Global chain Tune Hotels investing in PH

TUNE Hotels, a global chain of budget hotels, will be investing between $35 million and $70 million in the Philippines to bankroll the construction of seven hotels next year and in 2013.

In an interview Thursday, Tune Hotels chief executive Mark Lankester said the company’s first hotel in the Philippines would rise in Angeles City and would be operational by Feb. 10. It will have 160 rooms.

The second hotel is scheduled to open two weeks after in Cebu City, and the third on March 9 in Ermita, Manila.

Three more hotels—in Cagayan de Oro, Makati and Ortigas—would also start operations next year, he said. A branch in Quezon City is opening in 2013.

The hotels that would be opening next year would have more than 1,000 rooms, with the Makati and Ortigas branches to be the biggest of the six, he said.

“Our locations are central, which means guests will not have to take long rides to get to tourist attractions, entertainment, food and beverage, and shopping centers. They can just walk a short distance and get to where they want to go,’’ he said.

“The Philippines has a lot of opportunities for leisure tourism, but hotel rooms here are still quite expensive. This presents a good opportunity to introduce our brand to the market and offer an alternative to travelers,’’ he added.

Tune Hotels uses the demand-based pricing model, which means that room rates rise as the number of bookings increase. This provides an incentive for travelers to book their stay early.

The hotel chain also provides guests with the option of paying only for the amenities that they will use. For example, guests who do not want to use the TV set or the air-conditioning unit can choose to exclude these from their bills.

Lankester said that at Tune Hotels, the company’s priority was to provide a good shower and a comfortable bed comparable with or sometimes even better than those in five-star hotels.

“We’ve discovered that the most important thing for people is the bed, so we invest heavily on our beds. Some people enjoy them so much that they end up buying them,’’ he said.