Tuesday December 22, 2009, by THEAN LEE CHENG

Tune Hotels.com will invest RM50mil to RM60mil in land and building acquisitions from now until the first quarter of next year.

Group chief executive officer Mark Lankester said the investments would involve the opening of 10 new Tune Hotels in seven countries in Asia and in Britain.

“People may say we are ambitious but we are on track to meet our targets,” Lankester said at the launch of the 170-room Legian hotel in tourist-saturated Bali yesterday.

The company launched its first two regional hotels outside Malaysia in Bali in a span of months.

Mark Lankester (left) and Sendjaja Widjaja at the launch

Its 139-room Kuta hotel was launched on Nov 6 at an investment of RM20mil, while the Legian hotel involved an outlay of RM22mil.

Calling itself “a limited service hotel brand providing a five-star sleeping experience at a one-star price,” Tune Hotels.com has effectively set itself aside from other budget hotels and hostels.

In this holiday season in Bali, the average room rate at other hotels is RM300 a night. If one were to book online way in advance, the rate is about RM20 a night.

A walk-in rate varies according to demand and occupancy. Yesterday’s walk-in rate was RM75.50 a night.

“There are two kinds of backpackers – the first are professional ones who travel five to six times a year and who want to stay in a dormitory and share the bathroom facilities.

“The second are those who pay for their rooms with a gold credit card, and whose parents are professionals.

“The en-suite facilities that we offer – every room comes with a bathroom – together with the various other support services like a 24-hour convenience store, simple food and beverage facilities and transport counter will appeal to this group,” Lankester said.

The two Indonesian hotels join five other operational Tune Hotels.com locations in Malaysia – in Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Kuala Lumpur and KLIA-LCCT Airport.

Tune Hotels.com’s reach will subsequently be expanded to Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Batam and Medan soon.

Tune Hotels.com employs a self-service online booking system that encourages guests to book as far in advance as possible on www.tunehotels.com to enjoy exceptionally low prices. Rates are kept low by employing a “limited service” concept where under-utilised hotel-operated facilities like pools and gyms are removed and cost-savings are passed on to guests.

Tune Hotels.com Indonesia country CEO Sendjaja Widjaja observes that guests are out and about most of the day, so “our business model is to have guests spend less within the hotel itself, leaving more spending power to be activated within the local business eco-system.”

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