India’s Hotel Industry Set to Grow 12% in FY26 — Hyatt, Marriott Racing to Fill Talent Gap in Tier 2 Cities
India’s hospitality market, valued at $27.96 billion and growing at a 14.76% CAGR through 2031, is accelerating faster than anticipated. Hotel occupancy rates are climbing, RevPAR continues to rise, and international brands are signing India expansion deals at a pace not seen in over a decade. Hyatt alone is opening five new properties in India this year, with several others planned in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities where the talent shortage is most acute.
The talent gap at the Tier-2 level is particularly significant. Cities like Kochi, Coimbatore, Indore, Nagpur, and Lucknow are seeing new branded hotels open without a sufficient local pipeline of trained managers to staff them. Hotel chains are increasingly looking to hotel management colleges in Mumbai and other major cities to source graduates willing to relocate — and offering competitive packages to attract them.
For RPH students, this creates an immediate and concrete opportunity. A graduate stepping into a Hyatt or Marriott property in a Tier-2 city today is entering a market with rapid upward mobility and limited internal competition. The fear of “job scarcity” that many prospective students carry is not just unfounded — it is the opposite of current industry reality.
Source: IBEF, Business Standard (April 2026)
