Hotels, villas cash in as pet parents spend more on 'paw-cations'

Pet-inclusive accommodations, curated road trip packages on offer

Travelling with pets in India or 'paw-cation' is moving from being a niche preference to being one of the mainstream revenue drivers for the Indian hospitality sector, as Indians increasingly opt for pet-friendly bookings and accommodations. Travel operators have begun offering separate travel packages to cater to this growing segment, while hotels and alternate accommodations are adding specific inventory and services to enhance their stays. Data backs the hospitality sector's pivot to cater to their furry guests, as people spend 15-30 per cent more when travelling with pets.  

 

Gurugram-based online travel aggregator EaseMyTrip has seen bookings linked to pets growing by 25-45 per cent each year. Pet-friendly accommodation bookings have also risen by 40-45 per cent in 2025 versus 2024. Not just domestic, but internationally too, the share of Indians flying overseas with pets has grown by 5-12 per cent in 2025 over last year, as per EaseMyTrip data. Rival player Booking.com has observed that 11 per cent of Indians are likely to take a leisure trip with pets, up from 4 per cent in 2024, as per its 2025 Travel Trends data.

 

“There is a clear and consistent rise in pet-inclusive travel across the country. Travellers today are far more inclined to plan holidays where their pets can be a part of the experience, a sentiment that has only strengthened post-pandemic,” said Karan Agarwal, director, Cox & Kings. “Industry trends reflect this shift as pet-related bookings for flights and hotels have recorded strong year-on-year growth, with increases ranging from 15 to 18 per cent on our end to over 40 per cent across the wider ecosystem. It is a rapidly expanding segment driven by young travellers, nuclear families, and pet parents who increasingly consider their pets integral to their travel plans.”

 

Abhishek Daga, co-founder of Thrillophilia, said that the company is piloting curated ‘pet-first’ road trip packages, especially drivable weekends from cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi, where everything from the stay to open spaces, trails and cafés are chosen keeping the pet’s comfort in mind. Additionally, with airline-integrated pet travel from India still being constrained by regulation and logistics, Thrillophilia is focused on surface-led, domestic pet-friendly trips in the near future.

 

“The base is still small compared to our overall domestic leisure volume, but the growth rate is clearly higher than the rest of the portfolio. The sharpest spike is from millennial and Gen-Z pet parents in metros like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune and Hyderabad who are choosing drivable getaways over long-haul flights so that their pets can travel with them,” said Daga, adding that typically, the trip costs rises by 15 to 30 per cent with pets, depending on the season and destination. 

 

With strong double-digit growth projected for this segment globally, Agarwal added that ‘pawcation travel’ has the potential to develop into a dedicated vertical, forming an integral part of experiential and personalised travel offerings. 

 

In India, mostly hill stations such as Dharamshala, Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Manali, Coorg, Sikkim, Ooty and Himachal Pradesh attract travellers with pets, along with Lonavala, Goa, Jaipur and Puducherry. Internationally, destinations like Dubai, Thailand, Singapore, New York, Nice, Valencia, Rovinj, Toronto, Frankfurt, with several locations in Europe like Switzerland and Austria, attract Indian travellers with pets, according to travel operators. 

 

While price and location remain key, pet policies have become a key factor influencing booking decisions among Indian travellers, with one out of five considering a property’s pet-friendliness when choosing where to stay, Santosh Kumar, country manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com, noted. This growing demand for pet-friendly vacations is driving accommodations to enhance their offerings for travelling pet parents.

 

Corroborating with Kumar, Anil Kalsi, board member, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality, said that accompanying pets is a new normal now, and some airlines and hotels have become pet-friendly in India. Hotels have sensed an opportunity as some have started providing pet care facilities for their guests, he added.

 

Apart from hotels, alternate accommodations like luxury villa rentals have also seen a rise in bookings for pet-friendly stays. Firms like StayVista and SaffronStays are enhancing their offering in this segment through partnerships with pet brands as well.

 

StayVista, which currently has 30 per cent of its portfolio in the pet-friendly category, saw an increase of 30 per cent in bookings year-on-year (Y-OY) for guests travelling with their pets. Its portfolio spans over 1,200 villas and more than 80 destinations in India.

 

“StayVista is actively expanding its pet-friendly inventory. By 2026, we aim to bring 50 per cent of our portfolio under the pet-friendly category, especially in drive-to destinations close to major metros,” said Amit Damani, co-founder, StayVista.

 

Similarly, SaffronStays, a network of private luxury vacation homes, saw its bookings with pets soar by 80 per cent Y-o-Y in 2025. It currently has over 200 pet-friendly homes across India.

 

“Pet-inclusive travel is a meaningful and growing part of our long-term strategy,” said Devendra Parulekar, founder, SaffronStays. “As more families choose private villas and estates for their holidays, pet-friendly homes naturally become a key differentiator. For us, this segment not only strengthens guest loyalty but also supports our vision of enabling families, in every sense of the word, to holiday together without compromise.”