Lemon Tree set to launch first hotel in Mumbai

Indian hotel chain Lemon Tree, which is backed by American private equity firm Warburg Pincus, is set to launch its first hotel in Mumbai within the next one month.

The 303-room property will be launched under the company’s premium hotel brand Lemon Tree Premier Hotel.

It is located near the Mumbai international airport to target leisure and business travellers.

Lemon Tree Hotels chairman and managing director Patanjali Keswani said: “Demand for hotel room is phenomenal in Mumbai. Whoever puts up a hotel in Mumbai does well. I guess occupancy in the whole of Mumbai would be over 80%. It is one market which doesn’t face down cycle.”

The hotel will have multi-cuisine coffee shop, recreation bar, restaurant,  spa and fitness center. It will also boast of a swimming pool and meeting room.

The hotel will be Lemon Tree Premier’s second hotel in Maharashtra after Pune.

Referring to the difficulties in building hotel in Mumbai, Keswani said: “The approval process is too complicated. So many agencies are involved and it takes a lot of time for approval and the land values are high.”

With hotel in Mumbai, Lemon Tree will be operating 57 hotels which include the company’s managed property across 34 cities in India.

Lemon Tree opened its first hotel in May 2004. The company is operating 5,800 rooms currently.