The Hunt for a Great Venue

Twenty-one editions in, HICSA is no longer simply growing; it is surging. After years of steady momentum, the conference has welcomed over 600 participants annually for the past three to four years, with the last two editions each crossing the 750 mark. Sponsor participation has followed the same upward arc. Growth like this is something to celebrate, of course, but finding a room to put everyone in? That’s where the celebration pauses, looks around, and quietly asks: where exactly do we go from here?

Because the truth is, growth at this scale brings with it a new kind of problem, one that cannot be solved with enthusiasm alone! You cannot simply “fit” a conference like HICSA into a space. You have to stage it. And staging a conference of this calibre requires far more than square footage.

At first glance, the requirement seems simple: find a large ballroom. India has those. Plenty of them. But size, while necessary, is far from sufficient.

A ballroom that technically accommodates 750 people can still feel wrong – too low-ceilinged, too column-heavy, too segmented. The difference between a room that fits and a room that works is the difference between a gathering and an experience. HICSA isn’t just about attendance; it’s about energy, visibility, and flow. It’s about ensuring that the 748^th person in the room feels just as connected as the keynote speaker on stage.

And that’s before we even step outside the ballroom.

Ask any seasoned organiser, and they’ll tell you: what happens outside the main hall is just as important as what happens inside it.

The pre-function area, often treated as an afterthought, is in reality the beating heart of sponsor engagement. This is where deals are initiated, partnerships are explored, and brands come to life. Cramped foyers and narrow corridors don’t just inconvenience, they diminish value. When exhibitors are reduced to competing for space rather than commanding attention, the entire ecosystem suffers.

Then come the breakout rooms. The unsung heroes of any serious conference. They must be plentiful, accessible, and critically, they need to be purpose-built. Too often, these rooms double up as networking lounges or overflow spaces, diluting both functions. A meaningful breakout session cannot coexist with a coffee queue five feet away. And yet, in many venues, that’s precisely the compromise being made.

Even if a venue checks all the internal boxes, the external ones can quickly unravel the equation. Accessibility is not a luxury anymore, it’s a baseline expectation.

A venue that requires a 45-minute commute between the hotel and the conference venue introduces friction into every part of the attendee experience. Early morning sessions become optional. Networking dinners become logistical exercises. The spontaneity that defines great conferences begins to erode.

Which is why the ideal scenario remains unchanged: a venue where accommodation and conference infrastructure are seamlessly integrated. Delegates should be able to move from their rooms to the ballroom, to breakout sessions, to networking zones, all within minutes.

On paper, India seems well-positioned to host events of this scale. The country has invested heavily in world-class convention centres which are magnificent, sprawling spaces designed to rival global benchmarks.

Facilities like Yashobhoomi (India International Convention & Expo Centre), Bharat Mandapam, Jio World Centre, and Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre are nothing short of spectacular. They offer scale, flexibility, and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

But they come with a critical limitation: they exist in isolation.

Without integrated hotel accommodation, these venues shift the logistical burden onto organizers and attendees. Shuttle schedules replace spontaneity. Travel buffers replace seamless transitions. The experience becomes fragmented.

The irony is striking. India has built venues that can host the world but not always the ecosystem that allows the world to stay.

When you begin to stack every requirement – capacity, pre-function space, breakout rooms, and connected accommodation – the list of viable venues narrows dramatically.

Properties like Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel & Residences, Taj Palace, ITC Grand Chola, Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty, JW Marriott Bengaluru Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa, and The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel & Residences rise to the top—not because they are perfect, but because they come closest to ticking all the boxes.

And that, perhaps, is the most telling insight of all. In a country as vast and diverse as India, the number of venues capable of hosting a conference like HICSA—properly hosting it—can be counted, rather uncomfortably, on one hand.

What we are witnessing is not a failure of ambition, but a mismatch of timelines.

The hospitality industry has evolved rapidly, embracing global standards, expanding capacity, and elevating experiences. Conferences like HICSA are a direct reflection of that evolution. They are larger, more sophisticated, and more demanding than ever before.

But infrastructure, by its very nature, lags. It takes years to conceptualize, design, and build venues that meet these evolving needs. And in that gap between ambition and availability, organizers are left navigating constraints rather than possibilities.

Yet, within this challenge lies a significant opportunity.

The demand is no longer theoretical. It is visible, measurable, and growing. Events like HICSA are not outliers, they are essentially indicators of a broader shift in the industry. The need for integrated, large-scale, hospitality-led conference venues is real, and it is urgent.

Developers and hotel groups have a choice to make. Continue building in silos—convention centres without hotels, hotels without sufficient event infrastructure—or rethink the model entirely.

The next generation of venues will not be defined by size alone, but by integration. Spaces where scale meets convenience, where design meets functionality, and where every element, from ballroom to bedroom, is part of a cohesive whole.

The irony is not lost on us. An industry that prides itself on building world-class experiences and on crafting spaces that inspire, impress, and endure, finds itself constrained by the very infrastructure it champions.

HICSA will continue to grow; of that, there is little doubt. The audience will expand. The conversations will deepen. The expectations will rise.

The question that now sits squarely on the table, perhaps most fittingly, at a conference attended by the very people who have the vision and the means to answer it is this: