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08-04-10, 05:05 PM
REPORT FROM MALAYSIA—A year ago Tune Hotels.com CEO Mark Lankester revealed plans of building the first Tune property in Greater London by 2010—it won’t be the last.
Tune Hotels.com-Westminster
Tune Hotels.com is investing RM746 million (US$228.7 million) to open 15 hotels across Greater London in the United Kingdom by 2017. The roll out of the investment involving approximately 1,500 rooms will commence with the launch of Tune Hotels.com-Westminster in the third quarter of 2010. The company is also planning several openings across Asia and Europe, too.
This investment sets a positive tone for its global expansion, Lankester said.
“The London profile lends us so much higher credibility and reputation,” said Lankester. “It plants a flagpole in one of the most visited cities in the world, which will be a springboard for further and more rapid potential partnerships globally.”
Growth this year
The first of the 15 hotels is opening in August/September this year while five or six of these hotels are in negotiations for purchase or lease.
“The rest are vetted for the best locations,” Lankester said.
“For London it’s all about being central and strategically relevant. (It’s a) very expensive city, but we are making it work,” he added.
The investment is made possible with its recent partnership with London-based Queensway Group Limited, a UK-based private investment group owning and operating hospitality assets in the UK, Europe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Queensway Group’s Managing Director, Nick Jivraj described the partnership as an exciting venture in developing London’s hospitality market.
“Its association with AirAsia and Lotus Racing through the Tune Group provides a unique platform for marketing synergies and its strong brand and marketing expertise in generating room nights online aligns with trends revealing the Internet as the prime channel for travel purchase decisions,” said Jivraj.
Mark Lankester (left) and Nick Jivraj
Tune Hotels.com-Westminster’s strategic location means guests staying at the hotel can take full advantage of the tourist attractions.
The scheduled opening of Tune Hotels.com-Westminster is timely, given the fact that London will be hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.
Tune Hotels.com already has development staff in London and that increment staff will be hired over time, according to Lankester. The hotel manager for the Westminster property has been identified although not yet disclosed.
Tune Hotels.com wants to be an important player in London’s hospitality and tourism sectors, working closely with prominent organizations such as Visit Britain, Visit London, Think London and Visit England, Lankester said. Its U.K. properties will be marketed vis-à-vis its existing hotels in Malaysia, Bali and the rest of Asia.
“Tune Hotels.com’s fray into the U.K. market could be seen as another breakthrough into the U.K. by a homegrown Malaysian brand,” said Lankester. “This helps to foster better economic ties between both countries.”
The fast developing economies of Asia have fostered significant increase in travel activity. This, he said, was further catalyzed by the increasing popularity of low-cost carrier services like AirAsia, which is an affiliate company of Tune Hotels.com.
“We believe our dynamic pricing model will provide a strong call to action that will be hard to ignore. With AirAsia flying daily between Kuala Lumpur and London-Stansted, guests now have greater options to derive good value for their money via Tune Hotels.com in London,” he said.
Growth abounds
The U.K. venture is part of Tune Hotels.com’s target of operating 100 hotels globally by 2015. Its partnership with Apodis Hospitality Group will see the development of 20 hotels in India by 2012. Five of these hotels are targeted to be operational by December this year. The rest are scheduled to open in stages up to 2012.
Initial hotels are planned to be located in and around Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kochi, Mumbai, Pune, Pipavav, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirapally.
Another 44 hotels will be opened across Thailand, China, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia under a partnership with Evolution Capital PLC, which is a real estate investment advisory firm listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Two dozen of these hotels are in development from early 2010. They are targeted to be operational by 2012 with staggered roll-out of the subsequent 20 hotels through 2013.
Speaking of Tune Hotels.com’s expansion in Asia: “All countries have a varying degree of development activity. Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia are more active and the planning stages of development with local authorities are in process,” Lankester said.
“Hard construction should begin after the summer,” he said.
Beyond London
Tune Hotels.com expansion into Europe, The Middle East and America also looks promising.
“We are in serious talks with various parties but have not confirmed any partners for that phase,” Lankester said.
“It’s a matter of sourcing and ensuring that we have the right partners in each of these regions,” he added.
“Strategically we like several of the Western European countries but we also like the emerging Eastern European countries very much,” he said.
“Within the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE are firm tourism markets. They have value for a Tune project,” he added.
In an interview with Lankester last year there was mention of Tune Hotels.com acquiring and converting old ocean liners into floating Tune hotels. However, because of lack of berthing space at high value real estate cities/countries, the plan hasn’t “been possible” he said.
Asked if Tune Hotels.com has any plans on following Yotel’s footstep in recently acquiring a New York City property, Lankester said there no such plans as yet but he did not rule it out for the future.
Lankester stressed that Tune Hotels.com’s focus “will always be the same wherever they go—great rooms, great beds, great power showers in great locations, and operated in an eco-friendly way.”
“When packaged all together it is a great product and that is key,” said Lankester. “We feel our product has global potential,” he added.
Commenting on competitive hotel products Lankester said, “It is good for the market and for consumers. It keeps everyone on their toes.”
Tune Hotels.com-Westminster
Tune Hotels.com is investing RM746 million (US$228.7 million) to open 15 hotels across Greater London in the United Kingdom by 2017. The roll out of the investment involving approximately 1,500 rooms will commence with the launch of Tune Hotels.com-Westminster in the third quarter of 2010. The company is also planning several openings across Asia and Europe, too.
This investment sets a positive tone for its global expansion, Lankester said.
“The London profile lends us so much higher credibility and reputation,” said Lankester. “It plants a flagpole in one of the most visited cities in the world, which will be a springboard for further and more rapid potential partnerships globally.”
Growth this year
The first of the 15 hotels is opening in August/September this year while five or six of these hotels are in negotiations for purchase or lease.
“The rest are vetted for the best locations,” Lankester said.
“For London it’s all about being central and strategically relevant. (It’s a) very expensive city, but we are making it work,” he added.
The investment is made possible with its recent partnership with London-based Queensway Group Limited, a UK-based private investment group owning and operating hospitality assets in the UK, Europe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Queensway Group’s Managing Director, Nick Jivraj described the partnership as an exciting venture in developing London’s hospitality market.
“Its association with AirAsia and Lotus Racing through the Tune Group provides a unique platform for marketing synergies and its strong brand and marketing expertise in generating room nights online aligns with trends revealing the Internet as the prime channel for travel purchase decisions,” said Jivraj.
Mark Lankester (left) and Nick Jivraj
Tune Hotels.com-Westminster’s strategic location means guests staying at the hotel can take full advantage of the tourist attractions.
The scheduled opening of Tune Hotels.com-Westminster is timely, given the fact that London will be hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.
Tune Hotels.com already has development staff in London and that increment staff will be hired over time, according to Lankester. The hotel manager for the Westminster property has been identified although not yet disclosed.
Tune Hotels.com wants to be an important player in London’s hospitality and tourism sectors, working closely with prominent organizations such as Visit Britain, Visit London, Think London and Visit England, Lankester said. Its U.K. properties will be marketed vis-à-vis its existing hotels in Malaysia, Bali and the rest of Asia.
“Tune Hotels.com’s fray into the U.K. market could be seen as another breakthrough into the U.K. by a homegrown Malaysian brand,” said Lankester. “This helps to foster better economic ties between both countries.”
The fast developing economies of Asia have fostered significant increase in travel activity. This, he said, was further catalyzed by the increasing popularity of low-cost carrier services like AirAsia, which is an affiliate company of Tune Hotels.com.
“We believe our dynamic pricing model will provide a strong call to action that will be hard to ignore. With AirAsia flying daily between Kuala Lumpur and London-Stansted, guests now have greater options to derive good value for their money via Tune Hotels.com in London,” he said.
Growth abounds
The U.K. venture is part of Tune Hotels.com’s target of operating 100 hotels globally by 2015. Its partnership with Apodis Hospitality Group will see the development of 20 hotels in India by 2012. Five of these hotels are targeted to be operational by December this year. The rest are scheduled to open in stages up to 2012.
Initial hotels are planned to be located in and around Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kochi, Mumbai, Pune, Pipavav, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirapally.
Another 44 hotels will be opened across Thailand, China, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia under a partnership with Evolution Capital PLC, which is a real estate investment advisory firm listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Two dozen of these hotels are in development from early 2010. They are targeted to be operational by 2012 with staggered roll-out of the subsequent 20 hotels through 2013.
Speaking of Tune Hotels.com’s expansion in Asia: “All countries have a varying degree of development activity. Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia are more active and the planning stages of development with local authorities are in process,” Lankester said.
“Hard construction should begin after the summer,” he said.
Beyond London
Tune Hotels.com expansion into Europe, The Middle East and America also looks promising.
“We are in serious talks with various parties but have not confirmed any partners for that phase,” Lankester said.
“It’s a matter of sourcing and ensuring that we have the right partners in each of these regions,” he added.
“Strategically we like several of the Western European countries but we also like the emerging Eastern European countries very much,” he said.
“Within the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE are firm tourism markets. They have value for a Tune project,” he added.
In an interview with Lankester last year there was mention of Tune Hotels.com acquiring and converting old ocean liners into floating Tune hotels. However, because of lack of berthing space at high value real estate cities/countries, the plan hasn’t “been possible” he said.
Asked if Tune Hotels.com has any plans on following Yotel’s footstep in recently acquiring a New York City property, Lankester said there no such plans as yet but he did not rule it out for the future.
Lankester stressed that Tune Hotels.com’s focus “will always be the same wherever they go—great rooms, great beds, great power showers in great locations, and operated in an eco-friendly way.”
“When packaged all together it is a great product and that is key,” said Lankester. “We feel our product has global potential,” he added.
Commenting on competitive hotel products Lankester said, “It is good for the market and for consumers. It keeps everyone on their toes.”