Ahmedabad opening marks Tune Hotels’ entry into India

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STRONG FOCUS: Photo shows a family room in Tune Hotels Ahmedabad. Commenting on the prospects for Tune Hotels in India, Lankester says (inset) India’s domestic hospitality market in total is huge and the major international brands all have a focus on the country.

KUCHING: Tune Hotels is all set to welcome its first guests in India with the opening of its 100-room Tune Hotel Ahmedabad this month.

“We look forward to offering travellers to Ahmedabad an unbeatable proposition that combines great savings with a great comfortable stay and in a location that is annexed to the newest shopping mall in Ahmedabad.

“Our business model is de­signed to take care of the needs of travellers in India looking for great comfort without paying exorbitant rates,” said Mark Lankester, group chief executive officer of Tune Hotels.

To celebrate the opening of Tune Hotel Ahmedabad, online bookings are now accepted with attractive all-inclusive room charges that start from as low as 599 Indian rupees (US$11 or RM34). Guests have the option to choose and pay only for ameni­ties that they require.

The promotion is offered exclu­sively online at www.tunehotels.com and bookings can be made from May 3 until May 10, 2013, subject to availability of rooms. The rate is available on a first come, first served basis, for stay period starting May 15, 2013 until September 30, 2013.

The arrival of Tune Hotels in India will also introduce new green ideas to hotel stay.

“We at Tune Hotels pursue a conscious policy of being environmental-friendly by op­timising use of available re­sources, reduction of waste and by introducing processes that save on energy consumption,” Lankester said.

“As part of our business phi­losophy, we strive to remain lo­cally-relevant in each and every community that we’re in, and this includes being responsible towards the local environment. We invite our guests in India to celebrate with us the introduc­tion of new green concepts.”

The 100-room Tune Hotel Ahmedabad, annexed to the newly developed 4D Square Mall in the city’s Motera area, is well positioned on the main thoroughfare to the state capital of Gandhinagar and a stone’s throw away from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel cricket stadium.

Aside from its standard single and double rooms, Tune Hotels will be introducing family rooms that can accommodate between four to six people in order to meet the needs of the Indian guests, especially in the wedding market.

Apart from properties in major cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai –Tune Hotels is focus­ing on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities along with hotels in the tourist triangle destinations of Agra, Jaipur and Delhi.

Tune Hotels will have five to six hotels in Gujarat as part of our 20 planned hotels across India in the next three years.

Commenting on the pros­pects for Tune Hotels in India, Lankester said, “India’s domes­tic hospitality market in total is huge and the major international brands all have a focus on the country. We see strong growth in both business and tourist seg­ments as the domestic economy remains resilient.”

Tune Hotels’ Indian expan­sion signifies growing economic relations between India and Malaysia, which has emerged as India’s key partner in Southeast Asia.

Companies and business peo­ple are increasingly benefitting from these expanded business links and two-way flow of in­vestment and people continues to rise. India-Malaysia trade hit a record high of US$13.5 billion in 2012, a 7.3 per cent growth over 2011, while tourist traffic also continues to remain strong between the two countries.

Tourist arrivals between the two countries have been on the rise with Malaysia being among India’s top 10 sources of tour­ism, while India was Malaysia’s sixth biggest source of tourists in 2012.

The opening of Tune Hotel Ahmedabad came as Asia’s largest low-cost carrier AirA­sia plans to launch its domestic airline services in India in a new venture.

“We see this as a great boost for not only travel between Malaysia and India, but adding further attraction to increasing travel within India. Like AirA­sia, we pride ourselves on being a customer-focussed brand,” Lankester concluded.