India’s city hotels find a new growth engine in weekend getaways

New Delhi: Historically, weekend demand at city hotels in India has been weak for the country's hospitality sector unlike global gateway cities such as London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne. But, thanks to rising staycations and weekend travel, that seems to be changing in what is being perceived as a sign of a maturing hotel market.

Karan Mahesh, regional director, South and Southeast Asia, STR, CoStar Group, said nationwide Friday-Saturday occupancy reached almost 67% for the January-August period in India, the highest level since 2023.

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Mahesh said 16 of the 17 Indian markets tracked in this dataset recorded higher weekend occupancies in 2026. "Mumbai's weekend occupancy rose 2.9 percentage points to 77.2%, compared with a 1.3 percentage point increase on other days. New Delhi's weekend occupancy increased by 3.9 points to 77.4%, slightly ahead of its weekday improvement," he said, adding that a business destination's ability to attract weekend demand is an important indicator of market maturity.

In September this year, Ibis and Ibis Styles properties saw weekend occupancies increase by 5-7%. Average daily rates for properties of the brands went up 16-18% year on year on weekends. Animesh Kumar, commercial head for Ibis and Ibis Styles India said the demand has been going up thanks to guests taking short breaks, and business travellers extending their stay into the weekend.

Staycations, short breaks and local experiences have expanded the customer base for city hotels post the Covid-19 pandemic, said Nikhil Sharma, MD and COO (South Asia) at Radisson Hotel Group. For April-June 2026, compared to the same period last year, occupancy rates at Radisson's Delhi hotels were up by 4-6 percentage points, while average rates were up by 3-5%. In Mumbai, occupancy rates were up by 2-4 percentage points, while average room rates were up by 5-7%.

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"While these numbers are for full week, they provide a useful indication of the overall demand environment," he added. The revenue per available room on weekends went up 9.5% year on year this year for Sayaji Hotels, said MD Raoof Dhanani.

"In Q1, revenue per available room on weekends grew 14.3% year on year," he added. An ITC Hotels spokesperson said there has been a 'structural shift' in consumer travel behaviour, with leisure, staycation and bleisure demand increasingly complementing traditional business travel at city hotels.