Key points
- Indian outbound tourism has grown into an increasingly important business for destinations across Asia and the Middle East, and this Thailand Hotel News report finds that Thailand fits particularly well with Lemon Tree’s approach because of its strong popularity among Indian visitors, extensive air connectivity and relatively short flying times from major Indian cities.
- As of March 31, 2026, at the end of the 2025–26 financial year, its overall portfolio stood at 269 hotels, consisting of 131 operational properties and another 138 hotels in its development pipeline.
- The model can allow a hotel company to increase the number of properties carrying its brands without committing the large amounts of capital normally required to acquire land, construct hotels and own the underlying real estate.
Indian hospitality company Lemon Tree Hotels is preparing to expand its international footprint into Thailand, with Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin among the tourism destinations being eyed as potential locations. The planned move forms part of a broader overseas growth strategy targeting markets that are already popular with Indian leisure and business travelers, including the United Arab Emirates and the Maldives.
Image Credit: Thailand Hotel News
The expansion reflects Lemon Tree Hotels’ strategy of following its established customer base into international destinations rather than entering overseas markets without an existing source of demand. Indian outbound tourism has grown into an increasingly important business for destinations across Asia and the Middle East, and this Thailand Hotel News report finds that Thailand fits particularly well with Lemon Tree’s approach because of its strong popularity among Indian visitors, extensive air connectivity and relatively short flying times from major Indian cities. While detailed property locations, opening dates and individual development partners have yet to be publicly confirmed, the company’s interest represents another potential source of branded hotel expansion for Thailand.
From a 49-Room Hotel to a Major Indian Hospitality Group
Lemon Tree Hotels traces its origins to 2002, when it was founded by Patanjali G. Keswani, widely known as Patu Keswani, a former senior executive and chief operating officer at Taj Group of Hotels.
Keswani identified what he believed was an underserved segment of India’s hospitality industry: travelers looking for dependable branded accommodation that provided quality facilities and professional service without the pricing associated with luxury hotels.
The company opened its first hotel in May 2004, a 49-room property in Udyog Vihar in Gurugram, formerly known as Gurgaon. From that relatively modest beginning, Lemon Tree steadily developed into one of India’s best-known mid-priced hospitality groups.
Its expansion accelerated over subsequent years, culminating in an initial public offering in April 2018. Another important step followed in 2019 when Lemon Tree acquired Berggruen Hotels, bringing the Keys hotel business into its growing portfolio.
The group today operates multiple brands designed to cover different accommodation categories. Aurika Hotels & Resorts occupies the upscale end of its portfolio, while Lemon Tree Premier targets the upper-midscale market. The flagship Lemon Tree Hotels brand remains focused on the midscale segment, complemented by Red Fox by Lemon Tree Hotels and the Keys Prima, Keys Select and Keys Lite brands serving various value-oriented categories.
Portfolio Approaches 280 Hotels
Lemon Tree’s scale has increased substantially during the past two decades. As of March 31, 2026, at the end of the 2025–26 financial year, its overall portfolio stood at 269 hotels, consisting of 131 operational properties and another 138 hotels in its development pipeline.
Its operating portfolio at that stage represented more than 11,000 rooms across over 80 destinations, with the overwhelming majority located in India alongside a smaller international presence.
Expansion continued into the first quarter of the 2026–27 financial year, with approximately 135 hotels operating and the combined operational and development pipeline exceeding 23,000 rooms across nearly 280 properties.
Much of the company’s recent Indian expansion has focused beyond the country’s largest metropolitan areas. Lemon Tree has increasingly targeted tier-II and tier-III cities, industrial centers, pilgrimage destinations and leisure markets, including locations such as Ayodhya, Tirupati and Somnath.
Asset-Light Strategy Could Support Faster Overseas Growth
Central to Lemon Tree’s expansion is an increasingly asset-light business model. Instead of owning every hotel it operates, the group has been expanding through management agreements and franchise arrangements with third-party property owners.
The model can allow a hotel company to increase the number of properties carrying its brands without committing the large amounts of capital normally required to acquire land, construct hotels and own the underlying real estate.
Management and branding agreements can consequently provide a faster route into new destinations while generating fee income from hotel operations, brand licensing, distribution and related services.
Lemon Tree has also been undergoing a corporate restructuring intended to move the core business toward a more focused asset-light hotel management and branding model, while Fleur Hotels serves as a separate platform associated with hotel asset ownership and development.
Such a structure could prove particularly relevant to the company’s international ambitions. Rather than developing and owning numerous properties itself in Thailand, Lemon Tree could potentially work with Thai developers, investors and existing hotel owners seeking access to an established Indian hospitality brand and its distribution network.
Why Thailand Has Emerged as a Priority
Thailand represents a particularly logical market for Lemon Tree because Indian travelers have become an increasingly visible component of the country’s tourism economy.
Bangkok offers a combination of shopping, entertainment, dining, business travel and urban tourism, while Pattaya remains highly popular among Indian leisure travelers and groups. Phuket provides access to the resort and beach market, and Hua Hin offers another established coastal destination within reach of Bangkok.
These different markets could provide Lemon Tree with opportunities across several traveler profiles rather than restricting the company to a single type of Thai destination.
The group already has international experience through its presence outside India, including Nepal and Dubai. Its broader international strategy is now centered on destinations where its existing Indian customers are already traveling.
Executive Chairman Patanjali Keswani has characterized the strategy succinctly as going where the company’s customers go.
That philosophy is supported by Lemon Tree’s substantial existing customer ecosystem. The company has built a loyalty program with approximately 2.5 million members, while management has indicated that around 45% of demand comes from repeat guests.
For a hospitality operator, that level of repeat business potentially creates an important advantage when entering a foreign market. Customers familiar with Lemon Tree in India may be more inclined to select the same brand when traveling internationally, particularly when visiting destinations where accommodation choices are extensive.
Indian Hotel Brands Look Beyond Their Home Market
Lemon Tree’s Thailand ambitions also illustrate a wider evolution within Asian hospitality. As outbound Indian tourism expands, Indian hotel operators have stronger commercial reasons to establish brands in destinations where their domestic customers already represent significant visitor markets.
Thailand stands to be one of the clearest beneficiaries of that trend because of its geographical proximity, tourism infrastructure, diverse destinations and popularity with Indian travelers.
For Thai hotel owners and developers, an established Indian hotel operator could also offer a differentiated route to accessing India’s enormous outbound tourism market. Lemon Tree’s recognition among Indian consumers, loyalty membership and repeat-customer base could potentially help partner properties capture travelers before they leave India.
At the same time, the company would be entering a highly competitive Thai hospitality sector populated by major Thai operators, international hotel groups, independent properties and rapidly expanding regional brands. Success would therefore depend on more than simply bringing an established Indian name into the market.
Location selection, pricing, distribution, local partnerships, service standards and the ability to attract guests beyond the Indian source market would all influence the long-term performance of any Lemon Tree properties eventually launched in Thailand.
Thailand Could Become an Important International Growth Market
Lemon Tree Hotels’ interest in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin demonstrates how the rapid development of Indian outbound tourism is beginning to influence hotel investment and brand expansion beyond India itself. With an asset-light model capable of supporting relatively rapid international growth, an established multi-brand portfolio and millions of loyalty members, the company has several foundations from which to pursue opportunities in Thailand.
The next significant development will be the identification of specific properties, local partners, brand selections and opening schedules. If those plans progress, Lemon Tree’s arrival could add another competitive dimension to Thailand’s midscale and upper-midscale hotel sectors while strengthening the increasingly important hospitality and tourism links between India and Thailand. The strategy may also provide an indication of how aggressively other established Indian hotel groups will follow their customers into Southeast Asian destinations as outbound travel volumes continue to expand.
For more on lemon Tree Hotels, visit:
https://www.lemontreehotels.com
