From Radisson to Lemon Tree, hotel chains line up at least two dozen projects in the North-East

Lemon Tree Hotels will open a five-star Aurika property in Shillong under a public-private partnership, while its other upcoming hotels in the region include managed properties in Guwahati, Chirang, Tezpur, Agartala, and Dibrugarh. It has one operational hotel in Gangtok.

Across its north-east portfolio, Lemon Tree Hotels is adding an inventory of more than 560 rooms, up sharply from its current 80 rooms in the region.

Radisson Hotel Group is in active talks with hotel owners in Sikkim and Tripura.

“The local governments there have been strongly focused on creating road and rail infrastructure to improve access and that should go a long way to promote tourism in these states," said Nikhil Sharma, managing director and area senior vice president at Radisson Hotel. “Some of the growth will come in the form of ecotourism and village tourism in these states. We are keen to explore more opportunities there."

Radisson Hotel’s pipeline in the North-East includes two hotels with over 250 rooms.

Hotel development activity in the North-East has gained momentum in recent years, but the region remains significantly underpenetrated in terms of branded supply.

As of March, the north-eastern states accounted for about 3,400 branded hotel rooms, a mere 1.7% of India’s branded hotel supply of about 200,000 rooms, show exclusive data received from hospitality consultancy HVS Anarock.

However, the North-East is witnessing a clear upward momentum in terms of branded hotels, according to the consultancy. Sikkim and Assam lead the way, collectively accounting for over 65% of the region’s branded hotel supply, with Sikkim’s capital city Gangtok and Assam’s capital Guwahati contributing more than half of that, according to HVS Anarock.

The consultancy added that the region is expected to nearly double its branded hotels inventory by 2027-28, with nearly 3,000 new rooms in the pipeline across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Tripura.

“Companies like IHCL (Indian Hotels Co. Ltd), Marriott International, Lemon Tree, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, ITC, The Leela, and Cygnett are actively expanding their footprint in these states. By FY28 (2027-28), we should see a doubling of hotel rooms there," said Mandeep S. Lamba, president and chief executive (South Asia), HVS Anarock.

“(The North-East) is a growing market but the absolute count of tourist footfall is not very large. It will shape up quite well in the coming years," added Prashant Biyani, a market analyst at Elara Capital.

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Taj, Lemon Tree join the bandwagon

As national hotel operators rush to India’s North-East to gain an early-mover advantage, public-private partnerships have become a key enabler with state governments actively collaborating with them to boost tourism infrastructure.

Earlier this week, the Indian Hotels, which operates the Taj, Vivanta and Ginger brands, signed a new hotel in Agartala in partnership with the Tripura government. IHCL currently runs nine hotels in the North-East—in Guwahati, Gangtok, Shillong, Tawang, Agartala and Pakyong—and has five more in the pipeline in Agartala, Itanagar, Guwahati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh.

Juniper Hotels, which owns several Hyatt-branded properties in India, has signed an agreement with Assam Tourism Development Corporation to develop a five-star resort hotel in Kaziranga. The company said during its recent earnings call that it will allocate ₹100 crore in capital expenditure over the next two to three years to develop the property.

Hotel Polo Towers Group, which currently operates nine hotels in Shillong, Cherrapunji, Tura, Agartala and Neermahal, is gearing up to add seven properties across the North-East.

The expansion, funded through a combination of internal accruals and debt, will see the hotel group add about 850 rooms in the region, including a 162-room five-star hotel in Kohima, a 200-room luxury property in Timapur, and four hotels in Meghalaya. Assam is next on the radar for Hotel Polo Towers, which owns and operates its own hotels.

“We want to be developing hotels in every part of the North-East, across both business and leisure segments," said Deval Tibrewalla, chief executive and director of Hotel Polo Towers. “The region makes up approximately 8% of India’s land, about 2.9% of its population, and 2% of its GDP—but has just 0.1% of its hotel rooms. India is already short on quality hotel rooms, and the North-East is even further behind."

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Wyndham Hotels and Resorts is also evaluating three projects in the North-East—one in Siliguri and two in Guwahati. It already operates two hotels in Gangtok and one in Siliguri.

The North-East’s potential for hosting luxury hotels is also drawing keen interest.

Alivaa Hotels is in talks with tea plantation owners in Assam to franchise their bungalows for small-scale luxury projects under the company’s brand. Alivaa will provide sales and distribution support while the tea plantation owners will run their own operations, said founder Vikramjit Singh, who hails from Assam.

Boutique chain Araiya Hotels & Resorts is similarly looking for partnerships with plantation owners in the North-East, according to its founder Amruda Nair.

At the recent Rising North-East Investors Summit in New Delhi, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union minister of communications and development of North-Eastern region, said the North-East had emerged as a hub for global partnership, attracting ₹4.3 trillion in investment interest.

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