1. Can you tell me where are the 30 new hotels to be opened next year?
aakkhh18, via email
In 2012, our new hotels will mainly open in Asia and the UK. Malaysia, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and the UK are key areas of focus within the year but we are in development in Australia and Europe too. Cambodia, Vietnam and Yangon are on the horizon as is the Middle East where we see interesting opportunities. Developing hotels in multiple countries, with a multiplicity of regulations is challenging and does take time. These will be in addition to our 14 existing operating hotels.
2. Do our hotel standards and cleanliness, facilities, and other factors, match with that in other parts of the world, like that of London and New York?
Bulbir Singh, Seremban
Generally Malaysian and Asian hotels are of a quality that are on the global scale and I hear comments about great hotels in Asia all the time. The paradox is the budget hotel industry where it can be a little bit hit and miss. As a branded budget hotel chain, we offer guests great beds, hot power showers, a clean environment, central and convenient locations and 24-hour security these are the 5 principles of our service pillars that we apply for each and every Tune Hotel. Over three million guests have come to bed with us over the past four years and three million people can't be wrong and we've learnt from our mistakes and are only getting better and better. In our pursuit towards being a recognised global brand, it's critical that we employ and offer standardised service levels across our hotel network in Malaysia and the rest of the world. An ideal benchmark against the European or American standards for budget hotels would be our Tune Hotel Westminster and Tune Hotel Liverpool Street in Central London. Westminster opened 1 years ago and has been hugely popular with tourists and interestingly business guests alike. TripAdvisor even awarded it a Certificate of Excellence, while many popular travel portals have ranked it No. 1 among cheap London hotels. Liverpool Street, London opened just after Christmas and again have had great reviews online.
3. How can we make our hotels more appealing not only to foreign investors and tourists but also locals?
Bernard Gideon Lim, Penang
Investors look at returns and guests, whether foreign or local, look at location, comfort, costs and service. Without guests paying and staying with you, investors get nothing. So it's all about the guests at the end of the day. We believe in listening to our customers and giving them what they need. Time and time again we hear people tell us that they don't need this or that and yet still end paying for it. Tune Hotels has successfully pioneered a budget hotel brand with the pay-as-you-use concept that has become hugely popular among visitors from across the world. Simply, guests only pay for room rates with the option of adding on other amenities like towels and toiletries, air-conditioning, in-room wifi and satellite TV service at selected hotels. If you don't need it, you don't pay for it. As our network expands we became more efficient and we gladly pass on more savings to our guests through regular promotions. What this also means is that our guests can contribute towards saving the environment, while saving money that can be spent on other stuff like food, sightseeing and shopping. We have seen an interesting shift in the demographic profiles of our guests where there is a growing number of business people and families making up the mix. In tune with the change, our design, look and feel is going through its evolution to become more interesting but the key thing is we always keep it practical and simple.
4. What is the next big trend in hotels? Is it budget travel, or are people looking for a premium experience?
Eugenie Devan, Bangsar
Globally, there is an ever growing group of people who are increasingly savvy travellers. These are tourists, holidaymakers and business people who generally subscribe to finding what works for them online at a price they are comfortable with. A growing number have a higher environmental awareness and thus look into their environmental footprint when making choices. They do not mind foregoing little-used and nice-to-have facilities like conference rooms, swimming pools, gyms and business centres to focus on must-haves This group of consumers is continuously growing and Tune Hotels intends to keep on looking after them. What's interesting is that budget hotels are getting cooler and trendier and we ourselves are embarking on a massive plan to take our product to a new level.
5. Why open a new budget hotel in London? Why not faster-growing, more backpacker-friendly cities like Phnom Penh or Rio de Janeiro?
Daniel Han, Kota Kemuning
The answer to “why not Phnom Penh and Rio” is, we will! But London was always meant to be Tune Hotels' base for expansion in the UK and the rest of Europe. It's a global city that gives great insight into the European market. 30%-40% of our guests in London are Europeans and it gives us great visibility in Europe. When we eventually expand into Europe, the brand won't be totally new and that's a major benefit. We are continuously looking for potential partners to establish Tune Hotels in key cities around the world.
6. How are Tune Hotels different from the usual backpacker/budget inns? What is your competitive edge?
Chris Chong, Subang Jaya
That's a great question and that's something we ask ourselves continuously to make sure we are doing the right thing. It's about the brand, the brand promise and by extension, the customer. We have invested significantly and continue to invest in our brand. It's the cornerstone of everything we do and I'm delighted to say that we are being recognised for that. We won Top 20 Most Innovative Brands in Indonesia 2010 and just won an Asia Pacific Brand Award at the recent 2011 Brand Laureates Awards. Our brand promise is simple. The earlier you book and online, the better the rates . We provide superior quality beds that are used in 5-Star hotels so you get a great night's sleep. We also ensure you wake up to hot power showers, a clean environment and locations that are central, and we offer convenient and 24-hour security so that you are being looked after. We take pride in offering our guests qualities that they can't find in similar-range hotels.
7. What do you find most challenging about the hotel business? What was your motivation for getting into it?
Axel Chan, JB
Coming from the music industry, the biggest challenge for me was to step back and take a good look at what building a hotel business is all about. The business of record companies is about having great artists, creating brands which are the artists and creating products and services, that connect with target markets. Starting a new business and a new hotel brand has been very similar. The major challenge has been communicating that our business model is unbundled, in an industry that largely bundles things into a single price. Communicating to our potential guests that we offer a choice and that they can design what they need from their hotel stay was not easy, but doing something new and against the grain never is! Looking at what Tony Fernandes and the team had achieved with AirAsia was a great inspiration and while it may sound clichd, the team we have across Tune Hotels has been incredible and it really is the people you have that make your business. My biggest motivation was and still is being in a position to potentially build the next regional and possibly global Malaysian brand.
8. Is Tune Hotels ahead of the curve in its approach, in the sense that you open new hotels in places where there is potential for a boom, or do you prefer to open where there is already a boom? From the current observation, you seem to be doing the former.
Shersi, via email
It's important to understand demand drivers for any business and the hotel business is no different. If you look at our locations, you will find that the spread is quite balanced between booming areas, which are new developments like in Kota Bharu, Kota Damansara, Bintulu and Kota Kinabalu while in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Penang, we are right in the city centre where the market is more matured. In choosing a location, our key consideration is convenience for our guests and building a platform where they will automatically check on our website to see if a Tune Hotel is located in a destination they intend to travel to.
9. There have been numerous complaints in online travel forums about the lack of service in your hotels. How do you ensure and reward consistent service in all your Tune Hotel branches?
Rose Chan, Kuala Lumpur
Often times we are the victim of our own success, where guests book without really understanding that we are a budget-hotel chain. We don't have things like room service, and amenity add-ons are extra so if a guest makes a booking at our low rates and expects to have everything provided as in a higher priced, higher Star-rated hotel, guests can be surprised. We need to continuously inform and communicate what we are and the benefits we do provide and further educate consumers. Get acquainted with Tune Hotels and you'll be pleased with what you see and find. Just like the low-cost-carrier model which has now become a phenomenon, it takes time for any new concept (like ours) to be widely and fully accepted. Interestingly, in countries where our business model sits easily with guests, we have raving reviews about us.
10. Budget hotels sometimes get a seedy reputation for being dubious love hotels. How can you prevent this from happening to Tune Hotels?
Tan Ming Hock, Kuantan
It has much to do with where the hotel is situated and the business model. Before setting up a new hotel, we take great pains to study the surroundings and ensure that locale is central, convenient and more often than not, on main roads in cities and towns. To ensure the comfort and security of our guests, all our hotels are equipped with CCTV cameras both within and without the building, and are brightly lit, while the main entrance is off limits to outsiders after midnight. A registered hotel guest will need to flash his room keycard in order to gain access into the lobby past midnight, thus barring the presence of unwelcome visitors. Lastly, our business model is book in advance and online and, get great rates. The later you book, due to demand, the higher the rates.
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