Oberoi Hotels: Every Property and Who Each Suits

Reviewed by the VST Editorial Board. Last updated August 24, 2026. This article contains affiliate links, and the brands discussed here are among them.

Most luxury hotel groups sell you a room. This one sells you a location you cannot get any other way, and then charges accordingly.

Oberoi Hotels and Resorts is the ultra luxury brand of The Oberoi Group, the Indian hospitality company founded in 1934 and listed as EIH Limited, which operates roughly 32 luxury hotels and two Nile cruisers across seven countries under two brands: Oberoi at the top and Trident a tier below. The portfolio is small by international chain standards and unusually location driven, which is exactly why choosing the right property matters more here than with a global chain where every hotel is broadly interchangeable. Below is the full list, what each one is actually for, and the trips where the premium is not worth paying.

Key takeaways

• Oberoi and Trident belong to the same company, EIH Limited, founded by Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi in 1934.
• The group operates around 32 luxury hotels and two river cruise ships across seven countries, a fraction of the size of the global chains.
• The brand states on its own site that it was ranked Best Hotel Group in the World by the Telegraph Travel Awards UK, 2025. Treat that as a self reported claim, as you should with any hotel award.

What is the full Oberoi portfolio?

This is the complete list as published by the brand, grouped by country.

Two patterns are worth noticing. The properties ending in vilas are the purpose built palace style resorts, and they are the reason people talk about this group at all. The plain city names, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, are business hotels with a luxury finish, which is a completely different product bought for a completely different reason.

Which property fits which trip?

The mismatch I see most often is people booking a vilas resort for two nights inside a packed itinerary. These properties are the destination, not the base. Two nights at Udaivilas with a full sightseeing schedule is paying resort money for a bed.

What do you actually get for the premium?

Three things, and only one of them is the room.

Position. Amarvilas at 600 metres from the Taj Mahal, Vanyavilas at the edge of a tiger reserve, Udaivilas on Lake Pichola. These are not marketing adjectives, they are physical facts that no competitor can copy, and they are what you are paying for.

Staff ratio. The group’s reputation rests on service density rather than design trends, which is why it keeps appearing in reader voted awards. It also means the experience varies with the individual property and the season more than a standardised chain would.

Scale in your favour. A group with roughly 32 hotels cannot absorb a bad property the way a group with 7,000 can. That cuts both ways, and it is the honest reason the brand tends to be consistent.

(An aside on awards generally: every hotel group quotes the award it won, not the ones it did not. Reader voted awards measure enthusiasm among people who already stay there. Useful signal, weak evidence.)

Is Oberoi One worth joining?

Oberoi One is the group’s guest recognition programme, and the brand describes member rates, dining savings, flexible check in and check out, and complimentary upgrades. It is free to join, which makes the decision easy for anyone booking even one stay.

What it is not is a points currency you can accumulate into free nights across a global network the way the big chain programmes work. Judge it as a rate and recognition programme, not as a mileage scheme.

When is Oberoi the wrong booking?

Say it plainly, because the answer is often yes.

• Pure business trips. If you are in a meeting room until 8 p.m., the same group’s Trident brand covers the same cities at a lower rate.
• Short city stopovers. One night before a morning flight is not a reason to pay resort money.
• Very young children. Some of these properties are quiet by design. Check the specific resort rather than assuming a luxury brand equals family facilities.
• Trips where the schedule is the point. If you leave at seven and return at nine, you have bought a wardrobe.

What health planning goes with these destinations?

A luxury property removes food and water risk from your hotel. It does not remove the destination.

• Wildflower Hall, Shimla sits at Himalayan elevation, around 2,500 m. That is the altitude band where some people feel it, particularly on arrival day. See altitude sickness prevention.
• Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore means three and a half hour safari drives in serious heat from April to June, plus rabies awareness around monkeys. See our Ranthambore guide.
• The Nile cruisers come with one hard rule: no contact with river water at all, because of schistosomiasis. See the Nile river cruise health guide.
• Bali and Lombok are long haul, and travelers’ diarrhea is still the most common illness of the trip once you leave the property. See Bali belly.
• Every destination here needs the standard pre travel appointment four to six weeks out. See travel vaccinations.

Frequently asked questions

How many Oberoi hotels are there?
The Oberoi Group operates around 32 luxury hotels and two Nile cruisers across seven countries, split between the Oberoi and Trident brands.

Who owns Oberoi Hotels?
EIH Limited, the listed company of The Oberoi Group, founded by Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi in 1934.

Which is the best Oberoi hotel in India?
There is no single answer, because each is built for a different trip. Udaivilas for a lake palace stay, Amarvilas for the Taj Mahal, Vanyavilas for safari, Wildflower Hall for the mountains.

Is Oberoi more expensive than Trident?
Yes. They are deliberately positioned as two tiers of the same company, with Oberoi as the ultra luxury brand and Trident as the upscale five star one.

Does Oberoi have properties outside India?
Yes, in Egypt, Indonesia, Mauritius, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

The bottom line

Book Oberoi when the property is the reason for the trip, and give it enough nights to be worth it. Book Trident, or anything else, when you need a bed in a city. The palace resorts are genuinely singular and the city hotels are very good hotels competing against other very good hotels, and the mistake that costs the most money is treating those two things as the same brand decision.

Sources

1. Oberoi Hotels and Resorts. Official property listing, loyalty programme and brand claims. oberoihotels.com
2. The Oberoi Group. Corporate information, EIH Limited and brand structure. eihltd.com
3. The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra. Distance to the Taj Mahal and room view claim. oberoihotels.com
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Yellow Book, destination health guidance. cdc.gov

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. See our medical disclaimer.