LEMON Tree Hotels launched its twin properties – the 287-key Lemon Tree Premier Delhi Aerocity and 207-room Red Fox Hotel Delhi Aerocity – at the end of December, becoming the second operator after Marriott International to open in the hospitality district near Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Said Rahul Pandit, president and executive director of Lemon Tree Hotels: “We expect good demand from the transit, cabin crew and corporate segment. The combo property gives us an advantage as we can cater to upscale and economy travellers. We expect an average occupancy of 50 per cent in the first year of operation.”
Looking ahead, the company intends to have 30 properties with a total of 4,000 rooms in operation by 2016, up from its present 24 hotels and 2,800 rooms.
“At present our nine hotels are in different stages of construction. We have recently acquired a Clarion hotel in Bengaluru and are rebranding it as a 134-room Lemon Tree. We expect to open a 200-room Lemon Tree in Hyderabad by August 2014. Other cities we are opening properties in include Udaipur, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Chennai,” said Pandit.
Lemon Tree Hotels is also looking at running another Lemon Tree-Red Fox property in Gurgaon.
“Even though our current expansion plan focuses on Lemon Tree and Lemon Tree Premier, we expect our economy brand Red Fox to be the key growth driver as we go ahead,” Pandit added.
