Bengaluru is expected to topple New Delhi to become the largest branded hotel market in the country, with a proposed supply pipeline of 5,698 rooms in the next five years. Mumbai is in the third place, according to Hotelivate, a hospitality consulting firm that offers specialised services to clients across the Asia Pacific region.

In FY18, New Delhi (excluding Gurugram and Noida) continued to hold its Number 1 position with the largest base of 14,724 branded hotel rooms, a position it has maintained since FY15, followed by Mumbai at 13,726 rooms and Bengaluru at 12,659 rooms.

Volume growth

The number of branded hotel rooms in India has grown from 1,07,695 in FY15 to 1,28,163 in FY18. Hotelivate’s latest report on the Indian hospitality sector includes a participation base of 1,020 star hotels and 52 brands including international, Indian chains and independent Indian hotel brands. However, it does not include internet hospitality brands such as OYO, Treebo and FabHotels.

Marriott International tops the charts with an inventory of about 19,000 rooms. This is followed by Taj Hotels Resorts Palaces Safaris (including Ginger) with approximately 15,000 rooms; it has a higher number of properties, but is considered second because of its lower rooms per hotel ratio.

Radisson Hotel Group, which added about 1,000 rooms to its operational portfolio last year, ranks third on the list with approximately 10,500 rooms, followed by Accor Hotels, with its Ibis, Mercure and Novotel brands, with about 10,000 rooms.

Bengaluru’s prospects

“Bengaluru will overtake New Delhi in five years to become the largest branded hotel market in India with the proposed opening of 5,698 rooms. Bengaluru has the strongest independent micro-markets in the country – CBD, Electronic City, Whitefield, Yelahanka/Malleswaram, Hebbal to Devanahalli and ORR/Sarjapur Road. Most brands which were concentrated around the CBD will open hotels in these well developed micro-markets in five years,” Karan Rahan, Senior Associate, Hotelivate, told BusinessLine .

He said approximately 50 per cent of the supply pipeline of rooms will come up in tier 2 and 3 cities such as Lucknow (1,200) Agra (1,200), Kochi (1,100), Udaipur (1,100), Dehradun (900), Vijaywada (900), Varanasi (700), Guwahati (700) and Gorakhpur (400).

Goa outranked Mumbai by a whisker to become the rate leader in the country with an ARR (average room rate) of ₹7,844 compared to Mumbai’s ₹7,740. However, Mumbai topped with highest occupancy rate of 75.8 per cent followed by Goa at 72 per cent.