Lemon Tree to invest Rs 600 crore for expansion

Lemon Tree, the hospitality chain which entered the hospitality race in 2002 is planning to invest Rs 600 crore to open 900 rooms across India by the end of next financial year, reported PTI.

"We plan to add 900 rooms across the country at an investment of around Rs 600 crore by the end of next fiscal year," said, Rahul Pandit, President and ED, Lemon Tree Hotel Company.

Out of 900 rooms, 750 rooms will be in added in the new hotels the group is planning to open and the remaining will be added in hotels across Delhi.

The group will open hotels in Mumbai, Vadodara and Gurgaon under the Lemon Tree brand, Lemon Tree Premier, Lemon Tree and Red Fox brand. The group will open one hotel at both Mumbai and Vadodara and three hotels in Gurgaon

Presently, the company operates hotels across its three brands--Lemon Tree Premier- an upscale brand, Lemon Tree Hotels that caters to midscale segment and Red Fox Hotels- the budget or the economy hotel.

"The focus is mainly on the domestic travellers. At present, 85 per cent of our guests are from this segment,” added, Pandit.
Lemon Tree was founded in September, 2002 by Patu Keswani presently owns and operates 26 hotels in 15 cities with 3,000 rooms and over 3,000 employees.