Lemon Tree Premier, Delhi Airport

The Lemon Tree is primarily a transit hotel, and while a couple of meeting rooms and pleasant facilities make it a reasonable choice for longer-term business guests, it's really geared toward those with flights to catch at the nearby Indira Gandhi International Airport. From the outside, it looks like a fairly standard upper-middle-range Delhi hotel, with a pale stone facade and a glass entryway guarded by security with a metal detector (standard practice in the city). Inside, the lobby is open and bright, with off-white marble floors and walls plus decorative inlay patterns. Multicolored stained glass panels hang from the ceiling and a few vibrantly hued paintings are on the wall, adding a playful and colorful vibe to the space. The Citrus Cafe has a similar aesthetic, while the fancier Republic of Noodles is a little darker, with a few East Asian statues, dark wooden floors and beamed seating, and blackish-brown wicker chairs. Darker still is the on-site bar -- Slounge -- with red-brick walls that give it a collegiate vibe. 

The Lemon Tree is located in the Aerocity Hospitality District, a hotel-dominated corporate area near the airport. There's not much to see or do in the immediate area, but as the name of the area implies, it's only a 10-minute drive from Indira Gandhi International Airport. The Aerocity Metro station is a five-minute walk from the hotel, making trips into the city relatively easy, though it is a bit of a haul from here to central Delhi for anyone wanting to see the sights. It will take about 40 minutes via the Delhi Airport Express metro line to reach Connaught Place's upmarket shops and restaurants. South Delhi's Qutub Minar takes about half an hour to reach by car, while Humayun's Tomb and the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin are about a 45-minute drive away, depending on traffic. Expect drives of 45 minutes to an hour to reach attractions in the center of the city, such as Connaught Place and over an hour to reach Old Delhi and the Red Fort. The IT hub city of Gurgaon takes about the 45 minutes to reach by car, traffic permitting.

The Lemon Tree offers a variety of rooms and suites, all with simple, modern decor that includes wood floors, white beds accented by light-gray bed runners plus matching patterned sofas, with orange accents to brighten the spaces. Overall most rooms have an autumnal look to them, a quality enhanced by the bland abstract art that hangs above the beds in similar colors. Amenities include work desks, wall-mounted flat-screen TVs, coffee- and tea-making facilities, and electric safes. All but the entry-level Superior Rooms have DVD players and minibars. Snug bathrooms feature makeup mirrors, low-voltage hairdryers, and basic toiletries in wall-mounted dispensers, plus walk-in rainfall showers; some of the bathrooms in suites are roomier and add marble soaking tubs. Superior Rooms are on the small side, at only 208 square feet (19 square meters), and Deluxe Rooms and Runway View Rooms don't add much more space -- both come in with around 245-square-foot floor plans (23 square meters). At 460 square feet (43 square meters), Executive Suites are much larger and add separate living rooms with sofas and TVs, while the comparatively massive Duplex Suites feature two bedrooms, each with a king bed, plus an outdoor sitting area with a table and chairs plus a whirlpool hot tub. There's also a wet bar area with a microwave and a dining area for up to six people. A wheelchair-accessible suite with wide doors, low counters, and a chair in the shower cubicle is also available.

Lemon Tree offers two restaurants along with 24-hour room service. The 24-hour Citrus Cafe is a "multi-cuisine" option with food from around the world, including home-style Indian food and a huge buffet breakfast included in room rates and served late every morning. The fancier Republic of Noodles focuses on pan-Asian cuisine, serving street food from across Southeast Asia, from stir-fried noodles to piping hot clay-pot cooking. There's also a bar -- Slounge -- with a PlayStation, a couple of pool tables, and a range of snacks and cocktails.The spa, Fresco, offers massages and other treatments and there's a salon for blowouts and mani/pedis. Other facilities include a modern fitness center with LifeFitness-brand cardio equipment plus weight machines. An attractive outdoor lap pool provides a place to cool off during hotter months -- which is most of the year in Delhi -- and is surrounded by a wooden deck with a few lounge chairs.For business guests, the hotel offers two meeting rooms: Tangerine 1, which can seat up to 66 guests theater style, and Tangerine 2 for up to 40 people. There's also a board room for up to 12 people. Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel, but it costs extra to upgrade to high-speed service or to use Wi-Fi on multiple devices. Airport transfers can be arranged, though they aren't free, which is a bit surprising for an airport hotel of this caliber.