Lemon Tree eyes co-branding alliances with international hotel chains
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As demand for hotel rooms in India is expected to outpace supply in the coming years, Lemon Tree Hotels is readying itself to leverage its brand identity and capture a more premium pricing. The company’s chairperson, Patanjali G.
Keswani, who spoke exclusively to Mint, said that this growth will be supported by increased discretionary spending on branded hotels across India. Keswani said that over the past 12 years, Lemon Tree has built more hotel rooms than any other hotel company in India. He said that the Delhi-based company plans to list its subsidiary, Fleur Hotels, within the next 24 months to pare debt, and is also eyeing alliances with international hotel chains for co-branding or shared loyalty programmes in the next five years.
The hospitality company with a market capitalization of more than ₹10,000 crore currently operates 112 hotels, consisting of 41 owned properties with about 5,800 rooms and 71 managed hotels with around 4,500 rooms. The company is also developing 86 new hotels, which will add approximately 5,900 rooms to its portfolio. Since April, it has signed over 30 new hotels.
In September, Fleur Hotels Private Ltd was converted from a private limited company into an unlisted public company. For the second quarter ended 30 September, Lemon Tree reported a consolidated revenue of ₹284 crore, a 24% increase compared to the same period last year. Net profit grew 34% year-on-year to ₹35 crore.
Its occupancy rate for the quarter stood at 68.4%, a decline of 3.28% compared to the previous year. However, the revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased by 7% to ₹4,035. Currently, about 26 million Indians travel internationally.
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