Lemon Tree to invest Rs 850 crore on capex in 3 years

Lemon Tree Hotels Ltdtoday said it will be investing Rs 850 crore in the next three years for expanding its footprint in the country.

President of Lemon Tree Hotels, Vikramjit Singh saidthey have earmarked a total of Rs 1,700 crore for adding1,500 rooms,which are currentlyunder constructionand expected to be completed by financial year 2021and spent half of the total budget.

"The total capital that will be deployed in these 1,500 rooms will aboutRs1,700 crore. Of this roughly half of it has already beendeployedand another half of it will be deployed near completionby FY21. All the1500rooms are availableby Fy 21,"Singh told reporters here.

The mid-priced hotel chain presently operates 4,907 rooms in 49 hotels including managed ones across 31 cities and aims to operate 78 hotels with 8,152 rooms in 54 cities by 2020-21, he said.

He further said 64 per cent of Lemon Tree's rooms are company-owned, while the rest are owned by others and managed by the company.

It also plans to gradually reduce the proportion of hotels it owns and focus more on managing hotels under its brand.

Replying to a query, he said as per reports the industry is going to witness mismatch between hotel rooms demand and availability which may lead to price rise in future.

The hotel chain today announced the formal opening of Lemon Tree Hotel in Banjara Hills, their fourth hotel in the city.

The new hotel has 85 rooms and will cater to travellers looking for value-for-money accommodations in the city and with this new opening, Lemon Tree now holds a cumulative inventory of 663 rooms in the city, he added.