Goa’s Mopa airport inks two hotel deals

GMR Goa International Airport Ltd (GGIAL) has tied up with Indian Hotels Co. Ltd (IHCL) subsidiary Roots Corp. which owns and operates the budget brand Ginger hotels for the first hotel, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The second agreement is with a prominent entity in the food and beverage industry, and it is yet to decide which brand would be used for the hotel development, though it is considering the French hospitality firm Accor SA.

The hotels will come up at plots of 2.13 acres each close to the airport’s parking lot. They may have around 200 and 150 rooms respectively in the 3 or 4 star category, but these numbers may increase once details are finalized, the people cited above said. The airport has a total of three plots reserved for hotels, and a partner for the third plot is yet to be finalized.

Mails sent to IHCL and GMR remained unanswered till press time, while Accor’s India arm declined to comment.

According to reports, GGIAL will charge a one-time concession fee of about ₹10.65 crore per hotel and ₹1.8 crore every year as annual licensing fees. Approximately 153,000 sq.ft. of development can be done on each parcel of 2.13 acres.

In the first phase, at each hotel, about 100 rooms will be developed and operational by the middle of 2024, while the second phase with another 100 rooms or so will be ready by the middle of 2026.

The airport is built on a public-private partnership model, on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis. GGIAL is a subsidiary of GMR Airports Ltd. The company had stipulated that only bidders with a turnover of ₹100 crore could apply to develop hotels.

“Seeing that there has been a very good growth story in Goa in terms of both the real estate as well as hotels occupancies and rates, it is expected that the new hotel supply should not have a problem getting absorbed," said Samir Jasuja, founder and chief executive officer of real estate analytics platform, PropEquity.

Hotels have reported an increase in average room rates of 30-40% since before the pandemic, Jasuja said.

He estimates that these hotels could take up to three years to come up from the time they are announced and could command about ₹8,000- 10,000 per room night, despite being located at the airport. They would likely have an annual average occupancy of about 60% and could become suitable venues for MICE events, as many more hotels are expected in the area, he added.

Mint has learnt that the consultancy which is facilitating the hotels project is commercial real estate firm JLL India. Mails sent to JLL did not receive a response till press time.

The move makes sense for Accor, which runs the Ibis, Novotel, and Sofitel hotels in India. The French multinational hotel company recently told Mint that it plans to expand both its managed and franchised hotel business in India by adding 30 new properties over the next five years. It has been decided that a hotel developer that already owns a property that is managed by Accor, will build this hotel. But Accor did not provide details of whom the property will be owned by. At present, Accor operates about 58 hotels here including 22 Ibis properties. But as a business, it does not build its own hotels anywhere in the world and only manages them.

Mint has learnt that the consultancy which is facilitating the hotels project is commercial real estate firm JLL India. Mails sent to JLL did not receive a response till press time.

The new greenfield airport at Mopa has a prescribed phased development of the airport over a period of 40 years of the concession period. The concession period usually means the timeline incorporates enough at least to fully amortize the major initial investments. The project has four phases. In the opening of phase 1, the terminal facility of 4.4 million passengers per annum (MPPA) has been fully fitted out. The remaining phases will have 28.3 million MMPA. The airport has been built at a cost of ₹3,000 crore.