Fleur Hotels looks to develop 35 Lemon Tree hotels in India in four years

Enters into strategic partnership with APG

Lemon Tree has entered into a strategic partnership with the Dutch pension fund asset manager APG to develop a portfolio of 35 mid-market hotels in India in four years. APG has taken six per cent stake in Lemon Tree Hotels and formed a joint venture to set up a hotel development cum owning joint venture company Fleur Hotels. All the proposed hotels in this joint venture will be branded as Lemon Tree Hotels, Lemon Tree Premier or Red Fox Hotels. Confirming the developments to Express TravelWorld, Saurabh Nandi, chief marketing officer, Lemon Tree said, “We are looking to build inventory further in the National Capital Region, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata. Additionally, Srinagar, Goa, Nasik, Guwahati, Raipur, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Puri, Vishakapatnam, Vadodara, Surat, Gwalior, Mysore, Patna, Jamshedpur, Madurai, Puducherry, Lucknow and Amritsar.” These will be full service hotels and will offer 24×7 services, a range of food and beverage outlets including a 24×7 coffee shop, recreational bar, specialty restaurants, business facilities including WiFi, meeting rooms and recreational facilities including fitness centre, swimming pool and health spas.

APG manages about 299 billion Euros ($393 billion) on behalf of Dutch pension funds. Fleur Hotels will invest over Rs 2,000 crore to develop and own 4,500 rooms by end of 2016. It holds 47 per cent shareholding in the joint venture-Fleur Hotels, while Lemon Tree holds the balance 53 per cent.  APG’s combined investment in the joint venture and Lemon Tree Hotels is Rs 650 crore.

By Heena Mahajan – Delhi