestyle brands under Ennismore to affordable chains like Ibis and Mercure, set to grow aggressively throu