Mumbai: The hotel cluster around India's airports is getting bigger. Adani Airport Holdings and Tata group's Indian Hotels Company signed a multi-hotel operating agreement on Thursday for eight hotels and more than 2,000 rooms.
Adani Airports will develop the properties; IHCL will operate them. Construction has begun in Mumbai, Lucknow and Ahmedabad, the companies said, with most hotels expected to open in three to four years.
The mix: a Taj under construction beside Terminal 2 in Mumbai; a Vivanta and a Ginger in Lucknow; a Taj and a Vivanta in Ahmedabad, both in advanced stages of construction; and a Taj, a Gateway and a Ginger in Guwahati. That is three Taj, two Vivanta, one Gateway and two Ginger hotels.
"The partnership builds on AAHL's strategy of developing hospitality-led, integrated mixed-use districts in proximity to the airports," said Jeet Adani, director of Adani Airport Holdings. IHCL said the additions will take its portfolio to 25 hotels across brands at key Indian airports.
It is the Adani group's second such deal in five months. In May it partnered with IHG Hotels & Resorts to build five hotels around four airports.
Behind the hotels sits a larger plan. Adani Airports has set up Adani Airport City Ltd to develop a land bank of more than 655 acres across six airports in five states, including nearly 440 acres in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. In the first phase it plans to invest over ₹20,000 crore to build roughly 22 million sq ft across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur and Guwahati.
For a traveller, the practical effect shows up in transit. Airport-adjacent rooms cut the cost of an early-morning connection, and the spread of brands from Taj down to Ginger means the same campus can serve a business traveller and a family on a budget. Adani Airports operates eight airports: Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and the new Navi Mumbai airport.