First-time investors turn to India's hospitality sector for diversified income and long-term growth

New Delhi: India is seeing a sharp rise in the number of first-time hotel owners and hospitality entrepreneurs. The country signed a record 64,000 branded keys across 586 hotels in 2025 and nearly seven in ten keys signed this year are outside tier one cities, as per Noesis Hotel Advisors. The company estimates half of these hotels belong to first-time owners.

"India's next 100,000 hotel rooms will be built largely by people who have never owned a hotel. These owners are residential developers, industrial families, landowners and NRIs, mostly in tier two and tier three cities," said Nandivardhan Jain, founder and CEO, Noesis Hotel Advisors. Rahool Macarius, market MD, Eurasia, at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts said approximately nine out of every ten of the hotel signings of the chain are coming from new ownership groups, and investors from diverse businesses and walks of life. "In the last two years, approximately 40-50% of the projects are with first time hotel Owners. There is accelerated expansion in the managed hotel portfolio," said Anil Chadha, MD, ITC Hotels. Naturals Dairy is building the first internationally branded hotel in Patna in partnership with Radisson Hotel Group.

Nikhil Sharma, MD and COO (South Asia) at Radisson Hotel Group said domestic travel and improving connectivity are widening the range of destinations where hotel investments can be viable.


"Business travel, weddings, pilgrimage and leisure can provide complementary sources of demand. For entrepreneurs and business families, hotels offer an opportunity to diversify income and build a long-term operating business," Sharma said. "Owners may bring land, capital and local market knowledge, while a hospitality partner contributes brand recognition, distribution, revenue management and operating expertise," he added.

At Hotelivate-Savills, 70-75% of the 25-30 leads a week that the company is getting are from first time hotel owners. "Of this, about 70% of the queries are for leisure locations. Manufacturing is growing in India and the need for hotels near manufacturing facilities is also growing. We are getting queries from manufacturing companies owning large land parcels as well as companies in segments such as logistics," said Manav Thadani, founder chairman, Hotelivate-Savills.

Macarius said India remains significantly underpenetrated in quality branded hotel supply, even as demand continues to grow. "This gap is creating an attractive investment opportunity and drawing entrepreneurs and investors from diverse industries," he added.

Chirag Maroo, director of Blue Wings Tours and Travel is the owner of Wyndham Grand Udaipur Palace. He said hospitality is not merely 'diversification' but a long term vision for his family.

"We aspire to develop five additional hotels over the next decade," he added. He said hospitality seemed like a natural progression considering his family's background in real estate and infrastructure.

Greater availability of established brands, operating systems, and distribution networks has also made the sector more approachable for first time owners, said Deepak Jain, founder of Mayfair Consultants. "Markets linked to pilgrimage, regional commerce, industrial development weddings and leisure tourism are interesting for first time owners," he added.