Delhi-based hotel chain Lemon Tree Hotels, which is in the process of expanding its footprint in the country is expected to operate 19 hotels across 16 cities in the country by 2013. It presently operates 11 hotels and will increase its room inventory to about 2,700 rooms at the end of the current development phase. Currently, the company has hotels under development in Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The hotels developed in these locations will be business hotels.
As a parallel growth strategy, the company aims to increase its presence in the leisure segment. It presently operates one resort property in Goa and will commission more resorts in Shimla, Alleppey in Kerala, Aurangabad and Goa until 2013.Lemon Tree aims to increase its presence in the country with the ‘multiple units per city’ format.
“We will look at increased penetration in markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad where we can compete aggressively. Once, we gain enough market share in these locations and saturate these markets, we will grow through the ‘hub and spoke’ model,” informed Patu Keswani, CMD, Lemon Tree Hotels. |