Tune Hotels.com will open two hotels in Bali in November which will be the company first hotels outside Malaysia, said chief executive officer Mark Lankester. The two Bali hotels, a 170-room hotel in Legian Bali and a 139-room hotel in Kuta Bali, are now under construction, according to Lankester.

Tune Hotels.com currently owns a 173-room hotel in Kuala Lumpur and a 165-room hotel in Kota Kinabalu. Tune Hotels.com is also scheduled to open a 258-room hotel in downtown Penang and a 222-room hotel at the low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) in KL International Airport in April. Lankester said Tune Hotels.com had also planned for two hotels in Johor, one in Kuantan, and more hotels in other Sarawak towns. Tune Hotels.com is also eyeing hotel markets in Thailand, China and India.

About 200,000 guests have stayed in Tune Hotels.com (since April 2007). “As a Malaysian brand, we will continue to roll out more hotels to serve Malaysians first,” Lankester told reporters at the launch of the the group’s first hotel franchise, the Tune Hotels.com-Waterfront Kuching here yesterday.

The franchise is operated and managed by Limar Management Services Sdn Bhd and owned by prominent Iban businessman Datuk Amar Leonard Linggi Jugah. Lankester said Tune Hotels.com was in discussion with Limar to set up a second hotel in Kuching.

The hotel group employs a self-service on-line booking system, modelled after that of low-cost airlines that encourages guests to book early to enjoy exceptionally low prices. Meanwhile, Tune Hotels.com is offering promotional rates, from five sen per night for stays between November this year and January 2010, and from RM5 per night for stays between March and October this year.