Steven Goh’s Great Food, Budget Travel and Unique Lifestyle

By: Apple Tan 

So far hardly any people around knew much about Tune Hotels. I would like to take this “honour” to introduce Asia, or rather “Malaysia’s 1st No-Frills Hotel”. In short, if you are in doubt what makes this hotel stands out from the others, just think of AirAsia and compare it with MAS; Similarly, apply this concept to Tune Hotels and Hilton Hotels, and Tune Hotels falls into the budget hotel category. 

Both AirAsia and Tune Hotels are for budget constraint travellers. In fact, the founder of Tune Hotels is also AirAsia’s founding father - Tony Fernandes.

We would never had the chance to stay at Tune Hotels if not due to the recent holiday seasons which caused the hotel which we usually patron to be fully-booked. Tune Hotels is located strategically along Jalan Sultan Ismail and is at 2 stones’ throw away from Medan Tuanku monorail station. It is by walking distance to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman shopping district. From far the hotel is easily recognized with its red and white coat of paint, just like AirAsia.

Tune Hotels have very basic room facilities, with no add-ons you can get:

• Power Shower with hot water
• Hot water basin 
• 5-Star bed
• Ceiling fan 

If you find the default facilities ain’t good enough, you can pay extra for these add-ons:

• Air-conditioning (5 hours@RM4.99+ and 12 hours@RM9.99+)
• Towels from RM9.99+ to RM19.99+
• Toiletries from RM1.99+ to RM4.99+  

We then booked ourselves into a double room with a queen-sized bed and opt for the air-conditioning for 24-hours and it costs us barely RM100. 

Pros:

• Relatively cheaper than any other 3-Star or lower hotels
• Clean and new facilities (except for some though)
• Strategic location and easy access to city centre, monorail stations and shopping centres
• Convenience store located at the hotel’s ground level
• Oldtown Kopitiam style coffeeshop

Cons:

• No proper sterilization especially on the bed and pillows, therefore could feel the stench from the pillow cases
• Some minor stains on the bedsheet  
• Cement floor only and no carpetting in the room
• No TV/Radio
• No telephone
• No Internet access in the room 
• No breakfast included
• No hot water kettle and therefore no drinking water can be made
• No coffee/tea sachets
• If you need all of the above, you need to pay additional for these add-ons

Overall, it was a nice experience to have tried this out. Since this is a no-frills hotel, it is still acceptable to have left out some of the amenities.