Tune Hotels.com Opens Fifth Malaysian Hotel, Coming Soon to Indonesia

5-Star Sleeping Experience at a 1-Star Price from IDR 26,000/night in Penang, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu

KUALA LUMPUR – Tune Hotels.com – Co-founded by AirAsia's Tony Fernandes, Tune Hotels.com, the limited service hotel brand providing a "5-star sleeping experience at a 1-star price" recently opened its fifth hotel in Malaysia. In conjunction with the official launch of Tune Hotels.com – Downtown Penang, which joins sister properties in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and the KLIA-Low Cost Carrier Terminal Airport, promotional rates from as low as IDR 26,000/night are available for a limited time only for stays between 3 May - 31 December 2009 in Tune Hotels.com – Downtown Penang, and between 1 July – 31 December 2009 in Tune Hotels.com- Waterfront Kuching and Tune Hotels.com – 1Borneo, Kota Kinabalu.

Tune Hotels.com – Downtown Penang is the largest Tune Hotels.com so far, offering 258 rooms with attached private bathrooms, including 2 wheel-chair friendly rooms, in the dining and shopping hub of Penang's capital city of George Town. Within easy reach of several Penang medical centres (Gleneagles Medical Centre, Penang Adventist Hospital and Island Hospital Penang) as well as popular cultural and heritage attractions, it provides affordable, safe and clean rooms to visitors travelling to Penang for a wide range of leisure, medical and business reasons.

Similar to low-cost carrier airlines, Tune Hotels.com employs a self-service online booking system that encourages guests to book as far in advance as possible on www.tunehotels.com to enjoy exceptionally low prices. Tune Hotels.com's rates are kept low by employing a 'limited service' concept where underutilized hotel-operated facilities like meeting rooms, swimming pools, and gyms are removed and cost savings are passed on to the guest.

"In many cases, travelers spend so much time in business and leisure pursuits outside the hotel it just doesn't make sense for them to have to pay for full service extras they don't need, just to get a decent night's sleep", explains Mark Lankester, Chief Executive Officer, Tune Hotels.com. "Our focused business model eliminates pricy yet underutilized full-service hotel facilities and concentrates on giving travelers just the accommodation essentials they need - comfortable 5-star beds and great showers in clean, secure locations. This allows us to make our room rates as attractive as possible, thereby helping both leisure and business sectors to continue travelling despite tough times," he continued.

To ensure guests only pay for things they will actually use, guests can choose to "fine- Tune" their stay with optional minimally priced add-ons. For e.g., optional airconditioning is programmed into guest keycards via affordably priced credit units of 12 hours for RM13.49 (approx. IDR 43,700) and 24 hours for RM21.00 (approx. IDR 68,000), inclusive of taxes. Ceiling fans are a complimentary standard feature in all Tune Hotels.com rooms for guests who prefer to avoid air-conditioning. As explained by guest Mrs. V.V. Palarca from the Philippines, "I liked the hotel's concern for energy conservation. Since we were out most of the time, our pre-paid 12-hour air-conditioning lasted us our whole 3 night stay."

Other optional add-ons include towel rental (RM5 or approx. IDR 16,200 per towel including a complimentary toiletry kit), in-room WiFi services (RM12 or approx. IDR 38,875 for 24 hours) and hairdryers (RM1 or approx. IDR 3,240 per stay). "This is just a small part of our ongoing 'Less Waste, More Earth' green initiatives, in which we try to do our part to encourage everyone to make smarter choices about use of resources", explains Lankester. "Renting towels and allowing guests staying for more than 1 night to choose to have their bed linens changed on alternate days instead of daily, encourages guests to reduce water consumption and the flow of laundry effluents into the environment. At home most people are quite comfortable with not changing their towels and bed linens every single day, we're just allowing our guests to be just as sensible within our hotels," he continued.

Although Tune Hotels.com does not run hotel-operated dining outlets and full service facilities, it leases out space in a 'shopping mall' concept to allow guests access to established F&B (food & beverage) and business operators. Among major brands to lease space from Tune Hotels.com in various locations include 24-hour convenience store 7-Eleven®, Subway® and Gloria Jean's Coffees.

Tune Hotels.com will soon spread its wings outside Malaysia with 2 hotels in Bali, Indonesia, i.e. Tune Hotels.com - Kuta (139 rooms) and Legian (170 rooms), targeted to launch in early Q4, 2009. The group is aiming to have 100 hotels up and running throughout the ASEAN region within the next 3 years.

For more information on Tune Hotels.com, log onto www.tunehotels.com or call the Call Centre for your next reservation at +6 (03) 7962 5888, Monday- Friday 9:00am - 9:00pm (excluding Public Holidays).