Tune Hotels has officially opened its first Australian property in Melbourne.
The 225-room Tune Hotel Melbourne was officially launched last week during a ceremony attended by Premier of Victoria Dr Denis Napthine, Malaysia’s Consul-General in Melbourne Datuk Dr Mohamad Rameez Yahaya and Group CEO of Tune Hotels Mark Lankester.
At the launch, the company revealed it has plans to expand this footprint within the Australasia region and Melbourne will be its operational hub.
While there’s still no word on the proposed Sydney property, Victoria’s Premier Napthine welcomed the arrival of Tune.
“Tune Hotels Group’s decision to open its first Australian hotel and base its operations in Melbourne will create more than 100 direct and indirect local jobs,” he said.
“This decision by Tune Hotels Group is a major vote of confidence in Victoria and our economy.
“Tune Hotel Melbourne brings a new model of accommodation to Australia, and I am very proud that Melbourne is at the forefront of this new tourism concept.
“As Australia’s events capital, Melbourne offers visitors access to world-class sporting and cultural events,” he said.
The official opening came just a couple of days after Melbourne’s biggest social event, the Melbourne Cup Spring Racing Carnival.
Tune Hotel Melbourne had soft-opened for business on 21 October, two weeks ahead of launch and celebrated that with a super low launch rate of just AUD$50 a night.
The hotel features an indoor open air-courtyard, a recreational lounge, a restaurant, café, luggage storage, self-service launderette and free Internet desks on the ground floor. In addition the hotel is equipped with basement car parks, with spaces charged at an affordable $15 per day.
Melbourne will be the location for Tune Hotels’ operational headquarters overseeing Australia and New Zealand operations, working in conjunction with the corporate office in Kuala Lumpur and creating up to 100 jobs.
“We are very excited to have finally established our first hotel in Australia right here in Melbourne, giving business and leisure visitors to this amazing city a truly compelling choice of accommodation alternative,” Lankester said.
“As Australia’s events capital, Melbourne is a great market for Tune Hotels, as it boasts a rich calendar of theatre, sporting and arts and cultural events, and we have experienced strong forward bookings since announcing our entry into the market in June.
“We would like to thank the Victorian Government, Tourism Victoria, Tourism Australia as well as the City of Melbourne for their invaluable and continued support of Tune Hotels.
“Given our long term plans for this region, the Tune Hotel Melbourne is just the beginning for what we have planned for the Tune Hotels concept in Australia and New Zealand and travellers can expect to see more hotels opening in the region in the coming years.”
Tune Hotel Melbourne is the 34th property for Tune Hotels, which has pioneered a “pay-as-you-use” concept that has become hugely popular among smart travellers from across the world.
Under the concept, guests only pay for room rates with the option of adding on other amenities like towels and toiletries, in-room Wi-Fi and satellite TV service to keep costs down, reduce waste and save energy.
Apart from Tune Hotel Melbourne, the group has eleven hotels in operation and available for booking in in Malaysia, eight in the Philippines, six in Indonesia, five in the UK, four in Thailand and one each in India and Japan.
All Tune Hotels feature space-efficient, streamlined rooms focusing on high-quality basics: 5-star beds and powerful hot showers. The strategically located hotels provide housekeeping services (except for Sundays and Public Holdays, when there is an additional cost to the guest), electronic keycard access into rooms, extensive CCTV systems, and no access into the main lobby without a keycard past midnight.
Tune Hotels is part of Tune Group, a lifestyle business conglomerate co-founded by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, who are the Group CEO and Executive Chairman respectively of Asia’s largest low cost carrier AirAsia.