First budget hotel in airport

August 16, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will have the world's first budget hotel housed in an international airport when Tune Hotels.com - the hotel chain of budget airline AirAsia - opens in the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at KL International Airport next year.

The move will see Tune Hotels.com adding yet another hotel to its fast-growing chain, which already includes hotels in Johor, Penang, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.

Its deputy chief executive officer Mark Lancaster said in a press conference here yesterday that the hotel would offer a five-star sleeping experience at one-star price for the 20 million-odd passengers who transit at the LCCT each year.

"This is to fulfil the needs and to provide convenience for all low-cost carrier passengers, going with the theme of 'Now everyone can fly, now everyone can stay'."

"The new hotel will have 260 rooms on six floors, spread over more than 4,000 sq m. The ground floor will house the lobby and the rest will be taken up by renowned food and beverage retail outlets," he said.

The event saw Tune Hotels.com and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) signing a memorandum of understanding with MAHB represented by its general manager of commercial services Umar Bustamam and Tune Hotels.com by its co-founder and director Dennis Melka.

Also present was Tune Hotels.com founder Datuk Tony Fernandes, who at a separate event earlier had launched AirAsia's new in-flight magazine named Travel 3Sixty.

The glossy 96-page monthly English magazine covers an array of topics including travel, entertainment, lifestyle and fashion.

Produced by an in-house team, the magazine is also aimed at being a platform to showcase AirAsia's extensive routes, services and fare promotions.

While it is currently only available on flights from Malaysia, Fernandes, also AirAsia Bhd group chief executive officer, said the magazine "should also be available on flights from Thailand and Indonesia in about a month's time."

An online version of the magazine is also on the way.

This article is a verbatim copy of the original article from The Star.