Talent, Technology and Tenacity: The State of India’s Accommodation Industry in 2025
India’s accommodation industry thrived in 2025, with strong business results pointing to ongoing year‑on‑year growth. Although investment has cooled slightly alongside a tougher funding environment, ambitious workforce plans underline optimism across the sector. From AI adoption to upskilling initiatives, the industry is tackling challenges with innovation and energy.
These are the headline findings of the latest India Accommodation Barometer. The study, a collaboration between Statista and Booking.com, surveys 285 Indian hoteliers and accommodation managers. It offers insights into the sector’s economic development, industry sentiment, and investment plans related to digital transformation and the hospitality workforce.
In the 2025 survey, Indian accommodations maintained upbeat sentiment about business development. Around two‑thirds of hoteliers continue to feel that their past and current economic situation is, and has been, good or very good. This sustained positivity appears to have boosted overall optimism, with 75% anticipating that their business will develop positively in the next six months—up from 69% in the previous year.
Despite a majority of Indian hoteliers reporting sustained positive economic development, a growing share noted difficulty accessing financing, paired with a slight dip in the number of businesses planning to increase investment over the next six months. Even so, nearly half still intend to invest more, while 14% expect to scale back capital expenditure.
Meanwhile, seven in ten accommodations reported an increase in occupancy rates, and two‑thirds saw positive development in their average daily rates—signalling robust business growth. Compared with the results of the 2025 European Accommodation Barometer, where economic metrics point to a growth plateau, India’s comparatively high investment intent and positive future outlook are encouraging.
Labour, staffing and up-skilling
Indian accommodations plan to hire an average of 9.9 new employees over the next 12 months, with housekeeping and food‑and‑beverage roles most in demand. While many high‑turnover roles are reportedly easy to fill, accommodations commonly face hiring difficulties for positions in event planning and sales and marketing.
Within the tourism workforce, the most frequent hiring needs of accommodations are in relatively low‑skilled, often seasonal roles: housekeeping, food and beverage, and front office. These roles also tend to be the easiest to fill. For example, only 11% of businesses looking to hire housekeepers in the next 12 months are experiencing difficulties in filling these vacancies.
In contrast, managerial roles (e.g., general managers, sales, revenue, and marketing staff) are the hardest to fill. For every accommodation that found it easy to hire managers, seven reported difficulty; for sales and marketing, this ratio was twelve to one.
Training and upskilling are a core focus for many accommodations—especially through internal and online programmes—with 41% planning to increase investment in staff development. There is little variance in how independent and chain providers deliver training, but independent businesses appear more sensitive to high costs as a barrier to further investment in staff training and development.
Technology adoption
Many Indian hoteliers recognise the potential benefits of AI for their businesses. The strongest support is for fraud prevention and cyber security, with seven in ten hoteliers viewing this as a (very) helpful use case for AI. Marketing and communications, as well as customer service, are seen as other promising areas, while in more operational tasks—such as housekeeping schedules and revenue management—a greater share of accommodation managers appear more sceptical about the value AI can deliver.
Different types of accommodation expressed only minor variation in confidence regarding the utility of AI. For example, independent hotels showed more interest in using AI for fraud prevention and cyber security (71%) and for staff training and performance monitoring (52%). However, they were less likely than other accommodation types to see benefits in using AI for guest experience or revenue management.
The largest difference in opinion can be found in housekeeping and maintenance scheduling, where 40% of alternative accommodations see value in using AI to support these tasks, compared with 28% and 30% of chains and independents, respectively. Chains were also notably less in favour of using AI for staff training and performance monitoring.
Seasonality and Event Tourism
When asked how accommodations boost low‑season bookings, hoteliers recognised online travel platforms as a valuable element of their marketing toolkit. In fact, 48% said that collaborating with digital travel platforms—including social media and OTAs—was a strategy they used to mitigate the effects of seasonality. Alongside digital platforms, hosting events (42%), offering special off‑season rates (39%), and modifying staff levels (38%) were also key strategies used to secure year‑round relevance.
Furthermore, 79% of respondents said that digital platforms were an effective way of securing off‑season stays; indeed, for every Indian accommodation provider that does not find such platforms helpful, there are more than 16 who trust their ability to mitigate seasonal fluctuations. Traditional travel agents were also seen as effective by 72% of accommodations, as were partnerships with wedding and event planners (67%).
By comparison, more traditional promotional methods—such as email campaigns (33%) and advertisements in traditional media (26%)—are considered effective by fewer accommodations, and respondents were more likely to find them unhelpful than any other method.
Methodology
The 2025 survey was conducted by Statista and took place between 7 July and 1 September 2025 via telephone interviews. 250 executives and managers from the Indian travel accommodation sector participated in the survey.
The 2024 data is based on the 2024 India Accommodation Barometer, held between 24 July and 7 August 2024, with a sample size of 250 respondents.
The 2023 data is based on the 2023 India Accommodation Barometer, held between 17 July and 25 August 2023, with a sample size of 250 respondents.
