India's Biggest Hotel Chains

Marriott International announced Tuesday on CNBC that it was looking to grow in India until 2026 by expanding its footprint to 90 cities, including many second and third tier ones. President of the APAC division Rajeev Menon said that India had been one of the most strategic markets in the world for the company, that currently has 29,000 rooms in 158 hotels across 42 cities in the country. Menon said that Marriott's pipeline included around 20,000 new rooms in 112 new hotels.

According to a report by Hotelivate, this is the equivalent of 13.6 percent of all branded hotel rooms in India, making Marriott the biggest hotel chain in the country at the moment. IHCL held about 12 percent of these types of rooms as of fiscal year 2023/24, followed by Radisson, ITC and Accor.

Industry publication Hotel Investment Today meanwhile reports that India remains a hard market for hotels due to bureaucratic red tape as well as high land and interest costs, which are reasons why international chains have not grown faster in India so far. Finding staff and capturing local preferences was also named as a challenge, while favorable demographics and a growing middle class are factors keeping the Indian hotel market so interesting.