Travel tech company ixigo is betting on hotels as its fourth growth engine alongside trains, flights, and buses, as further market share gains become harder in rail bookings and high airfares and capacity constraints weigh on flights.

The company began reporting hotels as a separate operating segment in Q2 FY27, breaking it out from ‘Others’. The revenue of the hotel segment grew more than sixfold to ₹8.1 Cr, accounting for 2.5% of ixigo’s ₹321 Cr operating revenue in the September quarter.

Its gross transaction value (GTV) reached ₹111.3 Cr, or 2.6X the year-ago figure, making it ixigo’s fastest-growing business line by this measure.

“Hotels took a great leap forward, getting to a critical mark that makes it large enough to start disclosing (separately),” ixigo group CEO Alok Bajpai said during the earnings call.

The segment’s contribution loss widened to ₹1.2 Cr from ₹71 Lakh in Q2 FY26. However, the contribution margin improved to -15% from -55%, as revenue growth outpaced the increase in direct costs.

This loss captures only part of the investment. Much of ixigo’s hotel-related technology, product, and employee spending sits within group costs. Management attributed around ₹10 Cr of the approximately ₹20 Cr increase in group costs, excluding ESOP expenses, to building and scaling hotels.

Its train, flight, and bus businesses generated around ₹126 Cr in contribution profit during the quarter, helping fund the expansion. 

As Inc42’s earlier business model analysis examined, ixigo is reinvesting operating leverage from its established businesses into hotels, AI, and brand building.

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