Skift Take

It's no surprise that IHCL is expanding its airport hotel portfolio. These hotels are increasingly popular, especially among business travelers. With traffic often turning into a crawl, imagine the time saved: you land, grab your bag, and in minutes, you’re at your hotel. Now, who wouldn’t want that?

Peden Doma Bhutia

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), the parent brand behind Taj Hotels, is looking at airport properties as an important growth area. In its latest move, IHCL has invested INR 500 million ($6 million) into its subsidiary, Zarrenstar Hospitality, through a rights issue.

In March, IHCL had invested INR 350 million ($4.2 million) in Zarrenstar Hospitality.

With this IHCL will maintain complete ownership of Zarrenstar. "The funds will be used for developing a hotel near Cochin International Airport," IHCL said in a stock exchange filing.

Set to open in November, the 112-room property under the Taj brand represents an estimated INR 1 billion ($12 million) investment aimed at capturing the airport’s high-traffic market.

“We are opening the Taj at Cochin Interna