More Tune hotels to open in London and Maldives

Tune Hotels.com plans to open at least three of its 15 hotels in Greater London just before the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics, which runs from July 27 until Aug 12.

Chief executive officer Mark Lankester said that as one of the major sporting events in the world, it would attract thousands of visitors the world over; hence demand for hotel rooms would increase.

“Our hotels are conveniently located in Westminster, an area in central London which is popular with tourists and that should be the main selling point,” he said in an interview with StarBiz.

Lankaster was speaking at the soft opening of the company's latest 218-room hotel costing RM35mil at the Danga Bay waterfront development area near here.

He said the company wanted to attract Malaysians from other states going to the two integrated resorts (IRs) in Singapore to stay at the Danga Bay hotel, as the room rates were much cheaper.

Lankaster said guests would pay no less than S$200 and S$240 per night if they were to stay at hotels in Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa respectively.

He said the hotel also provided eight shuttle services daily for its guests to the two IRs at RM18 to-and-fro and this could also attract tourists from other countries to stay here.

“We also see huge potential in the Johor tourism sector when several of the tourism-related projects in Iskandar Malaysia open up within the next two years,” said Lankaster.

These include Asia's first Legoland Theme Park and Indoor Theme Park at Nusajaya and Malaysia Premium Outlet in Kulaijaya, up north of Johor Baru.

He said the company's first London property, the 80-room hotel at Waterloo Station, is expected to open this August.

Tune Hotels is partnering Queensway Group Ltd, a UK-based private investment group, to set up 15 Tune Hotels in Greater London within the next five years.

Lankaster said the area has a large concentration of London's historic and prestigious landmarks and tourist attractions including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament House and London Eye.

“We are confident that our London hotels will do well as they are located within walking distance to shopping areas and tourist attractions,” he said.

Lankaster said most of London's budget hotels and bed and breakfast were located at residential areas and guests would rather stay at hotels near tourist attractions.

He said apart from location, the company would be looking at offering low rates for its hotel rooms as budget hotel rates in London were typically £60 to £70 a night, with no breakfast.

Lankaster said that with the emergence of low cost carriers in the global aviation industry, people could now travel or rather fly to places previously beyond their budget.

He said that with the growing number of budget travellers, they required lodgings and most of them would rather spend a minimum amount of money on hotel rooms.

He said the company planned to go to the Maldives by 2012, as there were not enough hotel rooms there to cater for tourist arrivals to the Archipelago.

There are over 80 resorts in Maldives and more than 600,000 tourists visiting the republic. Lankaster said hotels there enjoyed full occupancy all year round and the company would be looking at offering US$100 per night for its hotel room.

Lankaster said tourism was the largest economic industry there and Maldives was one of the top tourist destinations in the world with the best diving spots, popular with Europeans, Americans and Japanese.

“Although the number of tourists visiting Maldives are less than a million yearly, on the average they stay 8.8 days there and spend US$250 per night on hotel room,” he said.