NST Online Business Times : latest
NST Online Business Times : latest |
| Tune Hotel on exponental growth path Posted: 20 Feb 2013 05:56 PM PST NEW DELHI: Tune Hotel Group is set to grow exponentially from 2013 onwards with hotels mushrooming in India, Middle East,
By end-2013, Tune Hotel would be present in eight countries, he said. "Currently we are in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and UK. India will be the sixth market followed by Australia and Japan," he said in an interview with Bernama. In India, the first hotel would open in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in April, followed by Melbourne, Australia, in November and one more in Japan, he said. Next year, Tune Hotel would also open its doors in Mekkah, Madinah and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, he said. "We are looking at Europe as well. We are looking at Italy and we are finalising a deal in Vienna, Austria, amid the huge tourist potential there," he said. In the African region, Tune Hotel is keen to enter Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, he said, adding that the value hotel chain had already signed a deal in Nigeria. "There is oil money in Nigeria. The economy is growing fast. There is huge demand amid a population 160 million people but there is no supply and the fact that there are no big international brands in the country it is a great time for
"We love countries that offer high room rates," said Mark. He said Colombo, Sri Lanka, also offered good opportunity and Tune Hotel was eyeing that market too. "In Colombo, we are looking but we have not got anything substantial as yet," he said. Besides expanding into new territories, Tune Hotel is also keen to grow in its existing markets. "Only by expansion you will benefit from the economies of scale," he said. Currently, there are 11 hotels in Malaysia, five in UK, three
In Malaysia, hotels will open in Melaka, Alor Setar, Cyberjaya and KLIA2 ( 400 rooms) and in UK while one more hotel would be located in Canary Wharf, he said. "The total number of hotel rooms will change rapidly from now onwards as we have plans to open one to two hotels every month," said Mark. He said the key aspect was to continuously expand without over-stretching as campaign, advertising and brand building was equally important. Asked on competition, he said there are rivalry at every place but it is all about offering the right product and services priced reasonably to attract customers. Going forward, Mark said there was potential for Tune Hotel to go into full-fledged hotel services. Although he did not provide a timeframe, he noted that at some stage it would make sense to offer a four-star hotel facility. "By then, we would have built up certain amount of expertise. Just like how after AirAsia, AirAsia X came about," he added.-- Bernama |
| Tune plans 100 hotels in India Posted: 20 Feb 2013 05:49 PM PST NEW DELHI: Tune Hotel Group has earmarked nothing less than 100 hotels in India, with the first to open its doors in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, come April 2013, says its Chief Executive Officer, Mark Lankester. Gujarat's vibrant economy is among the key factors in the budget hotel chain's decision to start its ventures in India from the state which is located in the Northwest, he said. "We have a full strategy for the whole of Gujarat. Normally we go into the big locations such as Delhi but we went with Gujarat first as when we looked at the history it is the best performing economy in the whole of India," he said. Hence, it is important for Tune Hotel to make its presence there first, he told Bernama in an exclusive interview. of 10.4 per cent over the last five years, there is also a huge non-resident Indian traffic to Gujarat. "If you look at one state that has more citizens leaving aboard, it is Gujarat. There are about one million Gujaratis in the UK and another million in the US. They are all over the world, which is a huge market to be tapped into. "So, within Gujarat itself there is a strategy for five to six hotels ideally over the next three years," he said, adding that the first 100-room hotel would open this April in Motera, Ahmedabad. It would be followed by a 120-room hotel in Bhiwadi, Haryana, by end-2013 and a 200-room hotel near the New Delhi Railway Station early 2014. Besides Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai are the other major capitals that Tune Hotel would stamp its presence. Others in the pipeline are in Neemrana and Jaipur in Rajasthan, Chandigard, Punjab and Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The average room rate would be between Rs2,000 (RM114) and Rs2,500 (RM142). Unlike other hoteliers, Tune Hotel, he said was very much keen in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. "As a value hotel brand, often we go into a Tier 3 city. We could be the best thing that happened for that town and we could almost be the best hotel there. "I think for India, if you are going to have significant coverage you really need to be where the industrial areas are coming up, new commercial centres as well as places where the new capital regions are developing," said Mark. There is not enough supply of hotel rooms in India, "so, within India 100 hotels is easily achievable when you look at the demand and supply situation," he said when asked on the company's expansion plans in India. He disclosed that some of the value hotel chains in China have between 3,000 and 4,000 hotels. Asked on the business model for India, he said, it would be a mix of acquisition and/or joint venture with developers or pure management agreement. "India is such a big country, therefore, you got to be flexible. If you go in with very hard and fuss rules and say this is the only way we will operate, than, I think that will be a mistake for us," he said. Elaborating further, he said in India, domestic demand for hotel rooms were phenomenal, "and we love to go into countries where the domestic economy and the ability for domestic demand is always there whether it is business or leisure." There is different spin for India when it comes to demand, he said, pointing out to the "big fat Indian weddings" as a huge potential market for hoteliers. "Weddings takes a big part in demand for hotels in India. So, we are very much interested to ensure that we take part in the wedding process. If you're part of a family wedding, you want to house all of them in a single hotel," he said. Generally, the budget hotels in India have less than 100 rooms per hotel, but Tune Hotel would have between 100 and 200 rooms, which would make it easier for the hotel chain to capture this market, he said. "It is important for people to understand that we provide good value and customer service. We got to be competitive," he said, adding that Tune Hotel has been working on India for the past 42 months. The country with a population of 1.2 billion people offers immense opportunities and could potentially emerge as one of Tune Hotel's biggest market, said Mark.-- Bernama |
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