TuneHotels.com KL review

tune hotel display

I first heard of Tune Hotels when I saw their functional display at the LCCT terminal at KLIA. It sounded like a great concept – a clean budget hotel with the basics and prices starting from just RM 9.99. It’s operated by the AirAsia conglomerate and I decided to book a room to experience the concept hotel.

tune hotel

The hotel is located near the Medan Tuanku Monorail Station and the interesting thing about the hotel is that it’s not called Tune Hotel. It’s called TuneHotels.com. It’s like 1997 all over again, with the dot com craze. The other thing that impressed itself upon me was the vast amount of advertising that’s plastered around the facade. It’s like the hotel is one gigantic billboard!

tune reception

The price of the hotel rooms fluctuates according to demand, much like AirAsia tickets. I got our double room for RM 48.99. The price is for the room only, and everything extra is charged. Towels and soap goes for RM 15, air conditioning is charged at RM 6.83 for 5 hours and RM 13.49 for 12 hours, and WiFi is available for RM 12 for 24 hours.

tune anchor

TuneHotels.com also implements the interesting concept of “anchor franchise tenants” – there is a 7Eleven, a Subway and another franchise eating establishment at the lobby. TuneHotels.com has a very stringent check-in policy. The check-in time is at 2 pm and no one gets to check in before the designated time. Thus, there’s a huge queue of people waiting at the lobby, which usually ends up patronizing the franchise tenants. Amazing marketing…

tune hotels exterior

The check-out time is at 10 am – 2 hours before the regular 12 pm check-out time for hotels, which is something to watch out for. I didn’t remember and was awakened from my blissful ethanol induced slumber at 11 am by housekeeping to politely remind me that the check-out time is at 10 pm. They don’t charge you for overstaying though, so it’s still alright.

tune rooms

The rooms at TuneHotels.com are as small as everyone says. There’s hardly enough space for two people to pass through the corridor! It looks a little like a love hotel too, as my girlfriend commented – there are pink neon lighting surrounding huge mirrors (probably for increase spatial perception) and the luminosity from a lot of the fixings are neon in nature. The bathroom is a little small and cramped, but I can’t complain for the price – and it’s very clean to boot.

tune room ads

One thing you may have noticed from the photos is that there are a lot of advertisements even in the room. I could count a McDonald’s ad, a CIMB Bank ad, a Visa card ad, and a Maggi instant noodles ad vying for eyeballs in the bedroom itself! It’s staggering!

tune floor ads

An advertiser sponsors each and every floor at TuneHotels.com too, much like the KL Monorail…

tune fav

…this is my personal favorite. πŸ˜‰

tune danger

The architect of TuneHotels.com is a proponent of the minimum space, maximum occupancy philosophy and this leads to the height of the rooms being extra low. I nearly hit my face on the ceiling fan (when it was on full blast!) while standing up on the bed. Granted, there are signs warning you against the perils of the low hung ceiling fan causing unfortunate incidents, but still…

tune anna

You get to meet a lot of people at TuneHotels.com too, the backpacker types – this is Anna from Gold Coast, Australia who kindly pulled up a chair for me when I went down for a smoke at 2 am in the morning (which was why I look half asleep). She’s here on a modeling assignment.

tune end

I’m impressed with Datuk Tony Fernandez’s business acumen. Sponsored floors! Advertising in the elevators! Franchise tenants! The commercialization of the TuneHotels.com operation is staggering. Personally, I don’t mind as long as the savings are passed down to the guests. πŸ™‚

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29 thoughts on “TuneHotels.com KL review”

  1. I just read that BengBeng is experienced almost the same thing in Kuching. hahaha… Will be meeting up with him tomorrow. Since you are the first blogger I met, he will be the second. Gonna bring along my hubby to hunt for that hotel he stays. He is going to be crazy facing that four walls without window. He has to pay for any extra luxury too! LOL

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  2. What a lovely woman Anna. The hotel look kind of funky to me but for young people it still not bad. Price not bad at all and it a place just to crash overnight. Was there a lot of noise? I see it a good deal for travelers looking for a low cost hotel.
    You just inform me and lot of other people many good deals around Malaysia.
    Thank you so much.

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  3. Not bad deal. You informed many people oversea of deal and life style around Malaysia. When you blog you like a very friendly kind person all would like to relate to .
    People over sea like to know what it like and your funny and delightful entries made so many happy logging everyday to read. Keep it up and passing words of your blog to more bloggers.

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  4. How wonderful you moving to K.L.. It is like the photo you took with the apple. You are changing and maturing with many purposes and directions to follow. Looking forward to see many entries from K.L..
    Right now getting ready for Halloween and biggest bash at AT&T Park. All people dress up in wild costumes and make up and party hardy till midnight. I had a friend in K.L. but lost contact with her for years hope she doing well where ever she may be now.

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  5. Wow from your other entry moving to KL. A single guy in the big city. What in store for you and meeting new people seeing new places in dining,entertainment ect. With me it what kind of apt I would get when moving to the big city and location with stores and restaurants near by and transit to and from work.

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  6. Now path to bigger and better things wait for you. Did you found the right place to live in KL? My bachlor pad have restaurants and stores, just down stairs.
    Now bloggers get to see more things in KL from you.

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  7. Dude, Now you get try out Chili Bar & Grill and TGIF and Planet Hollywood. Not sure they got Sizler Steak House. Chili Bar & Grill got sizzling fajitas which is not bad.

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  8. Interesting you’re moving to KL. Been checking out hotels in KL and found we like Hilton very much. We stay in Beijing in Hilton and it was very nice too in the ChaoYang district. Lot of cabs no problem to get around.
    I heard KL is chic due to it being a city. Not bad for us.

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  9. PHB – I heard that tunes hotel is cheap but do you know that it used to be a hospital. For the period you were staying there, did you hear anything spooky? Or item moved by itself in the middle of the night? I’ve come across this hotel while searching for cheap accommodation in KL, and I was quite determined to stay over night there. Once I heard it was used to be a HOSPITAL, I cancelled everything. You know, People DIED in hospital, maybe it is just me. I am scare of GHOST. Lolz.

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  10. haha…it is really a cheap, no frills and no thrills hotel. It’s alright for backpackers and those on budget travels but totally not for enjoyment. Imagine if you use the aircon for 5 hours and 10 minutes and you’ll be charged with a 12 hours use…what a rip off!

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  11. Great marketing concept. Especially for bussiness travelers who only need a bed and bath, to sleep for 8-10 hours. Add a small resturant, and store to get fuel, smokes, maybe a few beers etc.. The traveller will check in, eat a meal, fill up his/her car with gas, then sleep, and maybe eat another meal before leaving, all within 12 hours. Just provide a clean, safe, bed, a bath, TV and phone. Lots of money to be made, from persons who (like me, sometimes) just wish a safe room for eight to ten hours or so, then want to be on their way. I really enjoy reading your site HB. Why is it that as you get older (like me), your female friends only seem to get better looking? Take care of yourself.
    Tom in NC (USA)

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  12. Vince: Yeah, the taxi driver told me that. I don’t believe in ghosts though, so I didn’t care. πŸ™‚
    kelvinsse.blogspot.com: The Tune in KK just opened. I’ve been meaning to check it out too. 5 nights for RM 160 is a really good deal for central KK.
    Choonie: Haha! Really? I kinda experienced something in Bintang Warisan, but not at Tune. I don’t believe in spirits (except for the 40& kind ;)) anyway. πŸ™‚
    Erica: Yeah, it’s meant to be a clean budget hotel for just sleeping. It wasn’t noisy to me, but I had a couple of drinks (a couple of drinks to me is may be different to most people’s defination) so I don’t really know for sure. πŸ™‚
    Michale (Mike): Thanks for the kind comments. I am a friendly person in real life too. πŸ™‚
    Vickie: Eating the forbidden fruits from the Garden of Eden. πŸ˜‰
    Thanks for reading! πŸ™‚
    Sally: It would be fun, that’s for sure. Not a boring moment. πŸ™‚
    Nok: I’m still looking. Will be staying in PJ for the time being though.
    Nick: Yeah, I’ve reviewed Chili and TGIF before. Haven’t been to Planet Hollywood though. I like Chili’s frozen margaritas.
    Amy: Hilton is nice, very luxurious place from what I’ve heard. You’ll be paying a premium for that though and it’s not very close to KL CDB.
    Myst3: Yeah, the taxi driver told me the next day. He didn’t want to tell me the first day when I checked in coz he thought it would scare me. It won’t. I don’t believe in ghosts. πŸ™‚
    eiling: Yeah, I just wanted to stay there for a night and check it out. We stayed in four different hotels in four nights. πŸ™‚
    Two were high end, two budget.
    I don’t think you’ll be charged like that – the cards are prepaid and linked to your room card, so if you paid for 5 hours, the aircon will automagically switch off after 5 hours. πŸ™‚
    Darren: I don’t know. I haven’t watched The Veronicas. Hmm…
    xin: Yeah, but this one is clean and there’s no shared bathroom. It’s a private bathroom, and yet remains competitively cheap so I liked it. πŸ™‚
    e: Thankfully, the TP was complimentary. πŸ˜‰
    Heh!
    Tom: Thanks for the kind comments! πŸ™‚
    It’s great for backpackers and business travellers.
    Hmm…I don’t know. Maybe because I look young? I look younger than my chronological age, which I used to hate coz I couldn’t pass for 18 when I was 18 so I couldn’t get cigarettes and alcohol.
    I love it now though, I’m old, but I don’t look old. πŸ˜‰
    Take care Tom, and have a great day! Cheers! πŸ™‚

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  13. suituapui: Yeah, it’s around the Chow Kit area. It’s not a bad neighbourhood though – Asian Heritage Row is just a couple of minutes by foot and there are several 4/5 star hotels around there.
    Pixeldoll: Hmm…the backpacker inns I’ve been too in Australia and NZ all comes with shared bathrooms. This is the first time I’ve seen private bathrooms in budget accomodation, except for motels. There’s a chain of very clean (and cheap) motels in NZ, forgot the name of the group.
    crappy booze: Yeah, the Sir Richard Branson of Malaysia. πŸ˜‰

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  14. This place seems to be a good place to try for a 2 night KK visit. Your blog is very helpful.
    We are choosing between King Park Hotel and this one. We’d probably try this.

    Reply

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