MATco polo...travel corner.......anything pasal travel PART 2

fatz

Budget airline boss opens door for Asian no-frills hotels
Posted: 08 July 2007 1319 hrs

SINGAPORE : Having conquered Southeast Asian skies with his pioneering budget airline, Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes hopes to repeat the success of his business model with a down-to-earth chain of no-frills hotels.

Despite a chorus of sceptics, Fernandes almost single-handedly brought low-cost flying to the region with AirAsia.

Now he believes his Tune Hotels.Com project can do the same for budget accommodation in a region where cheap has usually equated with shabby and badly managed.

Co-founded by Fernandes, Tune Hotels.Com first opened in downtown Kuala Lumpur in April and has been enjoying an occupancy rate of more than 90 percent from day one, the company says.

Industry watchers say initial demand for the Kuala Lumpur outlet shows Southeast Asia is starved of quality in the sector.

"There are a lot of travellers who are looking for that kind of service," said Ali Mirza, executive director with market research consultancy MarketShare in Singapore.

"So there is a new need in the marketplace for budget hotels," he said, adding "chances are very high" of success.

Analysts believe demand for budget hotels will take off rapidly following the blossoming of the region's low-cost airline sector, led by AirAsia.

Fernandes launched AirAsia in December 2001 with just two aircraft. It now serves domestic and international routes throughout the region, and spawned a number of imitators.

Dennis Melka, director and co-founder of Tune Hotels.Com, said passengers flying the low-cost carriers cannot afford four- and five-star accommodation.

Nightly room rates at Tune Hotels.Com's Kuala Lumpur property start from 2.85 dollars, excluding taxes.

The hotel offers a bed and a hot shower but extras such as soap, towels and air conditioning cost more, much as snacks are served for a fee on AirAsia flights.

Along with the bare-bones service, both the airline and hotel offer an Internet-based reservation system which prices tickets or rooms cheaply if bookings are made in advance.

They also share similar logos. Both are done up in AirAsia's signature colours, with even the exterior of the seven-storey Kuala Lumpur hotel painted in bold red and white.

John Koldowski, director of strategic intelligence with the Pacific Asia Travel Association, believes branded budget hotel lodging will take off in the region.

"It's only a matter of time," said Koldowski, who is based in Bangkok.

"We were surprised with the speed at which the low-cost carriers found the market, or the market found them. I would suggest there will be a parallel," he told AFP.

Even Singapore real estate tycoon Kwek Leng Beng, whose Hong Leong Group owns and manages luxurious hotels globally, wants a piece of the budget hotel sector.

City e-Solutions (CES), a hospitality business that is part of Kwek's Hong Leong Group, is one of three partners in a 50-million US dollar venture to expand Tune Hotels.Com in Southeast Asia.

The plan is to open 30 hotels under the Tune Hotels.Com brand in popular Southeast Asian destinations including Bangkok over the next 24 months.

CES will own 40 percent of the joint venture while Tune Hotels.Com will hold a 20 percent stake. Istithmar PSJC, the investment arm of state-owned Dubai World, will take the remaining 40 percent.

Kwek, Singapore's third richest individual with a net worth of 3.6 billion dollars according to Forbes magazine, sees an under-served hotel segment.

"It's only human nature that you want class, class, class but I have always believed that you should fulfil the needs of customers irrespective of class," Kwek said recently at a media briefing.

"There is a big need here... I believe this model is going to work and work well (and) I will invest further going forward," he said.

French hotel group Accor also plans to grow its economy brands in the region especially in China and India.

"China and India are still short of quality economy and budget hotels," Michael Issenberg, Accor's regional managing director, told AFP.

"While there have been many domestic operators of economy hotels, the sector has suffered from lack of reliability and consistency.

"That's what the Ibis brand is bringing to China and what Ibis and Formule 1 are bringing to India, a consistent product backed by an international operator."

India, for example, is estimated to need up to 80,000 economy-style rooms by 2010 to meet projected demand, said Issenberg.

Based in Paris, Accor operates in almost 100 countries and manages hotels from the luxurious Sofitel brand to the budget Formule 1 and Motel 6 labels.

- AFP/ir

chichi

Salams all...
chi nak upload pics taken during my Oz tour..
Sydney-Perth-Sydney-Newcastle-Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne-Newcastle

Chi travelled with a fren from Perth.

Destination 1:
Perth

[ Last edited by  chichi at 12-7-2007 01:40 PM ]

chichi

Kings Park

chichi

Rainbow

chichi

View of Perth City from Kings Park

chichi

Perth City zoomed in

chichi

24/6/07
gi Fremantle, snap pics & mkn2 @ Kaili's fish n chips


have to crop this pic... faham2 ler...

chichi

My Golden snapper & Chips


My Friends' Seafood Platter

chichi

Seagulls' attack!


just seconds after we left our table.. the seagulls didn't waste their time... big feast!!!!
hehehe

chichi

on our way home, my friend bawa singgah @ Walter Point



this is where the river meets the sea.
when the tide is low, as in the pic.. u can walk right up to the other side of the land.

chichi

one thing i like abt Perth is .. kita senang nak dpt halal food, unlike Newcastle

dinner @ charcoal chicken- portuguese charcoal chicken


my Waffle @ Westfield Carousel.. after watching Fantastic 4

chichi

charcoal chicken

chichi

ESPECIALLY FOR MALLANHEAD

Corica Bakery @ NorthBridge

chichi

an old prison somewhere @ Fremantle..

chichi

Perth City in the evening

chichi

London Court..
taken after a brief shopping
Brief.. but it was a rip off..
hehehe

chichi

Destination 2:
Sydney-Newcastle- Sydney.
chi bawa fren balik newcastle for 2 days then sambung sight-seeing kat Sydney

kecubung

Originally posted by alexandria_iz at 27-4-2007 08:16 PM
ok laa.... nie gmbr tpt2 makan yg kitorang pegi semasa di bombay.... gerai tepi2 jalan je... tapi sodap sehingga menjilat jari...

-bademiya-
pemes giler tpt nie.... by right, diorang h ...

alex, gmbo yg ada uncle unjuk sireh  tu, yang kat reflection kat kaca tu alex ek?? hehehehhe

[ Last edited by  kecubung at 12-7-2007 02:19 PM ]

chichi

Hunter Valley Gardens..
though this place is somewhere around Newcastle.. chi blum pernah sampai kat sini..
I drove for more than 2 hrs.. heheh  we got lost beb!!!

[ Last edited by  chichi at 12-7-2007 02:35 PM ]

chichi

The Entrance