Whenever a city hosts a major event or convention, a shift in supply-demand is expected for hotels to adapt dynamic pricing to maximise their profits, often resulting in prices that are several times higher than their normal tariffs. And, with the country’s first India AI Impact Summit scheduled to be held on February 16 to 20, the hotels in the host city New Delhi are seeing an unprecedented surge in room prices that run to several lakhs higher than the normal prices.

A quick look at some of the hotel booking websites like MakeMyTrip shows that rooms tariff for a regular room is significantly higher with prices hovering around Rs 76,000 for a regular room per night to suites going almost 10 times higher than that. With the event being held at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, hotels in the vicinity are the ones that are offering such high prices that the city has never seen before. For instance, a Diplomatic Suite at Hyatt Regency Delhi shows a whopping Rs 22,00,660 plus Rs 5,25, 958 in taxes totalling to Rs 27,26,618 for a night. This means a guest checking in on February 16 for the Summit will end up paying a tab of over Rs 1.36 crores just for accommodation while he checks out on February 21. Prices at The Lodhi Delhi hovers around Rs 14,97,000 for its Sultan Suite with Rs 2,69,460 in taxes and regular rooms for these dates come at Rs 1,53,400 per night with taxes. Same is the case with the prices of all leading five-star hotels including the Taj Hotels, The Oberoi, ITC Maurya, Shangri La, etc.

While some of the hotels are completely sold out even with these dynamic pricing, The Leela Palace Delhi shows rooms available from Rs 1,78,000 for a room to Rs 8,75,000 for a Grand Premier Suite to over Rs 10,33, 326 for a luxury suite. The Claridges Delhi shows rooms ranging from Rs 76,000 up to over Rs 5 lakhs for a suite and the Taj Palace offer rooms around Rs 75,000 per night to Rs 3 lakhs for a Club Suite.

Hotels are tight lipped when it comes to responding to the news of price surges. “All bookings are made by our central reservation team, and I will not be able to comment on this,” said a promoter of an international hotel chain in India. Other hotels came up with a simple statement, “we will not be able to comment on this.”

“Such surges are ridiculous. It’s not about affordability... it’s about principles,” says Tikka Shatrujit Singh who is advisor to several luxury brands including from LVMH. “There are no longer any principles or scruples involved when it comes to treating customers. There was a time when at least regular customers were treated with respect and privileges. That is not seen anymore.”

With the India–AI Impact Summit 2026 being the first global AI summit to be hosted in the Global South, the event is expected to have over 35,000 registrations from 100 countries attending the event including the India AI Impact Expo which is expected to feature over 300 exhibitors from 30 countries across more than 10 thematic pavilions. The Summit framework also includes seven flagship events, collectively engaging 3,00,000 plus participants.

With the host city having 50-60 five-star hotels with an average total number of hotel rooms hovering around 20,000, it is only natural that the hotels try to maximise their profits by switching over to dynamic pricing mode that results in unprecedented price hike like this. “This is highly unethical for hotels to indulge in such activities. Recently, we have seen airlines doing the same during the Indigo fiasco, along with hotels near airports fleecing stranded passengers,” says businessman Parvez Damania. “India is one of the fastest growing major economies in the world and many people will want to visit our country and this is the last thing we should be doing.”

According to a feature published by the American Express Global Business Travel, “to keep us with fluctuating demand and rising hotel rates in business travel, hotels must continuously adapt their strategies. One such strategy is dynamic hotel pricing. Many hoteliers are increasingly reliant on revenue management strategies to maximise their profits. By collecting and analysing data, they can predict guest behaviour and demand -- dynamic pricing employs such a tactic. Dynamic rates are a pricing method that adjusts hotel room rates based on real-time demand. Room prices are determined by a variety of criteria, including the number of available rooms and reservations at a hotel.” Also affecting the price surge is the proximity of the hotels to the event location with the hotels closest to the location seeing the biggest price hikes. 

While dynamic pricing is beneficial for the hotel business, it may not be the same for a business traveller. The feature further says that, “While dynamic rates are a great way for hotels to maximise their profits, the strategy can create a challenge for travel managers and procurement teams. Many companies set their own rate caps by town, city, or country via their company policy. This means travel managers must invest time analysing everything from company booking behaviours to local trends to determine a suitable per-night rate. However, manually searching for rates means they can still miss out on better deals. This is where dynamic price caps can be helpful.”

“Only way to control such kind of price surges is by building more hotels not just in Delhi, but in all major cities in India. When it comes to the number of good hotels in Delhi, there are only about 40 or 50 out of which real luxury hotels are just five or six,” says Singh. “Look at the Far East, all major cities have hundreds of five stars and that makes them much lower in terms of pricing and much more modern for staying.”

Damania agrees. “There is a drastic shortage of hotels in the Indian metros. We could definitely do with many more hotels here. With unprecedented surges and customers suffering, eventually the government may interfere sooner or later and that’s the last thing we need in a free market economy. These hotels and airlines should be mindful of that.”

The sharp escalation in hotel prices during the India–AI Impact Summit 2026 reflects how major global events can dramatically reshape a city’s hospitality landscape. With demand far outstripping supply, especially near the event venue, hotels are capitalising on dynamic pricing models to optimise revenue.

While such strategies are rooted in data-driven revenue management and are commercially justified, they also raise concerns about affordability and accessibility for business travellers, organisations and even normal visitors. The situation ultimately illustrates how large-scale international gatherings not only spotlight a nation’s global standing but also test the balance between commercial opportunity and practical inclusivity.