TravTalk India Online Magazine
The Lemon Tree Hotel Company recently opened their twin properties–Lemon Tree and Red Fox Hotel in Sector-60, Gurugram.
With the opening of these twin hotels, Lemon Tree Hotel Company’s inventory in Gurgaon is now 530 rooms. “The reason why we chose the location because the catchment area here is Golf Course Extension Road, Golf Course Road and Sohna Road, which are coming up in a big way. We’ve also put up one of the largest convention centres in the NCR region here, which will help us fill up the rooms. We can cater for weddings, parties, conferences, corporate events, as well as MICE. We’ve been in this city since 2004. All our hotels do an average occupancy of over 80 per cent, and thus, we are bullish about Gurugram,” says Vikramjit Singh, President and Chief Revenue Officer.
While Lemon Tree is a mid-scale brand Red Fox is the economy brand, says Singh, adding that by putting two brands here instead of just one large inventory, the hotel group can cater to different segments for the business. Singh says, “As against the average Indian occupancy of 60-61 per cent, Lemon Tree finished the year at about 76 per cent. The only way to grow fast is price increase and we are looking at some aggressive price increase in the coming year.”
The hotel group has two under-construction properties in Mumbai and is opening new hotels in Udaipur, Kolkata and Shimla. “We are expanding our hotel in Alleppey and we are also looking at managing hotels in Gangtok, Siliguri, Jammu and Coimbatore. All these hotels will be up within the next two years. We already have three hotels in Hyderabad and we will be opening a fourth one there as well,” he adds. Singh informs that they share a strong relationship with the travel trade as well. “We have leisure properties in Goa, Alleppey, Aurangabad, Dehradun and Jaipur, for which a major chunk of business comes through trade, and their contribution is increasing. We’ve seen almost 10-15 per cent growth in contribution from that segment (travel agents),” he added.
“All our hotels do an average occupancy of over 80 per cent, and thus, we are bullish about Gurugram”- Vikramjit Singh, President and Chief Revenue Officer, Lemon Tree Hotel Company
