Tune Hotels being fine-tuned

Tune Hotels’ CEO, Mark Lankester, told TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of last week's Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) UPDATE that a "rethink" was happening at the group, following three years of having launched and operated Tune Hotels from scratch. However, there is no change in Tune Hotels’ model. Asia's first real low-cost hotel concept, which prototypes a 13-14m2 room, charges for towels, electricity and airconditioning, and gets revenue from other sources like advertisements on walls.

"We're coming up with a V2.0 of Tune, if you like. The rethink is from a design perspective," Lankester said, brushing aside any notion that the model was not working. "Think of us as a laptop. A Dell computer works fine and the price is great. Apple probably in reality costs the same as Dell, yet it is perceived cooler, better, funkier. “That's what we are aiming for with this rethink," he said, adding all areas, from further cutting down on check-in procedure, to putting in a user-pay TV in-room, are being rethought.

A UK-based interior designer with an office in downtown Kuala Lumpur has been engaged to do the design-led revamp. Asked what his brief to the company was like, Lankester only had one word: "Wow!" The Tune Hotel in downtown Kuala Lumpur will be the first to be renovated following the new design, with more rooms to be added. It will be ready in 2012.

There are 12 Tune Hotels in operation, with Lankester saying he was on track with expansion and that "each Tune Hotel we throw out thus far has a positive operating profit by month three".
-TTG Asia.