Accor, the French hospitality giant, is betting big on the quiet shift in India's luxury hotel industry, where domestic travellers, not foreign tourists, are the primary engine of the high-end hospitality market.
India’s luxury hotel boom still has room to run, according to the chairman of Accor India and group CEO, Ennismore, Gaurav Bhushan, who said the country is only ‘just getting started’ as affluent domestic travellers increasingly spend on high-end experiences and boutique hospitality.
“The Indian luxury consumer is spending more on experiences than ever before,” Bhushan, recently appointed chairman for Accor in India, told Mint. “As long as you offer a real product and a real experience, people will spend. I don’t think we’ve hit a glass ceiling at all.”
This aligns with the broader direction of the country's hotel consumption. Last week, Mint reported that India's hotel market is now leaning heavily on domestic travellers. According to hospitality consultancy HVS Anarock, this consumption pattern is expected to remain largely domestic-driven over the coming years.
India’s inbound tourism has only marginally moved past pre-pandemic levels. Foreign tourist arrivals were at 20.57 million in 2024, around 15% above pre-covid levels, before easing to a provisional 20.09 million in 2025, down 2.4%. Nearly half of these arrivals comprise people of Indian origin.
Bhushan said Accor’s India strategy was never built around inbound tourism alone. “We were building hotels in India for the Indian traveller. The foreign traveller coming in is a bonus, but that’s not the goal," he added.
Domestic luxury leads the way
The hospitality giant is now expanding its lifestyle and luxury footprint through Ennismore, the lifestyle hospitality company it acquired in 2021. This is the company's lifestyle hospitality arm. This division has already signed two new brands here, including Roswyn, a Morgan’s Originals all-suite super premium hotel, which will have 109 suites. This is the division's first hotel in India and only the fourth Morgan’s Originals property globally. Both properties are owned by Shrem Infrastructure.
Other international chains like Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt have also expanded their portfolio in recent months.
Overall, Accor India currently operates 74 hotels, two more than last year, and has about 15,000 rooms. Accor and aviation giant Interglobe, parent of IndiGo airlines, also work together for a little under half of these hotels. Accor India has about 60 hotels in its development pipeline, and aims to scale to 300 hotels in the country by 2030.
“Roswyn, though next door, is exactly the opposite of Fairmont. Fairmont is a large destination hotel, while this is an all-suites, boutique, curated and positioned much higher," he added. It is targeting average room rates of ₹35,000-40,000 a night, placing it at the upper end of India’s city hotel market.
Bhushan said the hotel is aimed at high-end corporate travellers, long-stay guests and affluent local consumers seeking curated food and nightlife experiences.
The company is also expanding other Ennismore brands in India. The Hoxton is set to open in Bengaluru later this year, while Accor is working to bring its third new brand, Mama Shelter, into India soon as well. “The interest in lifestyle brands is extremely high. It’s not just hotels. It is restaurants, clubs, and resorts. We are trying to build a lifestyle ecosystem now," he added.
Betting on leisure travel
Bhushan said India remains one of Accor’s fastest-growing markets globally and could eventually become one of its largest hotel markets worldwide. “India’s going to evolve into one of the largest hospitality markets in the world. The pace of growth is super fast," he added.
The company continues to bet heavily on domestic demand even as geopolitical tensions and weaker international travel flows have impacted business travel into India, particularly from the Gulf. Bhushan said the impact of weaker international travel due to the West Asia war had largely been offset by strong domestic demand. “We successfully replaced that business with domestic travel,” he said.
While Accor’s India portfolio remains heavily skewed towards business hotels, with upwards of 80% of its hotels being that type, Bhushan said leisure travel would grow much faster over the next few years.
He also dismissed concerns about an oversupply of hotel rooms, despite rapid expansion and consolidation across the industry. “If the country continues to grow the way it is, I don’t see an oversupply risk. I still believe there’s an undersupply of real experiential hotels,” he added. Accor, which has more than 40 brands globally, plans to gradually introduce more of them into India, depending on market demand.
The branded hotel supply pipeline is accelerating sharply. According to HVS Anarock, India had more than 213,000 branded rooms as of February 2026, with another 153,000 rooms expected over the next four to five years, bringing total inventory to more than 350,000 rooms.
“Over the next few years, we expect consolidation to continue, with greater focus on acquiring brands, management platforms, and operating portfolios rather than only standalone hotel assets,” said Akash Datta, managing director for South Asia, HVS Anarock. One-off hotel assets would still attract buyers, provided they stand out through heritage, location, or a distinctly unique proposition, he added.
