Our Hospitality Practice
India's hospitality and travel sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience and ambition. Post-pandemic, domestic travel has surged to record levels, luxury hospitality is growing at double-digit rates, and India's wedding and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) market is driving strong occupancy across segments. The sector is simultaneously dealing with the chronic challenge of operational talent scarcity — particularly in culinary, service delivery, and general management roles.
Our Hospitality & Travel practice at Gladwin International Leadership Advisors covers luxury hotels and resorts, mid-scale and economy hotel chains, food and beverage businesses, travel technology companies and OTAs, destination management companies, and travel and hospitality conglomerates. We understand that great hospitality leadership requires an unusual combination of operational precision, financial discipline, and genuine service orientation.
The travel technology dimension of our practice is increasingly important: OTAs like MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, EaseMyTrip, and global platforms have created sophisticated technology-enabled travel businesses that need both hospitality domain expertise and technology product leadership.
The Hospitality Landscape Today
India's hospitality market is $32 billion and is projected to double by 2030. Domestic air passenger traffic is at all-time highs. International tourist arrivals are recovering and targeting 40 million by 2030. Room supply is growing at 8-10% annually, with significant investment in luxury, upper-upscale, and branded select-service segments. Leisure and bleisure travel is driving strong performance in resort destinations. Food delivery, cloud kitchens, and the organised food service sector are growing at 15-18% annually. India's OTA market is $12 billion, dominated by MakeMyTrip and consolidating rapidly.
Key Leadership Challenges in Hospitality
General manager talent scarcity — qualified, experienced GMs who can manage large full-service hotels are in critically short supply across India
Technology leadership for hospitality — finding leaders who understand both the guest experience of hospitality and the product development of technology is exceptionally rare
Revenue management sophistication — moving from intuition-based to data-driven dynamic pricing and revenue optimisation requires a new generation of commercial leaders
International brand standard compliance — as Indian hotels operate under global brands (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt), aligning operational leaders with international brand standards while managing Indian cost structures
Food and beverage innovation — the F&B landscape is hyper-competitive; finding culinary and F&B leaders who can drive both quality and profitability
Sustainable tourism leadership — as 'responsible travel' becomes a differentiator, finding CSO and sustainability leaders in hospitality who can reduce environmental impact credibly
Roles We Typically Place
Why Gladwin International Leadership Advisors for Hospitality
Hotel chain coverage — IHCL (Taj), ITC Hotels, Oberoi, Leela, Marriott India, Hyatt India, and all major luxury and upper-upscale operators
Branded select service and economy — OYO Hotels, Lemon Tree, Ginger, Treebo, and fast-growing mid-market chains
OTA and travel technology — MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip, ixigo, and B2B travel platform companies
Food service and QSR — Taj SATS, Sodexo India, Compass Group, and organised restaurant chain groups
Destination management and luxury travel — deep network in boutique, resort, and experience hospitality
Organisations We Serve
Luxury and upper-upscale hotel chains (Indian and international brands)
Mid-scale and branded budget hotels
OTAs and travel technology platforms
Food service, QSR, and organised F&B businesses
Destination management and experiential travel companies
Discuss a Mandate
Speak with our Hospitality practice lead today for a confidential conversation.
Get in TouchFull-service and luxury hospitality — deep relationships with all major hotel brands in India
Travel technology and OTA leadership — specialist practice in India's $12 billion OTA market
F&B and culinary leadership — one of the few search firms with genuine depth in food service and hospitality culinary talent
Looking for a Hospitality Leader?
Our Hospitality practice is ready to help. Guaranteed placement · 12-month candidate guarantee · Affordable pricing for organisations across the value chain.
Frequently Asked Questions — Hospitality & Travel Executive Search
Common questions about recruiting Hospitality & Travel leadership in India.
Our Hospitality & Travel practice covers hotels, resorts, food service, travel management, online travel agencies, and experience-led tourism businesses. We maintain direct relationships with senior hotel operators, GMs, Area Directors, and hospitality holding company CEOs across branded and independent properties, domestic and international hotel chains, and new-age hospitality concepts. Our assessment framework specifically evaluates the guest experience philosophy, F&B commercial acumen, and team culture-building credentials of every candidate.
We fill the full spectrum: Hotel CEO/MD, CFO, GM (General Manager), VP Operations, Area Director, Head of Revenue Management, CMO, Head of Sales & Marketing, Head of Food & Beverage, Head of Human Resources, Head of Rooms, Director of Finance, and Board Directors for hotel holding companies. We also serve travel management companies, online travel agencies, tour operators, and airline catering businesses.
Post-pandemic hospitality leadership requires the ability to rebuild teams, restore brand equity, and drive revenue recovery — all simultaneously. The best hotel GMs and CEOs today combine genuine service culture leadership with strong commercial acumen — driving RevPAR, managing food cost, and building event and MICE revenue streams. Technology fluency is increasingly critical: revenue management systems, distribution channel optimisation, and digital guest experience platforms require leaders who can translate technology investment into measurable guest satisfaction and revenue outcomes.
Yes. Luxury and boutique hospitality is a specialised segment within our practice where cultural fit and service philosophy alignment are even more critical than in mainstream hotels. We maintain strong networks in India's luxury hotel ecosystem — spanning heritage properties, international luxury brands, and boutique experiential resorts. Our assessment for luxury roles includes in-depth evaluation of service culture, personalisation philosophy, and high-net-worth guest relationship management.
GMs of large 5-star hotels in India typically earn ₹80 lakh to ₹1.8 crore CTC. Area Directors and Regional VPs of major hotel chains typically command ₹1.5–3 crore. CEOs of hotel holding companies and hospitality groups typically earn ₹2–5 crore. Online travel and hospitality tech CEOs typically earn ₹1.5–4 crore with ESOP components. We provide current, property-type-specific compensation benchmarks for every hospitality search.