Accommodation is an essential part of any voyage, with even the most active travellers needing a place to rest and take a break on holiday. And recent research shows that travellers from India have especially high standards, spending considerable amounts of time and thought on finding just the right hotels for their trip.
We’ve taken a deep dive into hotel search habits for Indian travellers to uncover the top trending and popular destinations, as well as the most popular day of the week to search for hotels, and the data may just surprise you, with domestic destinations taking a 68% share of overall hotel searches. Our comprehensive Hotel Travel Report also highlights the most popular month and the best combination of days for booking hotels, as well as the most popular hotel destinations for Indians, both for short breaks and longer holidays.
Revealed in the KAYAK Hotel Travel Report:
- Indian travellers prefer spending on domestic hotels
Split of Searches – Domestic vs Worldwide
Indian travellers prefer travelling to domestic destinations, with the vast majority of hotel searches (68%) being for domestic destinations.
| Destinations | Share of overall searches |
| Domestic destinations | 68% |
| Worldwide destinations | 32% |
Trending Destinations for Hotel Searches
Amongst domestic destinations, some unconventional destinations have emerged as the fastest-growing destinations for hotel searches, with Puducherry seeing a significant year-on-year increase of 250% in hotel searches. Calangute is close behind, with a 201% increase, while other trending destinations include Coorg and Munnar.
Most Popular Hotel Destinations for Short Stays (1-3 days)
Most Popular Destinations for 1-2 Week Stays
Most Popular Destinations for 2-Week Stays
Strong preference for nearby destinations
The most popular region for Indians when searching for hotels is Asia, with as many as 80% of all hotel searches being for destinations within the region – more than ten times more than the next most-popular region, Europe (7%). This is probably a reflection of the relative ease of access from India, with many destinations in Asia offering an economical choice while not requiring an advance visa for Indian travellers.
| Destination Country Group | Share of overall searches |
| Asia | 80% |
| Europe | 7% |
| Middle East | 4% |
| North America | 4% |
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- Mid-week blues are real
Most popular weekday to search for a hotel destination
Thursday is the most popular weekday to search for a hotel destination, suggesting that a significant number of Indians are spending at least some of their long working hours dreaming of their next escape.
Holiday planning habits (Based on the top 50 destinations)
Indians tend to plan ahead, and this is further reflected by their holiday planning habits. For short stays (1-3 days), searches are done almost 2 weeks in advance of travel on average, whereas for longer stays of 1-2 weeks, Indians search for hotels as early as 44 days in advance.
| Short Stays (1-3 Days) | 1-2 Weeks Stay | 2 Weeks+ Stay |
| 12 days | 44 days | 31 days |
- Hotel Preferences of Indian Travellers
Most Popular Hotel Category
3-star hotels are the most-popular hotel category amongst Indian travellers, with 38% of searches made being for 3-star hotel properties. However a significant amount (24%) of searches are also made for luxury 5-star hotels, showing that many Indian travellers are willing to splurge for a fancier stay.
| Hotel Star Category | Share of overall searches |
| 1 | 2% |
| 2 | 13% |
| 3 | 38% |
| 4 | 23% |
| 5 | 24% |
To help travellers make the best travel decisions and minimise the stress of the planning process, KAYAK offers an array of useful tools. Users looking for inspiration are recommended to use the ‘Explore’ option, which can help them find a destination based on their budget and interests. Instead of constantly checking prices from site to site and worrying about missing good deals, KAYAK’s smart travel tools Price Alert, Price Forecast and Trips allow users to plan smart, manage well, and travel worry-free.
*Note to editors:
Searches were conducted on KAYAK.co.in between 01/06/16 – 31/12/17 for travel dates 01/01/17 – 31/12/17. For the year-on-year changes in flight searches, searches were conducted from 01/06/16 – 31/12/17 (2017) vs 01/06/15 – 31/12/16 (2016) for the travel period of 01/01/17 – 31/12/17 (2017) vs 01/01/16 – 31/12/16 (2016).
