Room with a view! More branded hotels check into state capitals

New Delhi: The Taj City Centre and The Lemon Tree Premier are currently the only branded hotels in Patna. But that number will grow, with a slew of recent hotel signings in Bihar's capital and largest city taking the pipeline of branded hotels to 11.

State capitals of India are seeing an increasing number of branded signings, with an estimated 60,253 keys expected to come up in around five years, as per data from hospitality consultancy Hotelivate. The existing supply comprises 692 hotels with 95,470 keys, as per Hotelivate.

As many as 35 new branded hotels with 4,059 keys are expected to come up in Lucknow. Meanwhile, 19 hotels with 1,993 keys are projected to come up in Kolkata, 16 hotels with 1,342 keys in Shimla and seven hotels with 772 keys in Raipur.

"Our estimates for the proposed numbers take about five years into account, however there is usually a washout as well," said Manav Thadani, founder-chairman of Hotelivate. "Existing hotels in state capitals would have seen approximate growth of 9% in revenue per available room over the previous fiscal," he added.

In October 2025, ITC Hotels announced the signing of definitive agreements with Kumar Infra Hotel Pvt Ltd to manage a new 140-room luxury hotel in Patna. ITC Hotels managing director Anil Chadha said in the last twelve months, new signings also included upcoming hotels in Jaipur, Raipur, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar.

"Rajasthan, UP, Assam, Bihar, Telangana, Punjab and Gujarat are prominent states where the capital cities have seen a lot of new development activity in the past few months with many branded hotels being signed," said Chadha.

In 2025, the Radisson Hotel Group strengthened its presence in key state capitals and administrative hubs, with signings in cities such as Bengaluru, New Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Shimla, Ranchi and Kolkata, reflecting strong demand across both established and emerging markets, said Nikhil Sharma, MD and chief operating officer of South Asia for the group. "Going forward, the group is sharpening its focus on expanding further in tier-one cities, while continuing to deepen its footprint across high-growth states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Punjab," he said.

There has been a "significant" increase in hotel signings in key capital cities such as Patna, Lucknow and Dehradun, said Deepak Jain, founder of Mayfair Consultants.