Tune Hotels.com arrives in Kuching
Malaysian-owned Asia's new and increasingly popular budget hotel group Tune Hotels.com has announced that its first franchise hotel is to open its doors in Kuching, Sarawak on March 2.
Malaysian-owned Asia's new and increasingly popular budget hotel group Tune Hotels.com has announced that its first franchise hotel is to open its doors in Kuching, Sarawak on March 2.
The 135-room Tune Hotels.com-Waterfront Kuching will be the third Tune Hotels.com in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu to be followed by several more in and outside the country, including Bali.
The latest budget hotel for which guests are encouraged to book online in order to benefit for its low pricing system is touted as offering a five-star sleeping experience at one-star price, according to the hotel owner-operator Kuching-based Limar Management Sdn Bhd, owned by a leading Sarawak businessman Leonard Linggi Jugah.
The hotel general manager Howard Hiew told Malaysiakini that average room rate will be between RM60 and RM80 which is meant to be affordable to most of today's travellers, especially at times of economic slowdown.
Negotiation underway for second hotel
Kuching's latest budget hotel is converted from a block of four-storey shophouse right in the heart of the capital city close within the so-called Goldren Triangle Area facing the Kuching Waterfront.
Tune Hotels.com chief executive officer Mark Lankester told reporters at a press conference in Kuching yesterday that the company is still negotiating with the same group for a second similar hotel in Kuching.
The opening of such a hotel follows a global trend to cater for budget conscious travellers who look for both security and comfort within convenient locations at affordable prices.
It is also seen as timely in that there are now six airlines, including MAS, Air Asia, Jet Star and Silk Air, flying between Kuching and Singapore, a regional hub, on a regular basis to draw in both long and short haul tourists from around the region.
Lankester said Tune Hotels.com aims to set up 100 hotels up and running within the next three years such as in Batam, Kuta Bali and Legian Bali in Indonesia as well as in the Philippines and Thailand.
