A new name has emerged in the UK budget hotel market in the form of Tune Hotels. The budget chain is mostly based in Indonesia and Malaysia, but their first London hotel opened recently in Westminster, Central London.
The market is getting a little flooded with budget hotel chains, but Tune Hotels believe they have the edge based on what could be referred to as the “Ryanair Concept”, ie: everything not absolutely essential is chargeable.
For your money you get high quality spring mattress beds with pillows, pillowcases, bed sheets and 250-thread count duvets; plus each room is en-suite with a power shower.
Chargeable items include phone bookings and credit cards which are entirely understandable, but charging for towels does seem a little extreme – this is however billed by their PR people are an “extreme budget hotel”. This does seem to conflict a little with their “5 star quality for 1 star prices” motto.
So does this business model stackup?
Their main rivals would seem to be Easyhotel run by the same people as Easyjet, Travelodge and Premier Inn.
Easyhotel run a number of central London hotels and base their budget pricing mostly on booking well in advance – the earlier you pay, the less you pay is the idea. They charge for phone bookings, credit cards, toiletries and during-stay room cleans but do provide towels.
Travelodge have been established over 20 years in this market and often market themselves as very much budget prices by cutting out everything you don’t need. They also charge for credit cards and toiletries, but room cleans are included and so are towels.
Premier Inn have marketed themselves a little higher up the scale and do provide most toiletries, TV and room cleans for the price….and they definitely include towels.
So as these are pretty similar to Tune Hotel in what they provide, except for the towels, it would seem to come down to price. Comparisons are a little tricky especially with the Easyhotels model, but taking a random date about a week from now – 7th Sept 2010 for 1 room, 1 night, 2 people:
- Tune Hotel in Westminster: £65
- Easyhotel Earl’s Court: £55 (+ £5 for the TV)
- Travelodge in Waterloo: £95
- Premier Inn Euston: £142
Other days the prices might be closer although the Travelodge in question starts at £79/night, but going this by admittedly not very scientific experiment it would suggest that the extreme budget hotel isn’t that budget afterall compared to it’s closest rival the EasyHotel.
Whether Tune Hotels can beat Easyhotels at their own game we’ll just have to wait and see, but going by what I’ve seen so far, they need to do something a little more extreme with the prices to justify what you don’t get.
More links:
London Hotel Guide
Attractions in London
