BY RICHA ADHIA,
MANAGING DIRECTOR,
EIGHT CONTINENTS HOTELS & RESORTS
NEW DELHI| 12 MARCH 2026
Not so long ago, the role of a hotel was quite simple. After a long day of sightseeing, you would return to your room to unwind, sleep well, and do it all again the next day. Hotels were a backdrop, a space where you would rest between the real parts of the trip. While you can still do that, for more and more travellers today, that’s no longer sufficient.
Today, a hotel is expected to be far more than just accommodation, as travellers increasingly want their hotel to be an experience in itself. And hospitality providers are going the extra mile to deliver.
Resorts and hotels are now becoming a portal to the destination itself; a place that offers personalised engagement, cultural depth, and experiences that become cherished memories for guests to carry home. This shift reflects a fundamental change in what people want when they travel, and it is reshaping how hotels are designed, operated, and experienced.
From accommodation to immersion:
The travellers are now preferring what is being called the “experience-first” model. Rather than competing on thread counts or room size, hotels are now investing in the atmosphere, narrative, and connection that they present to guests. From the moment a guest walks into the lobby, the intention is to offer a sense of belonging and a holistic experience. A story of the destination that they can live in rather than just see.
Everything, right from the architecture to the interiors, is inspired by local culture, lifestyle, and craftsmanship. In fact, have you ever walked into a hotel at a destination and caught a whiff of a unique scent? Even that is deliberately chosen to evoke a specific emotion tied to the location. For example, you’re likely to smell something crisp, like pine or wood, when you walk into a hotel located in the mountains. Community artists, indigenous materials, and local history are folded into the design, creating what hospitality professionals describe as a “sense of place”, that goes well beyond decor.
This approach is called “storyliving,” where each element of the property, from the menu to the music to the morning programme, becomes part of a larger narrative designed to create memory, emotion, and a feeling of genuine connection.
Who is driving this change?
The answer is largely younger travellers. Millennials and GenZ now represent a sizeable share of global tourism, and their priorities differ from previous generations. According to data, 74% of Millennials and Gen Z value authentic cultural experiences when they travel. Other research suggests that Indian travellers, in general, are ready to spend more for exclusive and unique experiences.
These travellers are looking for active experiences that will give them the taste, touch, and sense of understanding of the place they visit. They seek experiences more than just sightseeing; cooking classes led by local chefs, guided walks through neighbourhoods tourists rarely find, workshops with regional artisans, etc. In short, they want to feel a connection to the destination.
Hotels that understand this are doing more than curating activities. They are designing entire stays around what guests want.
Tech as a bridge
Experience-first hotels are finding ways to use technology that serves connection rather than replaces it. Personalisation, driven by data and AI tools, allows properties to tailor experiences to individual guests, sometimes before they even arrive. In-room tablets let guests design their own day. Mobile apps surface real-time cultural events or dining options nearby. Automated lighting, temperature, and sound systems adapt to the guest’s preferences.
The goal is to remove any sort of hassle, freeing the guest to help them feel fully present in the experience around them. In such a scenario, technology becomes infrastructure, a bridge to connect the guest and the experience. And once that infrastructure is in place, hotels turn their attention to something that’s not as easy to engineer: how a guest actually feels.
Wellness, reflection, and the emotional dimension:
Transcending cultural immersion, hospitality providers today are also tapping into the desire for personal restoration. Properties are offering wellness journeys, creative retreats, and nature-based programmes designed to help guests reconnect with themselves. Silent sunrise hikes, guided journaling sessions, and music therapy under open skies reflect a genuine demand for experiences that feel restorative and purposeful.
This emotional dimension matters commercially too. Industry research consistently shows that guests remember surprising moments of joy far more vividly than the quality of the towels. An unexpected birthday arrangement organised by staff, a handwritten note from a local guide, and an unplanned detour through a village are some moments that may drive loyalty, word-of-mouth recommendations, and repeat visits.
But an authentic immersive experience cannot be separated from responsibility. Travellers who look for genuine connections with a destination are also increasingly aware of the impact tourism has on that destination. Experience-first properties are responding by working with local farmers, reducing single-use plastics, conserving water, and directing tourism revenue toward local communities.
Fortunately, today, many of these hotels often employ residents from surrounding areas, source ingredients from regional producers, support rural artisans, and help preserve native environments. The hotel then becomes an active participant in the well-being of the destination’s environment.
The India opportunity:
Nowhere is this shift more consequential than in markets where the potential is enormous and largely untapped. India’s experiential travel market is projected to reach USD 45 billion by 2027, driven primarily by Gen Z travellers turning away from conventional sightseeing and leaning towards immersive alternatives.
To put it into perspective, tourism contributed around USD 256 billion to India’s GDP and supports millions of jobs, many in regions where other economic alternatives are limited. This is, in fact, more durable. Longer average stays and higher per-capita spending mean that a single visitor generates more value, without necessarily requiring more visitors. That is a meaningful distinction for a country balancing growth with the preservation of its destinations.
While infrastructure is a part of the picture, the challenge is to improve access without overwhelming places or eroding what makes them worth visiting. If done well, infrastructure enables experiential tourism to scale while preserving the integrity of destinations.
More than just a trend:
The hospitality industry has long debated whether experience-first travel is a trend or something more durable. The evidence increasingly points toward the latter. When a significant share of global travellers are consistently willing to spend more for meaningful experiences over standard comfort, that is a structural shift in demand.
For India and other similar markets, experiential, immersive travel represents a model that links nature, local skills, and connectivity into a coherent economic system. One that preserves identity, generates livelihoods, and builds resilient local economies in the process. And the hotels and resorts shaping this next generation of travel are offering stories that guests can live inside for a while and carry with them long after they have checked out.
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