Ms. Priyanka Ahluwalia is an industry-veteran hospitality leader serving as the Cluster General Manager for the Holiday Inn Express SAMHI Portfolio under IHG Hotels & Resorts. With over 25 years of international experience spanning sales, marketing, and operational management, she currently helms a network of 12 Holiday Inn Express properties in India. Here are excerpts of her exclusive interview to The Travel and Tourism Times……..
BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
NEW DELHI | 7 OCTOBER 2026
1)As a leading player in the hospitality sector, how has Holiday Inn Express evolved its positioning in India’s fast-growing business and midscale travel segment, and what key milestones have defined this journey?
Holiday Inn Express has established a strong position in India’s rapidly expanding midscale hospitality segment by focusing on the core needs of today’s business and bleisure travellers efficiency, consistency and value. As travel demand has diversified beyond metros into emerging commercial hubs, the brand has evolved to offer a smart, reliable stay experience in key business corridors across the country.
Consistency remains at the heart of our proposition. From smartly designed rooms and ergonomic workspaces to high-quality bedding, seamless connectivity and the complimentary Express Start Breakfast, we deliver a dependable experience that resonates with both domestic and international guests.
We have also adapted to shifting travel patterns, particularly the rise of bleisure, by enhancing flexibility and integrating digital conveniences. Supported by IHG’s global ecosystem and strong brand recognition, we are well-positioned to continue capturing growth in India’s dynamic midscale segment.
2)The hospitality industry is rapidly embracing an omnichannel approach to guest engagement. How is Holiday Inn Express integrating digital platforms with on-ground guest experiences to enhance bookings, loyalty, and customer satisfaction?
Today, a guest’s journey rarely begins at the hotel doorstep. It typically starts on a mobile device through a search result, an app, a review, a loyalty platform, or a booking interaction. Our focus is to ensure this digital journey is intuitive, transparent, and convenient, and that it seamlessly carries through to an equally smooth on-property experience.
Technology plays a critical role in enabling bookings, communication, and loyalty engagement. However, the true measure of success lies in on-ground execution. When our front office, housekeeping, and service teams consistently deliver on the promise set online, digital engagement translates into real trust and long-term guest confidence.
3)Technology is becoming central to modern hospitality operations. How is Holiday Inn Express leveraging technology across property management, guest services, and operational workflows to improve efficiency and scalability?
At Holiday Inn Express technology plays a central role in delivering a consistent, scalable, and efficient guest experience. From intuitive digital booking platforms and integrated loyalty programs to proactive pre-arrival communication, guests are empowered to plan and manage their stays with ease. On-property solutions further enable efficient check-ins, dependable connectivity, and responsive service.
From an operational standpoint, technology supports smarter workforce planning, predictive maintenance, and real-time performance insights. These capabilities enable lean and agile operations, ensuring reliability and consistency especially in high-demand, transit-driven environments.
7)Could you share your perspective on the current growth trends in India’s hospitality and business travel sector?
India’s hospitality market is demonstrating strong fundamentals, driven by a diversification of travel demand. The industry is no longer reliant solely on traditional corporate or leisure segments. Hotels today are seeing sustained demand from project-led stays, regional and offsite meetings, weddings and social events, medical and wellness travel, education-related visits, and short-haul domestic leisure breaks.
Corporate travel, in particular, is becoming more geographically distributed, as companies expand operations into emerging business corridors and Tier II and Tier III cities. Concurrently, guest expectations are evolving. Travellers are increasingly value-conscious, prioritising location, cleanliness, comfort, and operational efficiency while being less inclined to pay for non-essential amenities.
This shift is reinforcing demand for well-positioned, quality-led hotels that deliver dependable experiences with a clear value proposition, rather than complexity or excess.
4)What key demand drivers are shaping occupancy, investment, and expansion opportunities today?
Demand today is being shaped by a combination of domestic travel strength, evolving business mobility, and a clear consumer shift toward value and convenience. We’re seeing sustained occupancy driven by short-haul and regional travel, alongside resilient demand from SMEs, project-based movement, and transit-led stays in key commercial corridors. At the same time, the rise of bleisure travel is extending length of stay and supporting more balanced week-round occupancy. From an investment and expansion standpoint, infrastructure development, growth of emerging cities, and increasing preference for trusted, standardized brands are creating strong opportunities—particularly for scalable, efficient formats. Overall, markets that offer connectivity, economic activity, and consistent demand drivers are continuing to attract both guest demand and developer interest.
10)Sustainability and smart infrastructure are increasingly influencing hospitality development. How is Holiday Inn Express incorporating sustainable practices and future-ready design into its hotel projects and operations?
From a design and development perspective, Holiday Inn Express follows a smart, standardised building approach that prioritises efficiency of space, energy optimisation, and long-term operational sustainability. The focus is on building hotels that are practical, cost-efficient, and resilient over their lifecycle.
At an operational level, sustainability is embedded into everyday practices. This includes energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems, water-saving fixtures, responsible linen and laundry programmes, and waste reduction initiatives. These measures not only reduce environmental impact but also support operational efficiency an important consideration for a select-service brand operating at scale.
We believe smart travel goes beyond efficiency to include responsibility. Our collaboration with Buff India reflects a shared commitment to sustainability by addressing the often-overlooked issue of cigarette waste. Across our 12 properties, this partnership enables a practical, scalable approach to keeping our spaces clean while reducing the environmental impact of cigarette litter, allowing us to lead by example in responsible hospitality.
5)With hybrid work and bleisure travel reshaping consumer behavior, how are guest expectations evolving, and how is Holiday Inn Express adapting its offerings to cater to these new travel patterns?
The distinction between business and personal travel has increasingly blurred. Guests may arrive for meetings, extend their stay by a day, take calls from their rooms, step out in the evening, and still expect the hotel to support this fluid routine seamlessly. This places greater emphasis on dependable Wi-Fi, comfortable and functional rooms, a reliable breakfast offering, quiet and efficient spaces, easy accessibility, and a strong sense of safety.
Holiday Inn Express is well aligned with this shift, as the brand is built around practical comfort and operational consistency, delivering a stay experience that is simple, dependable, and well suited to the evolving needs of today’s travellers.
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