Hotel tariffs in New Delhi have surged to eye watering levels ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, with some mid to upper tier properties now quoting more than ₹2.2 lakh for a four night stay and luxury suites running into tens of lakhs per night. As global carriers including Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India scramble to accommodate delegates and premium leisure travellers, the price shock is rippling through every segment of the capital’s hospitality market, raising difficult questions about affordability, access and planning for anyone heading to Delhi between February 16 and 20.

AI Impact Summit 2026 Turns Delhi Into a High Tariff Zone

The India AI Impact Summit 2026, being held at Bharat Mandapam in Pragati Maidan from February 16 to 20, has transformed New Delhi into one of the most expensive hotel markets in the world for this week. Industry bodies and online travel agencies report that five star properties which typically charge between ₹20,000 and ₹40,000 a night are now quoting base rates in lakhs for the peak summit dates around February 18 to 20.

According to travel platforms monitoring dynamic pricing, many luxury hotels in central Delhi and Diplomatic Enclave are either sold out or only releasing a handful of rooms at sharply escalated rates. The Hotel Association of India has flagged an average band of about ₹40,000 to ₹60,000 per night across member properties for the summit period, but headline tariffs at top end hotels are far higher, with some standard categories pushed well beyond ₹1 lakh per night.

The spike reflects both the scale and the profile of the event. The summit, billed as the largest global AI gathering hosted so far, is drawing heads of government, technology chiefs, investors, researchers and policy makers from more than 100 countries. With over 35,000 registrations reported by organisers, demand for centrally located, secure and high specification accommodation has outstripped the city’s limited luxury inventory.

From ₹2.2 Lakh Packages to ₹30 Lakh Suites

For travellers searching this week, the most striking figures often sit not in the ultra exclusive suites but in what were once considered premium business hotels. A four night stay from February 16 to 20 at an upper mid scale property in South Delhi, such as a Sheraton branded hotel in Saket, is now pricing out at more than ₹2.2 lakh for a single guest. Similar packages at other international chains around the city fringe are being listed between ₹1.6 lakh and ₹3 lakh for the same dates.

Near Mayur Vihar and other eastern corridors, rooms at branded hotels that would normally serve corporate travellers and transit passengers are also quoting several lakhs for a four night block. One major international chain in that cluster has been advertising around ₹3 lakh per guest for February 16 to 20 stays, effectively pushing mid market customers into budget segments or out of the city altogether.

At the top end, tariffs have moved into unprecedented territory. Flagship hotels such as Taj Palace and The Oberoi are listing club rooms, speciality suites and presidential style accommodations at rates that can reach ₹4 lakh, ₹5 lakh or even ₹30 lakh per night for certain peak categories. In some cases, bookings are only being accepted with strict minimum stay requirements, commonly two nights or more, further raising the overall bill for delegates and corporate buyers.

How Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India Are Responding

For international carriers heavily invested in India’s premium traffic, the Delhi surge is a double edged development. Airlines like Emirates and Lufthansa, which funnel large numbers of business and first class passengers into Delhi through Dubai, Frankfurt and Munich, are benefiting from strong demand on summit week flights. High profile delegations, corporate teams and technology leaders are booking premium cabins well in advance, lifting yields on key routes into the Indian capital.

At the same time, airline sales teams and corporate account managers are grappling with hotel sticker shock when assembling travel packages for clients. Traditionally, full service carriers partner with a curated portfolio of Delhi hotels to offer inclusive stays bundled with long haul flights. This week many of those allotments have either been absorbed by government blocks and summit organisers or repriced far beyond the thresholds most corporate travel policies will accept.

Air India, which has positioned itself as a natural carrier of choice for official delegations and Indian corporate leaders, is reportedly fielding a surge of last minute itinerary changes as travellers seek to shorten their time in the capital or switch to alternative cities for overnight stays. While the airline can manage seat supply by deploying wide bodies and adjusting frequencies, it has far less control over the explosive rate environment on the ground.

For independent travellers booking separately, the result is a fractured landscape. Premium flyers on Emirates or Lufthansa may find business class seats still available to Delhi, yet struggle to secure a hotel room that fits their budget or corporate guidelines. Air India’s domestic network offers the possibility of same day connections onward to cities like Jaipur, Chandigarh or Lucknow, but that workaround brings longer transfers and added logistical complexity.

Pressure Mounts on Corporate Travel Policies

With room tariffs leaping by factors of five to ten in some categories, corporate travel managers are rushing to revise policies and issue advisories. Many large companies that typically cap hotel spend in Delhi at around ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 per night are suddenly facing benchmark rates of ₹80,000 to well over ₹1 lakh for centrally located full service brands during the summit window.

Some multinationals are opting to relax caps on a temporary basis for delegates whose physical presence at the summit is considered strategically critical. Others are choosing a more restrictive route, cutting back on the number of staff allowed to travel and encouraging hybrid participation, with only senior executives on the ground and broader teams dialling in virtually from lower cost locations.

Travel management companies working with global carriers say that they are seeing a marked shift towards satellite accommodations. Instead of booking in Chanakyapuri or around central Connaught Place, travellers connected to airlines’ corporate programmes are being rerouted to Aerocity near the airport, to Gurgaon’s business districts, or even to Noida and Ghaziabad, despite those markets also showing doubled or tripled rates compared with a normal February week.

The ripple effect is being felt across expense budgets. Daily allowances that might once have comfortably covered a Delhi room, meals and incidental costs are no longer realistic. For some firms, the only viable answer has been to declare the AI summit a special event category and treat associated travel as an exception rather than business as usual.

What This Means for Leisure Travellers and Short Breaks

For non summit travellers, the timing is particularly challenging. February is a popular month for domestic tourism to Delhi and nearby destinations such as Agra and Jaipur, thanks to mild weather and a busy wedding season. This year, leisure visitors arriving on Emirates, Lufthansa, Air India and other carriers are finding themselves priced out of many of the city’s aspirational properties.

Online booking platforms show limited availability of centrally located four and five star hotels for the nights of February 16 to 20 at anything approaching typical rates. Even travellers who planned ahead and locked in flexible bookings months ago are reporting that some properties have attempted to renegotiate tariffs upward or encourage guests to shift dates in order to free rooms for higher paying summit clientele.

Budget and midscale hotels are seeing spillover demand, with average daily rates rising sharply but still remaining below the six figure levels of the luxury tier. For families or solo visitors willing to compromise on brand, location or amenities, there are deals to be found in outer neighbourhoods and secondary business districts, though travel times into the historic core and summit zone may be longer, particularly given extensive security and traffic restrictions.

Seasoned travellers are also looking at multi city strategies. One emerging pattern is to fly into Delhi, transit immediately onward to a less expensive base in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand or Punjab using domestic connections on Air India and other carriers, and then visit the capital for a single day of sightseeing before departure once summit pressure begins to ease.

Security, Traffic and the Hidden Costs of a Summit Week Stay

Beyond headline hotel rates, visitors to Delhi during the AI Impact Summit are likely to face hidden costs and inconveniences that add to the overall burden of a trip. Delhi Police and traffic authorities have issued detailed diversions and advisories for central and south Delhi corridors, warning of intermittent closures and rolling restrictions to facilitate VIP movement between hotels and Bharat Mandapam.

Hotels hosting heads of state, senior ministers and technology chiefs are subject to elevated security protocols, including vehicle screening, perimeter controls and limitations on public access to lobbies and facilities. Guests staying in those properties may experience delays at checkpoints, more rigid identification procedures and reduced flexibility in using on site restaurants and meeting spaces.

For airlines coordinating ground transfers, this environment demands additional buffers. Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India are all expected to factor longer drive times from hotels to the airport into their recommended departure schedules, especially for premium passengers and delegations with strict security envelopes. That, in turn, may translate into earlier checkouts, extended hours spent airside, and less time in the city for casual exploration.

The combination of security lines, traffic snarls and constrained access to key landmarks around central Delhi means that travellers who did not come for the summit but find themselves in the city at the same time could face a diminished experience, even if they manage to secure an affordable room in a less affected neighbourhood.

Strategies Travellers Are Using to Contain Costs

Amid soaring tariffs, travellers and their agents are experimenting with a range of strategies to keep Delhi trips viable. One common approach is to shorten stays to the bare minimum required. Instead of spending four or five nights in the capital, many summit attendees are now flying in on early morning arrivals from hubs such as Dubai, Doha, Frankfurt or London, spending one or two nights in the city, and then departing on late evening flights that allow them to avoid another night of high hotel charges.

Another option gaining traction is shifting to alternative accommodation models. Serviced apartments, boutique guesthouses and upscale homestays in neighbourhoods like Greater Kailash, Hauz Khas and Vasant Kunj are attracting those who might otherwise have booked large international chains. While prices have risen here too, the increases are generally less extreme than in the branded five star segment, and longer stay discounts are occasionally still available.

Corporate travellers working with Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India’s global distribution networks are also leveraging regional stopovers and split itineraries. Rather than spending the entire week in Delhi, some are breaking the journey in cities like Dubai or Istanbul, holding preparatory or follow up meetings there, and compressing their Delhi time into the summit’s core days only.

For independent visitors, flexibility is proving to be the most valuable asset. Those who can shift their plans to late February or March are likely to see rates drop back towards normal seasonal levels. Comparison checks for dates in mid March show that many of the same room categories currently priced in lakhs revert to bands of roughly ₹30,000 to ₹60,000 per night once the summit dust settles.

Will Delhi’s Hospitality Market Reset After the Summit?

As the AI Impact Summit gets under way, hoteliers and airlines alike are watching closely to see whether this week’s extraordinary conditions represent a one off spike or the template for future mega events in the capital. For now, industry insiders describe the current environment as an exceptional confluence of high level diplomacy, technology hype, auspicious wedding dates and limited luxury inventory rather than a new permanent normal.

Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India are expected to enjoy a short term boost from premium demand tied directly to the summit, but will be keenly aware that sustained visitor growth depends on Delhi remaining broadly accessible to business and leisure travellers alike. If price memories from February 2026 linger too long, there is a risk that some conferences and incentive trips could be diverted to other Indian cities where capacity is deeper and rate volatility lower.

For travellers, the lessons are already clear. Global events of this scale can send accommodation prices soaring to levels that would once have seemed implausible, particularly in markets with finite five star supply. Those planning trips to Delhi in the coming years will likely pay closer attention to the city’s event calendar, lock in cancellable bookings well ahead of time and consider more creative routing and stay options when major summits are announced.

In the meantime, as hotel rates in parts of the capital soar to ₹2.2 lakh for multi night packages and far beyond at the very top end, Delhi has become a case study in how fast, and how far, a global tech gathering can reshape a city’s travel economics, at least for one extraordinary week.