Tune Hotel opens in Ahmadabad in India
Tune Hotel opens in Ahmadabad in, India.
The award-winning international hotel chain Tune Hotels is all set to welcome its first guests in India with the opening of the 100-room Tune Hotel Ahmedabad this month. “We look forward to offering travellers to Ahmedabad an unbeatable proposition that combines excellent savings with a great comfortable stay in a location annexed to the newest Shopping Mall in Ahmedabad.
Our business model is designed to meet the needs of travellers in India who want great comfort without paying exorbitant rates,” said Mark Lankester, Group CEO of Tune Hotels.
“Ahmedabad is an amazingly vibrant city in the fast-growing state of Gujarat, and we are looking to welcome business and leisure travellers. We are very excited about this hotel as it marks our brand’s first entry into India’s exciting hospitality market.
The Tune Hotel Ahmedabad aims to serve both domestic travellers and visitors from abroad, especially members of the large non-resident Indian (NRI) community from Gujarat settled in places like the US, Britain, and the Gulf. These people may already have had prior knowledge of the brand in the five countries we are already present in,” he said.
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 / RM34 / Bt330 / Rp108,000). Guests have the option to choose and pay only for the amenities that they require.
The promotion is offered exclusively online at www.tunehotels.com, and bookings can be made from 3 May 2013 until 10 May 2013, subject to room availability.
The rate is available on a first-come, first-served basis for stays from 15 May 2013 until 30 September 2013. Tune Hotels’ arrival in India will also introduce new green ideas to hotel stays.
“We at Tune Hotels pursue a conscious policy of being environmentally friendly by optimising available resources, reducing waste, and introducing processes that save energy consumption. Our guests have endorsed our operations, which encourage lifestyles that protect the environment,” Lankester said.
“As part of our business philosophy, we strive to remain locally relevant in every community we’re in, including being responsible towards the local environment. We invite our guests to India to celebrate the introduction of new green concepts with us.”
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.
Providing world-standard, high-quality accommodation by focusing on fundamental essentials but minus the generally underutilised facilities commonly found in other hotels, such as swimming pools, business centres and gymnasiums, Tune Hotels keeps its operating costs low, and savings are passed on to guests in the form of super-low rates.
In addition to its standard single and double rooms, Tune Hotels will introduce family rooms that can accommodate four to six people to meet the needs of Indian guests, especially in the wedding market.
“In addition to larger room varieties, we have made other adjustments in our offerings to better serve our Indian guests, including more expansive food and beverage availability within the hotel.
With a view to the huge wedding market in India, the hotel can cater to the needs for significant banquet facilities for that total wedding experience. We’ve booked our first wedding entourage already!” said Lankester.
Apart from properties in major cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai –Tune Hotels is focusing on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and 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.
Regarding Tune Hotels’ prospects in India, Lankester said, “India’s domestic hospitality market is vast, and the major international brands all focus on the country. We see strong growth in both business and tourist segments as the domestic economy remains resilient.
India’s middle class is expanding, and rising disposable incomes have boosted travel. We are in an excellent position to offer quality affordable accommodation to these travel groups.”
Since the opening of its first hotel in Downtown Kuala Lumpur in 2007, Tune Hotels has received over four million guests. With the opening of Tune Hotel Ahmedabad, 29 Tune Hotels will operate globally. The rest are 11 in Malaysia, five in the UK, four in the Philippines, four in Thailand, and four in Indonesia.
By the end of 2013, Tune Hotels will have eight hotels nationwide. In addition to India, the company is set to open properties in Japan and Australia this year. Future projects are also in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
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 the two-way flow of investment and people continues to rise.
India-Malaysia trade hit a record high of $13.5 billion in 2012, a 7.3 per cent growth over 2011, while tourist traffic remains strong between the two countries. Tourist arrivals between the two countries have been on the rise. Malaysia is among India’s top 10 sources of tourism, while India was Malaysia’s sixth-biggest source of tourists in 2012.
Conclusion
The opening of Tune Hotel Ahmedabad comes 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 travel between Malaysia and India and a further attraction to increasing travel within India. Like AirAsia, we pride ourselves on being a customer-focused brand,” Lankester said.