Hotels followed by homestays, apartments and resorts are among the most welcoming accommodation types for travellers in India, according to Booking.com.
Booking.com has unveiled the 10 Most Welcoming Places in India and on Earth as part of the 13th edition of the annual Traveller Review Awards 2025. For the second consecutive year, Himachal Pradesh has been named the Most Welcoming Region in India followed by Kerala and Goa. Bir emerges as the Most Welcoming City in India followed by Mararikulam and Leh. Hotels followed by homestays, apartments and resorts are among the most welcoming accommodation types for travellers in India.
Based on over 360 million verified customer reviews, the awards honour travel partners who consistently deliver outstanding hospitality and service and make travel experiences more memorable for travellers. This year, 15,674 travel partners in India have won Booking.com 2025 Traveller Review Awards; up from 13,348 winners in 2024.
1.71 million partners are being recognised, an 16% increase compared to the year prior. This includes 1,711,539 accommodations, 1,329 rental car companies and 124 taxi providers. The awards this year are said to showcases a diverse landscape of preferred accommodations among travellers in the country. While hotels remain a popular accommodation choice with 5,709 recipients in India, homestays (2,438), apartments (1,651), resorts (1,172) and guest houses (1,160) are gaining popularity, reflecting a growing preference for unique and personalised travel experiences. In India, the cities with the most awarded properties include Bengaluru followed by New Delhi, Udaipur, Jaipur and Manali.
Globally, apartments (847,627) and holiday homes (259,105) are favoured for their unique and local experiences followed by hotels (190,670), guest houses (88,934) and bed and breakfasts (73,022). These diverse trends point to the growing appetite of travellers for increasingly prioritising authenticity, local engagement and flexible itineraries. On the global stage, Italy leads as the country with the highest number of award recipients (207,730) for the eighth consecutive year, followed by France (155,203), Spain (147,700), Germany (102,031) and the United Kingdom (88,209).
Santosh Kumar, Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com said “Our Booking.com partners are the true heroes of hospitality, consistently going above and beyond to create unforgettable travel moments for the travellers. Our Traveller Review Awards are our way of saying thank you – not just from Booking.com, but from the millions of travellers who rely on us to experience the world. These awards also reflect the dynamic shifts in traveler preferences, from the enduring appeal of hotels to the rise of alternative accommodations.”
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