Green concept resonates amongst guests in India

Tune Hotels' maiden Indian property located in Ahmedabad has opened its doors, with guests welcoming new standards of hospitality from the award-winning international hotel chain.
 
The 100-room Tune Hotel Ahmedabad received its first guests yesterday, many of whom took advantage of its pre-opening promotional room rates that started from 599 Indian rupees ($11).
 
"The Tune Hotel Ahmedabad is our first opportunity to present our services to India's vibrant and vast hospitality market. Our excellent amenities combine with top-class environment-friendly practices and we are encouraged with the response from our guests. It is heartening to note that guests have liked our eco-friendly character," said Mark Lankester, Group CEO of Tune Hotels.
 
With the opening of Tune Hotel Ahmedabad, there are now 29 Tune Hotels in operation globally. The rest are 11 in Malaysia, five in the UK, four in the Philippines, four in Thailand and four in Indonesia.
 
The 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.
 
"We welcome both business and leisure travellers. In order to serve families, an important segment in India, we have specially-designed large rooms that can accommodate four to six people. All our guest rooms come with our standard features designed to ensure a comfortable stay at affordable prices. At Tune Hotels, we keep the prices competitive by giving guests the option to choose and pay only for amenities that they require," Lankester said.
 
The Tune Hotel Ahmedabad is looking 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.

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

"We are keen to reinforce our environmental-friendly practices while we build our business in India. We want our guests to be part of these eco practices and be aware of our systems and technologies that are compatible with our green standards. Our business philosophy is to strive to remain locally-relevant in each and every community we are in. This includes being responsible towards the local environment," Lankester said.
 
"For us at Tune Hotels, being environment-friendly is not a slogan. Using resources in a way that reduces waste and promotes healthy lifestyles is built in our daily operations whether it is saving energy or minimising waste."
 
Providing international-standard, high quality accommodation by focusing on key 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.
 
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.
 
By the end of 2013, Tune Hotels will have operating hotels in eight countries. Apart from India, Tune Hotels is set to open properties in Japan and Australia this year. Future projects are also coming up in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
 
Tune Hotels has received over four million guests since the opening of its first hotel in Downtown Kuala Lumpur in 2007.
 
Tune Hotels is part of Tune Group, a lifestyle business conglomerate co-founded by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Dato' Kamarudin Meranun, who are the Group Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer respectively of Asia's largest low cost carrier AirAsia.
 
For real-time updates and promotion alerts, guests can stay connected with Tune Hotels via Facebook at www.facebook.com/tunehotelsIndia and on Twitter via www.twitter.com/tunehotels. 
 
For booking and further information, visit www.tunehotels.com.

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About Tune Hotels

Tune Hotels is part of the lifestyle business conglomerate Tune Group that was founded by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Dato' Kamarudin Meranun. Tune Hotels seeks to innovate and revolutionise the way services are made available and has employed efficient web-based technologies to reach and engage its customers, presenting a unique lifestyle opportunity.

All Tune Hotels' properties feature space-efficient, streamlined rooms focusing on high-quality basics: a five-star bed, powerful hot showers and energy-conserving ceiling fans along with housekeeping services, electronic keycard access into rooms, CCTV surveillance, and 24-hour security.

The Tune Group of companies are Tune Air (a substantial shareholder of AirAsia), Tune Hotels, Tune Money (holding company of Tune Insurance), Tune Talk, Tune Box, Tune Studios, Tune Tones, Caterham F1 Team, Queens Park Rangers Football Club (QPR) and Educ8 Group (owner of Epsom College in Malaysia).

Photo caption:

Photo 1a - A 'pooja' ceremony to bless the opening of Tune Hotel Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

More photos are available from www.flickr.com/tunehotels.

For media enquiries please contact:

INDIA

Shakir Husain

Mobile: +91 9971054815

Email: shakir.husain@tunehotels.com

MALAYSIA / INTERNATIONAL

Cymantha Sothiar

Mobile: +6012 315 3638

Fax: +603 7955 5899

Email: cymantha@tunehotels.com