Luxury hotels in India are betting big on branded residences and serviced apartments

India’s luxury hotels are exploring ways to capitalize on their brands by going beyond room bookings and food and beverage sales. Chains such as Taj, Marriott, Leela, Oberoi and Sarovar are increasingly moving into branded residences and serviced apartments to diversify their offerings.The trend, which has been around for a few years, gathered pace in FY26, with at least half a dozen projects signed and launched across Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida and Greater Noida as hospitality companies looked for more asset-light revenue streams tied to real estate.Indian Hotels Company Ltd, which runs the Taj brand of hotels, signed an agreement to manage 74 Taj serviced apartments with the Gulshan Group in Noida last month.

The development on the Noida Expressway will include a five-star hotel, with the developer investing ₹1,000 crore.Indian Hotels already operates residences through Taj Wellington Mews, which has 80 fully furnished apartments in Colaba, Mumbai, and 112 apartments in Chennai.Branded residences, on the other hand, are privately owned homes linked to a hotel brand, offering concierge and other services. There's a significant upside for hotel management companies, which can earn an upfront fee for branding a residential development, in addition to recurring income from management and services in both these and serviced apartments.“What’s happening now is tokenization,” said Ajay K.

Bakaya, chairman of Sarovar Hotels and director of Louvre Hotels India. “In many of these projects, the hotel brand’s name is used to sell the units, and that comes with an upfront fee, usually around 3-5% of the sale value, which is very significant.