 "Lemon Tree president, Rahul Pandit, quits; may join Ginger")
Rahul Pandit, President and Executive Director of Lemon Tree Hotels, has quit the company with effect today, the Delhi-based company with interest in budget hotels said.
Pandit, an IIM Ahmedabad alumni, joined the company in 2003 a year after it was founded, promoted by Patanjali Keswani.
Spokesperson of Lemon Tree Hotels said, "Rahul has been an integral part of Lemon Tree. His drive for operational excellence and technology improvements was exceptional. We will miss him in our onward journey and wish him all success in his future endeavors."
Sources say Pandit will join Indian Hotels Company-owned Roots Corporation to become its managing director after PK Mohankumar retired recently, two years after he was appointed. A mail sent to IHCL went unanswered.
Performance of Ginger Hotels, the budget hotel brand owned by Roots Corporation, has been improving since the company moved to asset light strategy. The company entered into management contracts for most of its new properties to control costs such as that of land. Roots Corporation, which was started in 2004, made its first profit only three years ago.
Ginger presently has 32 operational properties with the last one coming up in Katra, an 80 room property. With average cost of a Ginger branded room climbing to almost Rs 2,500 a night IHCL has been unable to keep the brand as affordable as it was during its initial years, which was between Rs 1,000-1,200 a night.
With Hyatt Hotels veteran Rakesh Sarna taking charge at IHCL in an effort to turnaround operations Pandit will be expected make Ginger more popular at a time when the brand continues to face a heavy influx of competition.
More From This Section
Lemon Tree's Red Fox brand directly competes with Ginger though on a much smaller scale. As of today there are only four Red Fox hotels operational.
Split between four brands Lemon Tree as of today owns 26 hotels in 15 cities of India. By 2018 the company targets to extend its reach to 30 cities commanding an inventory of 8,000 owned and operated rooms.