Research & sources

HOTEL BOOKING by kepsico: Destination shortlist rationale

Verified on: 2026-10-12
Status: All 10 shortlisted destinations kept. No swaps.

> Editorial note: This is an editorial selection, not a verified ranking. No public source ranks Indian *cities* by hotel-booking demand in a way that would let us order these 10. The figures below come from different sources, use different methods and cover different years: city hotel-market performance (CoStar/STR via Horwath HTL and HVS ANAROCK), state-level tourist visits (Ministry of Tourism) and platform search or booking snapshots (Agoda, Booking.com). Together they show that each city has strong demand, but they cannot be combined into a ranking. State-level visit counts are not city counts.

Final list 1. New Delhi 2. Mumbai 3. Bengaluru 4. Goa 5. Jaipur 6. Hyderabad 7. Chennai 8. Pune 9. Kochi 10. Kolkata

The strongest evidence - Horwath HTL's *India Hotel Market Review 2024* defines India's Top 10 hotel markets as Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Jaipur. Together they hold 57.6% of chain-affiliated supply and earn 69.8% of rooms revenue [S1]. Nine of our 10 are on that list. The only exception is Kochi, which takes the place of Ahmedabad. - HVS ANAROCK's 2024 overview reports RevPAR growth for 13 key markets. Twelve grew, and Ahmedabad was the only market among the top 13 to decline [S2]. - Ministry of Tourism, Compendium 2025 (data for 2024): Delhi airport handled 38.85% of foreign tourist arrivals by air, Mumbai 18.76%, Chennai 9.81%, Bengaluru 8.40%, Hyderabad 4.76%, Cochin 4.48%, Kolkata 3.33%, and Goa's two airports 1.95% combined [S3].

Per-destination rationale New Delhi: Delhi's 2024 hotel occupancy was 72.9% (second among the top business cities) and its ADR was Rs 10,273 [S1]. Delhi airport is the largest entry point for foreign tourists arriving by air, with 38.85% of them in 2024 [S3]. "New Delhi and NCR" was Agoda's most-booked domestic destination in both 2022 and 2023 [S5].

Mumbai: Mumbai is India's strongest hotel market. In 2024 it had 77.2% occupancy and Rs 11.5k ADR, the highest ADR of any business city, and it generated over 15% of all-India rooms revenue with only 8.6% of supply [S1]. HVS calls it India's premier hospitality market for 2024, with the highest occupancy and ARR [S2]. It also has 18.76% of foreign air arrivals [S3].

Bengaluru: Bengaluru has the largest hotel inventory of any Indian city, at over 18k rooms. Its 2024 occupancy was 64.8% at Rs 7,976 ADR, and it added 3.8k rooms after 2019 [S1]. It ranked #1 for hotel brand signings by keys in 2024 (2,733) [S2], and was #4 on Agoda for bookings in 2023 [S5] and #2 on Booking.com's summer-2026 search list [S6].

Goa: Horwath calls Goa "the best, and main beach destination in India, by a long way." Its luxury and upper-upscale resorts reached 70.5% occupancy and Rs 16.3k ADR in 2024 [S1]. HVS reports that Goa gets more than twice Jaipur's airline passengers [S2]. Goa was Agoda's most-searched domestic destination for Diwali 2025 [S7]. One caution: Goa's 2024 growth was the softest among the major markets, with RevPAR up only 2.4% [S1].

Jaipur: Jaipur is a Top-10 hotel market [S1] and ranked #3 for brand signings by keys in 2024 (1,942) [S2]. Rajasthan recorded 230.08 million domestic and 2.07 million foreign tourist visits in 2024 (state-level figures) [S3]. Jaipur also appears in Agoda's Diwali 2025 top destinations, with searches up 46% [S7].

Hyderabad: Hyderabad had the highest RevPAR growth of the 13 key markets in 2024, at 20–22% [S2]. Horwath puts its 2024 ADR at exactly Rs 8k, up 19.4% [S1]. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad together handled about 80.6% of foreign air arrivals [S3].

Chennai: Chennai's 2024 occupancy was 71.3%, its first time above 70% since 2007, at Rs 7,347 ADR [S1]. Its RevPAR growth ranked #2 among key markets [S2]. Tamil Nadu had 306.84 million domestic tourist visits in 2024, the second-highest of any state (state-level figure) [S3].

Pune: Pune's 2024 occupancy was 69.86% and its RevPAR was Rs 4,350, helped by weddings and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) [S1]. In November 2024 it recorded the highest year-on-year occupancy growth of the key markets (+12–14 percentage points), driven by the India International Travel Mart [S4]. Maharashtra received the most foreign tourist visits of any state in 2024, with 3.70 million (state-level figure) [S3].

Kochi: Kochi is the one pick outside Horwath's Top 10, so it is the most editorial choice on the list. The evidence for it: record 2024 occupancy and ADR of 69.7% and Rs 6,365 [S1], #3 RevPAR growth among key markets (15–17%) [S2], and Cochin was the #6 airport for foreign air arrivals (4.48%) [S3]. It also gives the site a Kerala gateway.

Kolkata: Kolkata's 2024 occupancy was 70.6% [S1]. West Bengal had the second-most foreign tourist visits of any state in 2024, with 3.12 million (state-level figure) [S3]. One caution: Kolkata's ADR and RevPAR are the lowest of the six metros [S1].

Alternatives considered (honest note) - Udaipur is the strongest case for a swap. It had India's highest market-wide ADR in 2024, Rs 15,946, ahead of Mumbai [S1]. It was #2 for Agoda Diwali-2025 search growth (+49%) [S7] and #8 for brand signings by keys in 2024 [S2]. But its occupancy was only 55.1% [S1], and it is a much smaller market. It would be a strong 11th destination or a "premium leisure" pick. - Ahmedabad is a Horwath Top-10 market, but in 2024 it was the only one with an ADR decline (-5.5%) and the only key market with negative RevPAR [S1][S2]. It is weaker than Kochi on current momentum. - Varanasi is a pilgrimage destination with 62 million domestic visitors reported for 2024 (media figures cited by HVS) [S2], and it rose from rank 28 to rank 13 in Booking.com's summer-2026 searches [S6]. Its branded hotel market is small, though. Horwath estimates religious-destination hotels at about Rs 6k ADR and 55–58% occupancy [S1]. It is a good candidate for a later "spiritual" collection.

Verdict: None of the evidence is strong enough to justify dropping one of the 10. Kochi is the weakest by market size. If you want to swap one, Kochi out and Udaipur in is the defensible option.

Sources (all fetched 2026-10-12) - [S1] Horwath HTL, *India Hotel Market Review 2024* (Feb 2025), CoStar data: https://horwathhtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/India-Hotel-Market-Report-2024.pdf - [S2] HVS ANAROCK, *India Hospitality Industry Overview 2024*: https://websitemedia.anarock.com/media/HVS_ANAROCK_India_Hospitality_Industry_Overview_2024_ab0d68f71d.pdf - [S3] Ministry of Tourism, *India Tourism Data Compendium 2025* (2024 data), Tables 2.4.2 and 4.1.2: https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2025/sep/doc2025927648801.pdf (also at https://tourism.gov.in/annual-reports/india-tourism-data-compendium-2025) - [S4] HVS ANAROCK Monitor, December 2024 issue (covers November 2024): https://www.hvs.com/Print/HVS-ANAROCK-MONITOR-December-2024?id=10083 - [S5] Agoda 2023 recap, via Travel Daily Media: https://www.traveldailymedia.com/2023-travel-recap-indians-prefer-tried-and-tested-destinations-reveals-agoda/ - [S6] Booking.com summer-2026 search data, via Travel Trends Today: https://www.traveltrendstoday.in/indian-travellers-fuelling-demand-for-domestic-coolcations-eastbound-international-shift-bookingcom-1 - [S7] Agoda Diwali 2025, via ETTravelWorld: https://travel.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/research-and-statistics/research/agoda-reports-24-rise-in-diwali-travel-interest-for-india/124152142 - Context only: HVS ANAROCK *India Hospitality Industry Overview 2025* (national CY2025 occupancy 63–65%, ARR about Rs 8,500–8,700): https://www.hvs.com/article/10451-HVS-Anarock-India-Hospitality-Industry-Overview-2025

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