KUALA LUMPUR: Tune Hotels has gone beyond the symbolic participation in Earth Hour in its environment conservation initiatives and practices, says its group chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Lankester.
ECO-FRIENDLY: According to Lankester, guests welcome the idea of renting towels as it not only gives them the option to save cost but also contribute towards water conservation and lower chemical detergent usage.
“The fact is, Tune Hotels has actually gone beyond Earth Hour from day one as environment preservation and carbon neutral practices are deeply ingrained in our business philosophy.
“While businesses globally are spending millions of dollars to offset carbon emission, we at Tune Hotels do it as part of our corporate culture and business model,” he explained.
Drawing an example from Tune Hotels’ pay-as-you-use concept for air conditioning, Lankester says the practice has made the consumer smarter in the consumption of energy.
While air conditioning is available in 12-hour and 24-hour blocks, the ‘credit’ can actually be used over a number of days, depending on the guest’s usage pattern.
“Some people are hardly in the room during their stay and may only need the air conditioning for a few hours in a day so the credit balance can be carried forward to the following days.
“Likewise, guests welcome the idea of renting towels as it not only gives them the option to save cost but also contribute towards water conservation and lower chemical detergent usage,” he said.
On top of that, Tune Hotels carefully selects electrical and electronic equipment to be installed in its rooms, ensuring that the air conditioner, ceiling fans and television sets are highly energy-efficient that provides maximum quality and comfort.
“Through the pay-as-you-use concept, we are indirectly inviting our guests to join us in our endeavour to be carbon neutral. Our guests are clearly attracted by our price and we faced some objection to our pay-as-you-use approach in the early stage but now more and more guests realise the benefits and it is more than just the price.
“They stay comfortably at our hotels at very reasonable costs and at the same become smarter in making choices to help preserve the environment.”
In conjunction with the Earth Hour campaign, Tune Hotels rooms in Malaysia will go on offer from as low as RM5 per night for a stay in April 2011.
Booking starts from today until March 31 this year and is only available online at www.tunehotels.com.
Meanwhile, Tune Hotel Westminster in London has committed to donate £5 for every room booked from March 26-31 for an April stay date to the WWF’s Sky Rainforest Rescue Programme which aims to tackle deforestation in the Amazon and protect the home of thousands of species.
“This Earth Hour promotion is extended as a special thanks to the one million guests who have stayed in Tune Hotels since we first opened the Downtown Kuala Lumpur hotel at Jalan Sultan Ismail in 2007.
“Since January this year, we have also removed the administration fee for room reservations across all our hotels.
“As we open more hotels we experience better economies of scale and become more cost efficient.
“We are delighted to be in a position to pass on the savings to our guests,” says Lankester.
Tune Hotels currently has 12 hotels with nine located in Malaysia.
They are in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Damansara, KLIA-LCCT Airport, Penang, Kota Bharu, Johor Bahru, Kuching, Bintulu and Kota Kinabalu.
It has two hotels in Bali at Kuta and Legian and one in Westminster, London.
To enjoy the promotion and for further information, visit www.tunehotels.com.