Varuni Khosla

5 min read15 Jun 2026, 06:15 AM IST

Summary

Strong room rates, destination weddings and demand for experience-led holidays are pushing hotel companies to expand resort portfolios across beach, wildlife, spiritual and hill destinations.

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NEW DELHI: India's hotel companies are expanding deeper into resort markets as strong room rates and growing demand for experiential travel reshape where the industry's next wave of growth is expected to come from.

From wildlife lodges and beach resorts to spiritual destinations and hill stations, leisure properties are emerging as a larger share of hotel development pipelines. Operators including Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), Marriott International, Radisson Hotel Group, The Postcard Hotel, Atmosphere Core and IHG Hotels & Resorts are accelerating resort signings, betting that demand for destination weddings, wellness retreats and short leisure breaks will continue to support growth.

The shift reflects a broader change in domestic travel patterns. As travellers increasingly seek experience-led holidays, hotel companies are directing more investment towards leisure destinations, where strong room rates and larger-format properties are making resort projects increasingly attractive, according to consultants and industry experts.

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Kapil Chopra, founder of boutique luxury chain The Postcard Hotel, said India's diversity presents an opportunity to create tourism circuits that go far beyond the country's traditional destinations.

“India isn’t one destination but at least 25. Cross a state line and the language, the food, the geography, the topography, the whole character of a place changes,” he said.

The Postcard has doubled its resort signings this year in FY27 compared with last year, as investor confidence in the segment grows.

According to Chopra, resort economics are also becoming increasingly attractive. Average daily room rates (ADR) at many wildlife and luxury leisure properties can exceed ₹50,000 a night, with several expected to be closer to ₹1 lakh a night because of their larger room formats. Wildlife resorts, for instance, often feature rooms of around 100 square metres, a scale that city hotels typically cannot match.

Big bet

The focus on leisure destinations is becoming increasingly important for larger hotel operators as well.

This week, Marriott International announced its 10,000th hotel globally, a JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Ranthambore, where room rates hover around the ₹33,000-plus-taxes mark.

India's largest hotel company by number of hotels, IHCL, is witnessing similar trends. Suma Venkatesh, executive vice-president, real estate and development, told Mint that leisure is one of the fastest-growing segments within hospitality.

The company has steadily widened its leisure presence across luxury palaces, wildlife lodges, beach resorts and spiritual destinations, while expanding into tourism markets such as the North-East, Andaman and Lakshadweep, Ayodhya, Vrindavan, Puri, Haridwar, Rishikesh and Varanasi.

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In 2025-26, IHCL expanded its leisure and hospitality portfolio through the acquisition of wellness brand Atmantan and boutique operator Brij.

Similarly, EIH Ltd, parent of The Oberoi Group, expanded its leisure portfolio and signed management contracts for three premium resorts under the Oberoi brand in Kabini, Hampi and Coorg.

At Radisson Hotel Group, resort projects accounted for more than 36% of hotel signings in 2025 and have risen to 50% of signings completed so far in 2026. The company signed six resort hotels in 2024, 10 in 2025 and another six so far this year. Radisson currently operates 24 resorts in India and has another 22 under development.

Established leisure markets such as Goa, Coorg, Jaipur, Mount Abu and Puri continue to attract developers, while newer destinations are also drawing interest.

“Resorts now represent an increasingly significant share of our domestic development pipeline and are expected to remain a major contributor to our future growth,” said Nikhil Sharma, managing director and chief operating officer, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

The next wave

The opportunity is drawing newer entrants as well.

Also Read | Why this Maldives hotel chain is chasing India’s leisure destinations

Atmosphere Core, which operates luxury resorts in the Maldives, is building a sizeable India pipeline focused largely on leisure destinations. The company has projects planned across Coorg, Jaipur, Kufri, Darjeeling, Shillong, Goa, Puri, Tirupati, Mussoorie, Andaman and Kerala over the next few years.

“India lacks at least 25-30% in five-star and quality hotels. The leisure sector too lacks quality hotels, which is why we will be chasing developments in resort locations,” said Salil Panigrahi, co-founder and managing director of Atmosphere Core.

IHG Hotels & Resorts has signed 20 properties in leisure destinations since 2024, including several resort developments.

Consultants tracking the sector say changing traveller preferences are helping sustain the momentum.

Navneet Nagpal, founder and principal consultant at Spectra Hospitality Services, said travellers from large cities are increasingly choosing drive-to destinations and seeking quieter alternatives to established holiday hotspots.

“A lot of travellers from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are choosing drive-to escapes now, especially with airfares being high and short breaks becoming more frequent,” he said.

Nagpal has also set up Raht, a luxury resort business, in 2025. Its portfolio includes a fortress retreat in Udaipur's Aravalli Hills and an estate in Kasauli, with plans to expand into five other destinations.

He said the trend is encouraging investment in boutique retreats built around estates, orchards, farms and heritage properties. Such projects typically have fewer rooms but offer larger land parcels, greater privacy and highly personalised experiences.

Chopra said resort development offers opportunities to create distinctive experiences around nature, heritage and local culture while opening up newer tourism circuits for travellers.

Also Read | Why luxury hotels are pushing staycations this summer

The Postcard is set to open four new properties over the next four months in Chitwan, Goa, Coonoor and Rajasthan's Jawai region. Another 27 hotels are under construction.

According to HVS Anarock, India's hotel sector ended 2025 on a strong footing, with nationwide occupancy at 63-65% and average room rates rising to about ₹8,500-8,700. RevPAR reached ₹5,400-5,600, reflecting growth over both the previous year and pre-pandemic levels.

Data from the hospitality consultancy showed that nearly 42% of new hotel openings in calendar year 2025 were in leisure destinations, while about 33% of all hotel signings were leisure properties. Leisure destinations have accounted for roughly a third to more than 40% of hotel development activity annually since 2020, underscoring the segment's enduring importance to the sector.

About the Author

Varuni Khosla is a journalist with Mint, where she covers the consumer economy with a focus on hospitality and tourism, luxury, the business of sports, art, and the alcohol and food and beverage industries. Based in New Delhi, she reports on how brands and cultural sectors grow, shape consumer demand and compete in one of the world’s fastest-evolving markets.<br><br>Varuni has been a journalist since 2009 and brings more than 17 years of experience reporting on India’s business landscape. She specialises in covering the industries shaping India’s consumption economy, and is widely recognised as a key voice in these areas.<br><br>Over the years, she has closely tracked the rise of India’s luxury and hospitality sectors, the transformation of advertising and marketing as brands respond to digital platforms and changing audiences, and the economics of sport, from sponsorships and leagues to the expanding commercial ecosystems around teams, athletes and media rights. Her reporting on the business of art explores the growing global market for South Asian art and the role of collectors, galleries and auction houses.<br><br>Her stories frequently draw on exclusive conversations with founders, executives and industry leaders, combining market data with on-the-ground reporting to offer readers insight into the companies and trends shaping India’s evolving consumption economy.

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