For many small hotels within a few hours of a big city, the year is shaped by weekends: full on Friday and Saturday, quiet from Sunday evening, and booked out on every long weekend. This guide looks at what’s driving short trips, who these guests are, and how to price for weekends and fill the weekdays in between.
What’s driving short trips in India?
Three things: people planning around long weekends, faster roads and trains, and easier ways to find places at short notice.
- Long weekends. In Thomas Cook and SOTC’s India Holiday Report 2025, 47% of respondents said they intend to use long weekends and public holidays for short getaways, and 85% planned to take more holidays in the year.[1] The survey covered over 2,500 people, a mix of the companies’ customers and non-customers.
- Faster roads. The Delhi to Dausa to Lalsot section of the Delhi Mumbai Expressway, opened in February 2023, was expected to cut the Delhi to Jaipur journey from 5 hours to about 3.5 hours.[3] Every hour saved puts more places within a two-night break.
- Faster trains. By December 2025, 164 Vande Bharat services were operating across India.[2] For travellers who don’t want to drive, a fast morning train makes a Friday departure realistic.
- Easier discovery. In the same Thomas Cook and SOTC survey, 60% said social media, OTT platforms and movies increasingly shape their travel decisions,[1] and in Agoda’s 2026 Travel Outlook, 33% of Indian travellers said they already use AI to plan travel.[4]
Who are weekend and drive-to guests?
Mostly people travelling together. In the Thomas Cook and SOTC survey of 2025, 90% of respondents preferred to travel with company: multigenerational families (65%), couples (60%) and “frolleagues”, colleagues who are also friends (28%), with 10% travelling solo.[1] Respondents could pick more than one.
For a drive-to hotel, that usually means:
- Families who want space, parking, simple food and something for children to do.
- Couples who want privacy, a view and a reason to stay in (a good dinner, a late checkout).
- Groups of friends or colleagues who want rooms close together, a common space and flexible meals.
Each group asks different questions before booking. Knowing which ones you attract helps you write your website, your listings and your WhatsApp replies.
How do weekend guests find and book a hotel?
They often decide late and book wherever answering is easiest. These are examples of the questions a weekend traveller might ask a friend, a search engine or an AI tool:
- “Quiet resort 4 hours from Pune with a pool, good for kids, this Saturday.”
- “Pet-friendly homestay near Jaipur for a long weekend, budget ₹5,000 a night.”
To be the hotel they pick:
- Say how far you are, in hours and kilometres, from the cities your guests come from.
- Show what the weekend looks like: the pool, the view, the bonfire, the food. Real photos and short videos do more than adjectives.
- Reply fast on WhatsApp. A guest deciding on Thursday evening will book with whoever answers first. Our guide to WhatsApp for hotels covers what to automate.
- Make booking on your site quick, with clear prices for the dates they want. See 12 ways to increase direct bookings.
How should you price weekends and weekdays?
Set prices from your own demand, not a single rate for the whole week. A simple structure works for most small hotels:
| Nights | Approach | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Friday and Saturday | Higher rate | Demand is highest; you’d fill them anyway |
| Long weekends and festivals | Higher rate, publish early, consider a 2-night minimum | Guests plan these weeks ahead; one-night bookings can block two-night stays |
| Sunday to Thursday | Lower rate or a package | Fill rooms that would otherwise sit empty |
| Last-minute weekdays | A simple perk, not a deep discount | Protects your price while giving a reason to come |
An example with simple numbers: a 15-room hotel charging ₹5,000 on weekdays and ₹6,500 on Friday and Saturday. Raising the weekend rate by ₹500 across 30 room nights a weekend adds ₹15,000 a weekend if occupancy holds. Filling three extra weekday rooms a night at ₹4,500 adds ₹67,500 over five weeknights. In this example, the weekdays are the bigger opportunity. Your own numbers will differ, so work them out before you change anything.
How do you fill weekdays?
Give a different kind of guest a reason to come midweek.
- Workations. Good Wi-Fi, a desk and a quiet room, sold as a three or five-night stay.
- Small company offsites. A meeting space, simple lunch and a team dinner for local businesses.
- Longer stays. A lower nightly rate for four nights or more.
- Past guests. A midweek offer to guests who agreed to hear from you. Under the DPDP Act, consent has to be free, specific, informed and as easy to withdraw as to give,[6] and WhatsApp marketing messages are charged by Meta per message.[5]
- Local events. A nearby festival, fair or sports event can fill weekdays if you promote it early.
Keep weekday offers simple: breakfast included, a late checkout, or a free activity. Deep discounts teach guests to wait for them.
What this means for hotel owners
If you’re within a few hours of a big city, the weekend guest is probably your core market. Look after them, and use the weekdays to grow.
- List your source cities and journey times, and put them on your website and listings.
- Price by night, with separate rates for weekends, long weekends and weekdays, and publish long-weekend rates early.
- Answer within minutes on WhatsApp, especially on Thursday and Friday.
- Build one weekday product this quarter: a workation stay, an offsite package or a longer-stay rate.
- Track it monthly: weekday occupancy, weekend rate, and how many guests booked direct.
For the bigger picture, read India travel trends 2026. To put a number on moving weekend bookings from OTAs to your own website, try the OTA commission calculator.
Weekend guests often decide late, which suits ads aimed at your source cities in the days before each weekend and long weekend. Our Performance Marketing service runs Google and Meta campaigns like this, aimed at direct bookings and measured on bookings, not clicks.