International hotel group Tune Hotels has announced the pre-opening sale of its first Australian property in Melbourne and that the city will serve as its operational headquarters for the Australia and New Zealand region.
The property is set to open on November 1, 2013, and the announcement was made in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by Mark Lankester, the Group CEO of Tune Hotels in the presence of the visiting Premier of Victoria, Dr Denis Napthine. Also present was Co-Founder of Tune Group, who is also Group CEO of AirAsia, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
Tune Hotel Melbourne at 609 Swanston Street, Carlton, is located next to the University of Melbourne, two streets away from popular Lygon Street and minutes to Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD).
To celebrate its arrival, Tune Hotel Melbourne is offering a room rate fromAUD$49 per night. The promotion is offered exclusively online at www.tunehotels.com and guests have the option to choose and pay only for amenities that they require.
Dr Napthine welcomed the announcement of the November opening of the property.
“Melbourne’s new Tune Hotel would open its doors in Melbourne’s CBD in November to coincide with Victoria’s world-famous Spring Racing Carnival,” he said.
Dr Napthine also welcomed the decision by Tune Hotels to set up its Australia and New Zealand Operational Headquarters in Melbourne.
“Together, the investment is expected to create up to 100 jobs,” he said.
The Premier is currently leading around 300 Victorian businesses and 450 delegates on a Super Trade Mission to South East Asia. Kuala Lumpur is the mission’s first stop before moving on to other key ASEAN cities – Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, and Hanoi, among others.
“AirAsia X had been serving the Melbourne route for more than four years now and it is one of our best-selling,” Fernandes said.
“I am very pleased that Tune Hotels will now have its presence in Melbourne to give visitors to this wonderful city a truly compelling accommodation alternative.
“We are sure the Australian market will welcome and embrace Tune Hotels just as they did AirAsia X.”
The basic room rate at Tune Hotel Melbourne is already inclusive of air-conditioning and/or heating. For an additional A$10, guests will get a pair of towels and toiletry kits and enjoy high-speed wireless broadband and Foxtel TV entertainment.
Tune Hotel Melbourne features an indoor courtyard, a recreational lounge, a restaurant, café and convenience store, luggage storage, self-service launderette and computer kiosks.
“We are very excited about Tune Hotel Melbourne as it marks our growing brand’s entry into Australia and New Zealand,” Lankester said.
“Melbourne will be the location for our HQ overseeing Australia and New Zealand operations, working in conjunction with the corporate office in Kuala Lumpur.
“Given our long term plans for the region, the Australia and New Zealand HQ will be staffed relevantly to oversee and provide central support to Tune Hotels’ properties in Australia and New Zealand.
“And to celebrate in true Tune Hotels style, we’re offering travellers one of the lowest room rates seen in central Melbourne for years. Tune Hotels is all about offering a great night’s sleep at a great price.
“Tune Hotel Melbourne will serve domestic business and leisure travellers and visitors from abroad who are looking for great comfort just minutes from Melbourne’s CBD without paying the usual exorbitant rates,” Lankester said.
He said all Tune hotels feature space-efficient, streamlined rooms focusing on high-quality basics: 5-star beds and powerful hot showers.
The group has received almost five million guests since the opening of its first hotel in Downtown Kuala Lumpur in 2007. Tune Hotels has one hotel in India, 11 in Malaysia, five in the UK, and four each in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. The company is set to open another property in Japan this year while future projects are planned in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Tune Hotels is part of Tune Group, a lifestyle business conglomerate co-founded by Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun, who are the Group CEO and Deputy Group CEO respectively of Asia’s largest low cost carrier AirAsia.