India’s preparations to host major international events are putting an increasingly visible strain on its hotel infrastructure, with the upcoming BRICS Summit in New Delhi offering a sharp illustration of a problem the hospitality industry has been flagging for years: demand is growing faster than branded room supply.
The BRICS Summit, scheduled for September 12–13 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, has already tightened room availability in the capital’s luxury hotel market. Several marquee properties have shown limited or no availability around the summit dates, while rooms still being offered at some hotels are commanding exceptionally high tariffs.
A check of booking platforms for September 11–13 showed no availability at properties including Taj Mahal and Taj Palace, New Delhi, while The Oberoi, New Delhi, was sold out for portions of the period. The Leela Palace New Delhi was also not accepting bookings for the specified dates. Available inventory at properties such as ITC Maurya and Shangri-La Eros New Delhi was being offered at significantly elevated rates.
For the hospitality sector, however, the BRICS effect goes beyond a temporary spike in room rates. Industry leaders say the pressure on Delhi’s inventory reflects a structural mismatch between India’s tourism ambitions and the pace at which hotel capacity is being created.
K.B. Kachru, President, Hotel Association of India (HAI) and Chairman – South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, points to the scale of the gap. India currently has only around 200,000–220,000 branded hotel rooms, a level he considers inadequate for a market of India’s size and tourism ambitions.
The requirement is becoming more urgent as demand for branded accommodation is projected to grow at 8–10% CAGR through FY28. Importantly, the demand is no longer concentrated in the major metros.
Pilgrimage tourism, leisure travel, weddings and infrastructure-led business activity are driving hotel demand across tier-II and tier-III cities, creating the need for capacity beyond the traditional gateway markets.
The current supply situation is particularly striking because capital availability is no longer viewed as the principal constraint. According to Kachru, the industry has moved into a phase where investor appetite and hotel development commitments are increasingly visible.
“Capital has arrived. Investor confidence in India’s hospitality story is real and measurable,” Kachru said, pointing to the signing of more than 550 new hotels by major hotel chains in 2025 alone.
Data from HVS ANAROCK further underlines the scale of the pipeline. As many as 14,199 branded rooms were added across 176 properties in 2025, while another 64,118 branded keys were signed across 586 properties for future development.
The challenge, therefore, is shifting from attracting capital to converting announced projects into operational rooms.
That distinction is becoming critical as India prepares for a calendar increasingly shaped by international summits, business events, conferences and MICE activity. Such events compress demand into specific periods, creating immediate pressure in markets where room inventory is already limited.
The BRICS Summit is a case in point. Its impact is being felt not only on summit dates but across the surrounding days as delegates, business visitors and associated travellers arrive early and extend their stays.
Varun Saraf, Chief Executive Officer, Juniper Hotels Limited, said the impact of events such as the BRICS Summit extends well beyond the delegates attending the core programme.
“Conferences of this scale drive a city-wide increase in occupancy and rates. Delhi continues to be a market with strong MICE, diplomatic and corporate transient demand. The upcoming BRICS Summit will lead to city-wide compression, which will have a positive impact on all hotels, including Andaz Delhi. In the run-up to and during such events, demand deepens across delegations, media, security and support staff, business partners, and accompanying travel, supporting occupancy and rates well beyond the core event days,” he added.
“Delhi-NCR, with its established convention infrastructure and strong air connectivity, is well placed to capture such business in the long run. Juniper Hotels Ltd. has launched a hotel in Delhi with a capacity of 550 keys to capture this growing demand for large-scale MICE, diplomatic and premium corporate business and further strengthen its presence in the national capital.”
Nikhil Sharma, Managing Director & COO, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, said the effect is already visible in pricing across the company’s portfolio.
“September is showing stronger momentum, with average room rates across our portfolio pacing more than 25% higher year-on-year,” Sharma said.
He attributed part of the momentum to the BRICS Summit, particularly around the event dates, while also highlighting shorter booking windows as a factor supporting rate growth. According to Sharma, demand is expected to remain strong as the summit approaches, with more travellers potentially making last-minute bookings.
The surge also highlights the importance of revenue management in a market where hotel inventory is relatively fixed in the short term. While elevated rates can improve hotel performance during high-demand periods, they also expose the limitations of a supply-constrained market.
For travellers, the immediate consequences are straightforward. Tourists, corporate travellers and families with pre-planned visits to Delhi could face substantially higher accommodation costs, forcing them to either pay a premium for centrally located properties, shift towards hotels farther from key districts, change travel dates or move into lower-priced segments.
The wider industry concern is that such episodes could become more frequent as India attracts larger international events and strengthens its MICE positioning.
Rahool Macarius, Market Managing Director, Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said the summit is creating a distinct demand pattern across Delhi-NCR, with location emerging as an important factor in how bookings are being distributed.
“The BRICS Summit is creating a distinct demand dynamic for Delhi-NCR, with incremental demand emerging across the region and location playing an important role in how this demand is translating into bookings. We are also seeing Wyndham Rewards members travelling to Delhi for the Summit, further highlighting the role of branded accommodation and trusted loyalty ecosystems in influencing booking decisions. At Ramada Encore by Wyndham Dwarka Expressway, this event-led demand is reflected in occupancy for September 12–15, currently tracking at 65%, significantly ahead of the broader market demand.
“More broadly, the event reflects a growing preference for branded midscale and upscale accommodation, alongside greater expectations around convenience, flexibility and seamless end-to-end arrangements. At Wyndham, we are closely tracking demand in real time and remain responsive to evolving booking patterns, while ensuring our properties are operationally prepared to deliver a seamless and consistent experience for both domestic and international visitors. Our strong distribution network and ability to respond dynamically to demand enable us to adapt as requirements evolve. As we move closer to the Summit, we expect these demand patterns to evolve further, making agility, operational readiness and real-time demand tracking increasingly important for hotels.”
Kachru said that the policy focus now needs to move beyond making capital available towards accelerating project execution. Faster clearances, effective single-window approvals and rationalised state-level taxes and levies, he says, are essential to reducing development timelines and costs.
He identifies three key policy interventions: Industry Status to facilitate priority-sector lending and rationalise utility tariffs; uniform Infrastructure Status across hotel categories and city tiers, including tier-II and tier-III markets, to enable long-tenure financing; and enhanced Floor Space Index (FSI) in land-constrained metros to allow more rooms to be developed on existing land parcels.
“The difference between a pipeline on paper and rooms on the ground” will ultimately depend on execution speed, Kachru said.
The BRICS Summit has thus brought India’s hotel supply challenge into sharper focus. The country has growing tourism demand, stronger investor interest and an expanding development pipeline. What remains uncertain is whether the industry and policymakers can move quickly enough to translate those commitments into operational inventory.
For Delhi, the immediate test is the summit. For Indian hospitality, the larger test is whether the country can build enough rooms before the next demand surge exposes the same gap again.
