Raine & Horne Dubai Appointed Exclusive Representatives in the GCC for Lemon Tree Hotels

Raine & Horne Dubai, the leading Australian real estate franchise group’s regional office, announces that it has been appointed as the GCC representatives in an exclusive agreement with Lemon Tree Hotels, India's fastest growing chain of upscale business and leisure hotels.  Raine & Horne with 133 years of experience has undertaken to support the objective of eight hotel openings across the region in three years, by identifying properties, managing the relationships, and executing the agreements.

Lemon Tree Hotels was founded in 2002 by Patu Keswani, a first generation Indian entrepreneur. The first Lemon Tree Hotel was opened in 2004 in Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon. The group now boasts three brands, which it will bring to the GCC region to meet the diverse needs of today’s traveller- the upscale Lemon Tree Premier; the midscale Lemon Tree Hotels; and the  economy Red Fox Hotel. 

Rattan Keswani, the Deputy Managing Director of Lemon Tree Hotels commented: “We are proud to now have 29 hotels and over 3200 rooms in 18 cities of India, and another 11 hotels with 1,500 rooms currently under development. Expanding within the GCC was the next logical step in the company’s evolution as the fastest growing hotel company in India. We are also the third largest hotel brand in India, and by 2018 should have over 4% of hotel rooms in India, which are owned, managed, or under development.  Lemon Tree Hotels is delighted to be expanding into a region that Indian travellers are so keen to visit, and to fill the gap in the market for non 5 star hotel brands ahead of Expo 2020.”

Dubai Tourism reported 14.2 million overnight visitors last year, and unsurprisingly due to its proximity to the United Arab Emirates, India is the Emirate’s largest source market for the first time. Dubai has seen an increase of 17% in Indian tourists in Q1 2016 according to Dubai Tourism, with about 1.6 million people visiting Dubai from India, last year, which was a significant 26 percent year-on-year increase. Lemon Tree Group boasts a renowned customer rewards programme for its loyal customers, with a database of 500,000 members, and one for special bookers, with 7,000 members.  

Lemon Tree Hotels’ expansion announcement comes at a very opportune time, in the aftermath of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, having issued a series of directives that are aimed at enhancing and streamlining hotel investment and development in the Emirate, including an additional year of exemption of the 10 per cent Dubai Municipality fee for any three and four star hotels which begin operations around June 2017. 

Sanjay Chimnani, Managing Director of Raine& Horne Dubai commented: “There’s a big need for the quality affordable or midscale segment hotels and serviced apartments, and they are key to the development of the region and its objective of having 20 million visitor arrivals by 2020.  There is already good competition amongst peer group brands, which is a sign of maturity in the market, but we believe there is a big opportunity and gap in the market for an established brand like Lemon Tree Hotels, who boast an aggressive distribution network across India, and a significant number of travel operators who act on their behalf internationally.  We look forward to leveraging our regional property expertise and network of contacts to roll out the Lemon Tree brand out across the GCC.”

The driving force behind Lemon Tree Hotels are two of India’s most pre-eminent hoteliers who are veterans in the mid-market space, Patu Keswani, Chairman and Managing Director at Lemon Tree Hotels and former Senior Vice President and CEO of the Taj Group of Hotels; and Rattan Keswani, Deputy Managing Director at Lemon Tree Hotels, and former President of Trident Hotels (part of the Oberoi Group).  They bring six decades of expertise in managed and owned properties, delivering end-to-end solutions, starting from design and conceptualisation, to viably managing the operations of the hotel, and have attracted investment from global funds like APG, and Warburg-Pincus.

Lemon Tree Hotels have had a 43% compounded annual growth rate from 2004-5 to 2017-18, and now they aim to have 20,000 owned rooms, 20,000 managed rooms, and 40,000 employees by 2022. ~85% of Lemon Tree Hotels have won the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2015, which is testament to their quality and consistency in their offering.