ROOM WITH A VIEW

Patanjali G. Keswani's big bet on India's burgeoning middle class with his Lemon Tree Hotels has weathered the pandemic storm. And the brand has retained its zest as it looks to tap into the insatiable demand for leisure

- Prerna Lidhoo

IN THE EARLY 1990s in a newly liberalised India, there were two very distinct sets of clients that hotel owners catered to: one, the polished, upscale customer who would put up at luxury properties like the Taj hotels; and two, the rest, who would be left to the mercy of often unorganised and inconsistent guest houses and budget hotels. That was until Patanjali G. Keswani (popularly called Patu Keswani) thought of a middle path.

What changed in the 1990s is that a larger set of consumers India's burgeoning middle class-started looking for better accommodation. "They were willing to spend and make a trade-off for better quality," explains Keswani, Chairman & MD of Lemon Tree Hotels (LTH). "It was like an epiphany," he recalls, adding that looking at the hotel stats then, he discovered that there were only 25,000 branded rooms in India, of which 20,000 were at 5-star properties. "It was a very inverted pyramid of demand. So, clearly there was a white space, but the question was how do you create a brand in the mid-market space?"

Keswani decided to do something that was refreshingly different. LTH opened its first property in Gurugram (then called Gurgaon) in May 2004 with 49 rooms. Taking a cue from fresh lemons, the property mirrored the crisp and zesty essence of the citrus fruit in the sights, sounds and smells at every corner.

Keswani, an alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta, who worked with the Tata group for 17 years till he turned entrepreneur, had planned to build just one hotel, run it efficiently, and then take it easy and play golf and bridge. But fate had other plans.