Lemon Tree Hotels lists today, enters Hyderabad with 85-room hotel

Lemon Tree Hotels, which will list on the stock exchanges today, has entered Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills’s hospitality market with an 85-room business hotel that will be officially launched in the coming weeks. The unique aspect of this new-built hotel, which was soft-launched last month, is that it will feature a revolving restaurant. Once operational, this revolving restaurant will be the only such facility in Hyderabad that will tickle the taste-buds of the elite class of this upmarket locality close to Jubilee Hills. When contacted, Lemon Tree Hotels did not comment on the development.

However, according to the hotel company’s website, the soon-to-open revolving restaurant christened ‘Slounge’ will offer pool game facility for patrons who can sip their drinks while listening to some good music. Featuring a chilled-out ambience the restaurant will serve popular Indian and international cuisines.

Interestingly, the Banjara Hill hotel is among the 10-odd properties that Lemon Tree has taken on long-term lease of 30 years from J Venkata Krishna Rao and J Vamshider Rao, owners of Arka Hotels Pvt Ltd. This hotel was signed in August 2017 post which the owners have been purpose-building it, according to Lemon Tree specifications. Speaking to DNA Money, Arka Hotels’ J Vamshider Rao said, the hotel project was being built with the intention of operating it under a third-party management contract. “We have entered into an agreement with Lemon Tree, wherein the hotel company will brand, operate and manage the property for 30 years. We will get a monthly lease rental in addition to a certain percentage as our share of revenue generated by the hotel,” said Rao without sharing financials related to this deal.

The Hyderabad-based Arka Hotels and its group companies are into diverse businesses, including real estate, hospitality, education and event management across Telegana state. The project would have attracted investment of around Rs 130 crore, including land cost.

According to industry experts’ estimates, the asset owners could get anything between Rs 175 to Rs 200 crore (through a combination of monthly rentals and revenue share) spread over the next 30 years.

By Ashish K Tiwari 

(Source: DNA Money)