Hospitality chain Lemon Tree Hotels today said it plans to open 100 hotels in India by 2020, with a total room capacity of 10,000.
The company that currently owns and manages 18 hotels under Lemon Tree Premier, Lemon Tree and Red Fox brands also said it has put on hold plans to foray into real estate in partnership with US-based investment firm Warburg Pincus.
“By 2020 we plan to open 100 hotels in India with an inventory of around 10,000 rooms,” Lemon Tree Hotels Chairman and Managing Director Patu Keswani told reporters on the sidelines of the Hero Mind mine Summit 2012.
This year the company is opening two more hotels, he said without sharing details on the investment that would be required for the expansion.
Keswani, however, said the company plans to raise money from financial institutions or may even go public in the next two-three years. “In the next 2-3 years, we might look at public listing,” Keswani said.
At present, the company’s total room capacity is around 2,000. On the company’s proposed real estate foray, he said: “We have put that housing project in cold storage. It is not the good time to start a project like that.”
In April last year, the company had announced that it will foray into real estate with plans to invest over Rs 1,400 crore to launch housing projects in India in partnership with US-based investment firm Warburg Pincus. “We will wait for the Indian economy to become better and interest rates to come down…I do not see the situation improving in another 2 years,” he added.
