Tune Hotel Melbourne Officially Opens!

Add capTune Hotel Melbournetion

International value hotel group Tune Hotels has stamped its first footprint in Australia with the official opening of the Tune Hotel Melbourne. The Group has plans to expand this footprint within the Australasia region and Melbourne will be its operational hub.

The 225-room property was officially launched today during a ceremony attended by Premier of Victoria Dr Denis Napthine, Malaysia's Consul-General in Melbourne Datuk Dr Mohamad Rameez Yahaya and Group CEO of Tune Hotels Mark Lankester.

Premier Napthine said: "Tune Hotels Group's decision to open its first Australian hotel and base its operations here in Melbourne will create more than 100 direct and indirect local jobs. This decision by Tune Hotels Group is a major vote of confidence in Victoria and our economy. Tune Hotel Melbourne brings a new model of accommodation to Australia, and I am very proud that Melbourne is at the forefront of this new tourism concept. As Australia's events capital, Melbourne offers visitors access to world-class sporting and cultural events."

The official opening came just a couple of days after Melbourne's biggest social event, the Melbourne Cup Spring Racing Carnival on Tuesday. Tune Hotel Melbourne had soft-opened for business on 21 October, two weeks ahead of its 1 November scheduled date and celebrated that with a super low launch rate of just A$50 a night - one of the most affordable room rates seen in central Melbourne for years!

Located at 609 Swanston Street, Carlton, Tune Hotel Melbourne is conveniently located next to the University of Melbourne and a stroll to RMIT University, just two streets away from the popular eateries of Lygon Street, around the corner from Queen Victoria Market and minutes to Melbourne's Central Business District (CBD) via the trams which stop outside the hotel.

The hotel features an indoor open air courtyard, a recreational lounge, a restaurant, café, luggage storage, self-service launderette and free Internet desks on the ground floor. In addition the hotel is equipped with basement car parks - something unusual for city centre hotels in Australia.

Melbourne will also be the location for Tune Hotels' operational headquarters overseeing Australia and New Zealand operations, working in conjunction with the corporate office in Kuala Lumpur and creating up to 100 jobs.

Tune Hotel Melbourne

"We are very excited to have finally established our first hotel in Australia right here in Melbourne, giving business and leisure visitors to this amazing city a truly compelling choice of accommodation alternative. As Australia's events capital, Melbourne is a great market for Tune Hotels, as it boasts a rich calendar of theatre, sporting and arts and cultural events, and we have experienced strong forward bookings since announcing our entry into the market in June," Lankester said.

"We would like to thank the Victorian Government, Tourism Victoria, Tourism Australia as well as the City of Melbourne for their invaluable and continued support of Tune Hotels. Given our long term plans for this region, the Tune Hotel Melbourne is just the beginning for what we have planned for the Tune Hotels concept in Australia and New Zealand and travellers can expect to see more hotels opening in the region in the coming years."

Tune Hotel Melbourne is the 34th property for Tune Hotels, which has pioneered a "pay-as-you-use" concept that has become hugely popular among smart travellers from across the world. Under the concept, guests only pay for room rates with the option of adding on other amenities like towels and toiletries, in-room Wi-Fi and satellite TV service to keep costs down, reduce waste and save energy.

Apart from Tune Hotel Melbourne, the group has eleven hotels in operation and available for booking in in Malaysia, eight in the Philippines, six in Indonesia, five in the UK, four in Thailand and one each in India and Japan.

Tune Hotels provides international-class high-quality accommodation at central locations and focuses on key essentials but minus the generally underused facilities found in other hotels such as swimming pools, business centres and gymnasiums. By doing away with these costly and high-maintenance facilities, Tune Hotels is able to pass on savings to its guests in the form of super low room rates.

All Tune Hotels feature space-efficient, streamlined rooms focusing on high-quality basics: 5-star beds and powerful hot showers. The strategically located hotels provide housekeeping services, electronic keycard access into rooms, extensive CCTV systems, and no access into the main lobby without a keycard past midnight for extra security.

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 CEO and Executive Chairman 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/tunehotelsAUS and on Twitter via www.twitter.com/tunehotels.

For booking and further information, visit www.tunehotels.com.