Dubai link to Asia’s Tune hotels
KUALA LUMPUR – New investors have joined the founders of the budget hotel group which plans to develop a chain of 30 hotels across Southeast Asia over the next three years.
The US$50 million joint venture between Hong Leong Group and Dubai investment company Istithmar will look for new locations in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
Malaysia’s property and development group, Hong Leong, through its subsidiary City e-Solutions (CES), is taking a 40 per cent stake in the joint company, Tune Hospitality Investments.
Istithmar, the investment arm of Dubai World, will own another 40 per cent, while TuneHotels.Com, owned by the founders of the AirAsia budget airline, will hold the remaining 20 per cent.
“The hotel sector is crying out for clean, safe, branded budget accommodation in major cities,” said Istithmar Real Estate’s managing director, Richard Johnson.
Johnson said that while the company was looking globally for opportunities, “the greatest and most compelling story is in Asia”.
Istithmar’s focus will be in the top end and branded budget sector.
“We favour China and India as potentially broad and deep markets particularly in the budget sector,” said Johnson.
“Elsewhere in Asia, the high end resort markets in Thailand are attractive. We have recently secured the first W hotel in Southeast Asia in Koh Samui. Thailand deserves its status as one of the main global tourism destinations,” Johnson added.
Istithmar Hotels, has previously announced a partnership with Easy Group’s head, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, to construct and operate easyHotel.com properties in the Middle East, the Levant, North Africa, India and Pakistan.
The first easyHotel.com developed by Istithmar Hotels, the easyHotel.com Dubai Al Karama, is expected to open in early 2008, following a construction period of only eight months, and will have 195 rooms in a six-storey structure.
-Ian Jarrett
Ian Jarrett
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