Lemon Tree Hotels bags the coveted Times Travel Academy Award

India's first and largest chain of upscale hotels and resorts, Lemon Tree Hotels was recently conferred with the prestigious Times Travel Academy award- "Best Mid Range Hotel" for 2011.

Fhrai, National Edition
December, 2011, Pg. No. 25     

UNDER THE LEMON TREE

The Lemon Tree Hotels design is fresh and tangy as its name.
Society Interiors, May, 2011
Page no. 108-115     

Can And Able

On world Disability Day tomorrow, Talk explores how the five-star hospitality industry has become pro-choice for the differently-abled The Indian Express
December 02, 2011, Page no. 6     

In Conversation

‘Indian restaurants lack in anticipating guest needs, an integral part of good service' - Raj Rao, Corporate Dir. F&B, Lemon Tree Hotels Hospitality Biz India
November 2011, Page no. 24     

We plan to take Lemon Tree public by 2013 and become the largest hotel company in India

In an exclusive Interview with India Hospitality Review, Patu Keswani talks about his plans to become one of the dominant players in the mid-market segment in India.
India Hospitality Review.com
1st Nov 2011

Lemon Tree Hotels awarded with NCPEDP MphasiS Universal Design Award

Lemon Tree Hotel has been bestowed with prestigious - NCPEDP MphasiS Universal Design Award. The award acknowledges organizations playing a pivotal role in making life fore accessible for people with disabilities. Fhrai magazine
September, 2011, Page no. 20     

Distinguished accomplishment

The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award on Patajnali (Patu) Keswani, CMD, Lemon Tree Hotels in recognition of his outstanding achievements. Express Hospitality, September, 2011,
2nd Issue, Page no. 82      

Republic of good taste

Lemon Tree Hotels recently launched branches of Republic of Noodles in the city as well as in Aurangabad. Indian Express
September, 2011, Page no. 5     

Movements

Rahul Pandit President & COO The Lemon Tree Hotel Company Fhrai Magazine
August, 2011, Page no. 65     

Lemon Tree Hotels Launches Its 14th Property

Hyderabad, 12th April 2011:
Having successfully positioned itself as an independent national chain of upscale, moderately priced business and leisure hotels,Lemon Tree Hotels today launched a 267-room hotel in the heart of HITEC city Hyderabad The launch marks the brand's 5^th property in South India and Lemon Tree Hotels now owns and operates an inventory of 1500 rooms across its 14 properties, pan India

Lemon Tree to tap capital markets

Hyderabad: Hospitality player Lemon Tree Hotels (LTH), in which global private equity giant Warburg Pincus holds 25% stake, plans to tap the capital markets in the first quarter of 2013 to raise funds for its next round of expansion.

LTH, which currently runs a chain of 14 upscale hotels straddling 1,500 rooms across 11 cities and has six more hotels slated for completion by 2012, has invested around Rs. 1600 crore to reach 20 hotels and 2,800 rooms by 2012 end. This includes Rs 800 crore by way of equity and Rs 800 crore debt.

The Times of India, Hyderabad,
13th April 2011, Page no. 14

LEMON TREE EYES RS. 600 CR TURNOVER IN TWO YEARS

Opens its 14th property and the first in Hyderabad

Lemon Tree Hotels, a Delhi-based upscale hotel chain, plans to have at least 20 hotels of the four-star category operational in two years, as part of its strategy to tap the potential in cities in the north, west and south of the country.

The company, which operates four-star Lemon Tree and economy-class Red Fox hotels, today opened its 14th Lemon Tree property, and the first in Hyderabad in the IT hub of Hitec City. The 267-room hotel has been built with an investment of Rs. 205 crore and also houses its sister brand, Red Fox hotel.

Business Standard,
13th April 2011, Page no. 4

Lemon Tree Hotels to add 6 new properties

With substantial investment, coupled with the drive to expand in tier-II and tier-III cities, Lemon Tree is on track to back its success by getting listed.

An investment of over Rs. 1000 crore is expected to be made by Lemon Tree Hotels for the next two years in increasing their properties from 14 to 20. Speaking to TRAVTALK, Rahul Pandit, Chief Operating Officer, Lemon Tree Hotels informs, "We have identified 54 locations in India where we want Lemon Trees by 2020."

Travtalk
2nd May 2011, Fortnight Issue, Page 10

Patu Keswani, entrepreneur by chance

Patu Keswani says he stumbled into hospitality. But this IIT-Delhi and IIM-Kolkata alumnus founded one of the fastest growing hotel chains in India-Lemon Tree Hotels. Today, the group runs 14 hotels. In conversation with ET, Keswani, traces his entrepreneurial journey. The Economic Times
June, 2011     

Fresh Lease for Hearing Impaired

With their commitment and skills, they are becoming employees of choice for a host of companies, from fast food chains to BPOs The Economic Times,
May, 2011     

A fresh approach 

He's known in hospitality circles as quirky and innovative. As managing director of Lemon Tree hotels, he has established a footprint and recognition for home grown hospitality brands, Lemon Tree hotels, he has established a footprint and recognition for home grown hospitality brands, Lemon Tree and Red Fox. An engineer by inclination and education, he joined the Taj group in 1984 as an employee of the Tata Administrative Services after completing his engineering and MBA at IIM. After working with Tata Tea, Tea Steel and Tata Services for a year and a half, he was posted to Indian Hotels. He then was transferred to Taj Man Singh as resident manager in 1990. In the next seven odd years, he had Taj Man Singh, Palace and Taj Bombay. In the last years, he was the chief operating officer of Taj Business Hotels running 22 medium-size non-luxury properties like Taj Visakhapatnam, Taj Connemara, Taj President etc.

Hotelier India
March 2011, Page No. 28 - 32

Living it up in style and bliss at Goa

My daughter Akanksha and me went for a week Holiday to our all time favorite destination Goa and put up at The Lemon Tree Amarante Beach Resort and surely Life was Bliss! Located on Candolim Beach in North Goa, the resort stretches from the main road right up to the beachfront. Designed to evoke the poetry and romance of 15th century Portugal, it is visually stunning with medieval oil paintings, artifacts, tile work and stained glass set amidst a lush green environment and calm water bodies.

HT Glamour Gurgaon,
5th March 2011, Page No. 2

He gave up the suits

Flamboyant in manner but middle-class at heart is how the Lemon Tree man appears to Vishakha Talreja as he tries to rescript his budget hotel success on an affordable housing template

The man gave new dynamics to the ‘affordable' hotels segment when he launched Lemon Tree Hotels. And meeting hotel entrepreneur Patu Keswani for a cup of coffee or lunch is always an exhilarating experience. When I catch up with him this time, he is on the brink of rolling out yet another ‘affordable' product-housing, in this case. The Lemon Tree Residencies will be launched in partnership with private equity firm Warburg Pincus. While the first set will come up in Gurgaon, Keswani is looking at NCR, north Bombay and Hyderabad for developing his projects.

The Financial Express
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011, Page No. 11

Is This World Cup, or Just Ranji?

Fizz missing ahead of 2011 ICC cup despite marketers pouring in huge money.
Remember the ‘mera wala blue' campaign launched by Asian Paints to drum up support for the particular shade of blue to be worn by Mohammad Azharuddin and his men in the 196 cricket World Cup? Or, Pepsi's audacious move in 2003 to change the colour of its cola to Team India blue?

That a fizzy drink resembling the colour of kerosene in some states was not a disaster is a testimony to the grip of cricket's showpiece event on public imagination. Yet, the buzz around this year's ICC World Cup seems remarkably subdued less then a week before its start.

The Economic Times
Monday 14th February 2011, Page 1 & 24

"Besides focusing on consolidation, we are excited about our initiative in providing employment to people with disabilities"

Lemon Tree is probably India's fastest growing hospitality company. Recently they opened their 13th Hotel in India - Lemon Tree Hotel, City Center, Bengaluru, a 187-room upscale, full -service business hotel. The group currently owns and operates 13 hotels in 10 cities aggregating over 1200 rooms with 1500 employees. Seven more hotels are presently under development. By 2012 they expect to have over 2800 rooms and 3000 employees in 20 hotels across 15 major Indian cities. With these plans on the avail, we were successful in squeezing some time from Rahul Pandit, VP, Operations, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company. Excerpts

Global Destinations
Volume 3 No. 1, Jan - Feb 2011, Page No. 31

Warburg may invest more in another asset firm 

Warburg Pincus, the private equity major, is set to enter an equal joint venture with Patu Keswani's Lemon Tree Hotels to get into affordable housing. It may see the two infuse $100 million (Rs. 455 crore) in the first phase, and more subsequently, said a person familiar with the deal. This will go into a foreign direct investment-compliant, Rs. 1,500-crore realty project.

Business Standard
Monday 31st January 2011, Page No.2

Lemon Tree Hotels Announces its 13th Hotel in India

Bengaluru, 12 th January 2011: Lemon Tree Hotels today announced the launch of its second upscale, full-service, contemporary business hotel in Bengaluru. Located on St. John's Road, the hotel is in the heart of the city and strategically placed for those who travel to the Central Business District of Bengaluru on business.

Over the last 6 years, the product-service mix of Lemon Tree Hotels has evolved, culminating in this upper upscale hotel offering today. Lemon Tree Hotel, City Center, Bengaluru is a first for the group on two counts: it is our first upper upscale hotel and is also our first city center hotel in a gateway (i.e. metro) city. In the next two years, Lemon Tree Hotels will add 7 hotels to its existing hotels across India. By then, with twenty hotels in fifteen cities and 2,800 rooms, the company will own over 2% of all hotel rooms in the country.