17 hour layover in DEL
 

Canadian coming through Delhi to Thailand with a 17 hour layover.
with the political nightmare happening, will I be able to book a room by airport or do I have to stay in transit area?

I am not aware of any directives being given to airport hotels in Delhi to stop taking bookings from Canadians :confused:

I have found out I have to stay at airport unless India allows Canadians to obtain a visa by the time I leave.
It’s too bad as I have a day I would have liked to see a bit of Delhi.

There is the in terminal Holiday Inn Express that you can use without leaving the international transit area. The quality is quite decent and definitely better than roaming the concourse for 17h.

There isn’t. As long as the Canadian passport user already has a valid Indian visa and/or OCI, entering, transiting and exiting India and staying at DEL area hotels works as it used to at this time last year too.

The OP has the issue of not having an Indian visa and thus looking at doing an international-to-international transit without visa while being uncertain about when India will re-open visa/evisa consular services for the OP. The international wing of the Holiday Inn inside the airport — not the Holiday Inn at Aerocity — can still be used for those allowed to do an international flight from DEL with an international layover of this length at the airport.

FWIW, this month and last month, I’ve repeatedly found the domestic and international wings at the airport Holiday Inn to sell out — so consider that issue of limited capacity or the OP could be roaming the concourse for 17 hours.

Agreed. OP if I were you, I would go ahead and book the Holiday Inn at the international airport. It is quite comfortable, not very expensive and will give you a chance to rest after the long Canada to India flight.
just make sure you are NOT booking Holiday Inn AEROCITY, which is couple KM away.

When is your trip?

I don't see this issue resolving itself over the next few weeks or maybe months. Book at the international wing of the Holiday Inn express. Its quite comfortable for an overnight layover.

Thank you all. Yes the Holiday Inn it is!!