New hotel, car chargers planned at airport

Travelers will find another hotel option near John Glenn Columbus International Airport terminal in two years, with the airport board on Tuesday set to vote on a contract for a new Residence Inn.

The hotel would be built on 3 acres of airport-owned land formerly occupied by the U.S. Postal Service. The address will be 4294 Sawyer Rd.

If the $18 million contract with Smoot Construction is approved, construction on the 122-room hotel would begin this year with opening by summer 2020.

The airport authority’s first foray into hotel-building, the 122room Fairfield Inn & Suites on International Gateway, carried a construction cost of $13 million when it was approved in 2012.

The Residence Inn brand carries a higher construction cost in part because units are slightly larger and include amenities such as kitchenettes.

Airport officials want another hotel because of the success of the Fairfield property. Its occupancy rate this year through July is about 82 percent, compared with about 66 percent for Columbus hotels citywide.

The Residence Inn would be the fourth hotel at the airport. In addition to the Fairfield, two privately owned hotels — Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn — can be found along International Gateway.

Owning hotels provide another source of revenue for airports, as the “Uber effect” of travelers using car services eats into airport parking revenue, the largest non-airline source of revenue for many airports.

The airport authority also plans to add another amenity — eight electric-vehicle charging stations — before the end of the year, with half available for public use.

The timing of the installation is pending while the airport awaits word on a $50,000 rebate from AEP Ohio to help cover the $90,000 cost.

Two of the units would be installed in the area used for valet parking and two in the long-term parking section in the garage. The others would be placed in the employee lot and in the area used for airport authority vehicles. Both John Glenn Columbus International and Rickenbacker airports remain on pace for record years, according to August data released by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.

John Glenn Airport Passengers August 2018: 699,986 passengers, up 8.9 percent year-over-year Year to date: 5.3 million passengers, up 7.1 percent year-over-year

Rickenbacker Airport Passengers (Allegiant Air is lone passenger carrier) August 2018: 28,184 passengers, up 22.4 percent year-over-year Year to date: 233,373 passengers, up 19.1 percent year-over-year Cargo tonnage Up 11.1 percent for August and 19.3 percent for the year to date, compared with the same period in 2017