Tune Hotels.com, Penang

I have never stayed in Tune Hotels.com before. I heard it was a budget hotel under AirAsia. Tune Hotel.com's system worked similarly to AirAsia's flight system. The earlier you book, the cheaper you pay for the room. It's a basic no frills room and they only provide the bed (they promised the beds are of 5-star quality), attached bathroom with hot water and a fan. You need to purchase the air-cond usage starting from a 12-hour block which cost RM13.49 to 24-hour block for RM21. Towels, hair-dryer and toiletries are priced at RM5, travel shield (insurance) at RM6 and wireless internet, at RM12 for 24 hours.

The day before we went to Penang, I went into their website. I chose a basic room which cost about RM38 and a 12-hour block air-cond usage. The total came up to about RM54. I thought the price was good, but I didn't book the room. The next hour, I checked the room prices again. It went up to more that RM60 and still I didn't book the room. The 3rd time I checked, it was more than RM70. I told myself, forget it, I will look for another hotel when I reach Penang.

When we reached Penang, Mctc and I kept a look-out of all the hotels advertising their room charges on the banners in front of the hotels. There were some which we thought was alright, but in the end, we chose Tune.hotels.com at Jalan Burma simply because my mind was there plus it was near the city.

The hotel looked new. The lobby was at the 2nd floor.

We check out the room charges. All in, including the room, 12-hour air-con usages and some admin fees cost us about RM85. The receptionist told us that if we were to book 4 months ahead, the room would have cost RM9.90 excluding the air-cond usage and admin fees.

Not knowing how small the room would be, Mctc paid for it and we went up to our rented room.

The walk way. I thought the paintings were lovely. Something different from the normal boring white/off white walls we see at the other hotels.

The room, however was small. Hardly enough place to walk. We love the mirror behind the bed. It certainly made the room looked bigger. :)

And the flower paintings on the wall added character to the room.

So little space, not enough for a table and a chair. This fold table was perfect for the room. It was only meant for temporary usage because it would be a hindrance to the person sleeping at that side of the bed.

The basic facility - a fan. The room was small and quite stuffy for 2 persons. What we did was blast the fan and turned on the air-cond to the lowest temperature - 16C.

They have provided space for ads too.

The bathroom is very near the bed. In fact, if you open the bathroom door wide, it would touch the bed.

The bathroom. It was not too small, not too big. Just nice. I love the shower head. Big and so nice to shower with. :) The only thing I didn't like about the bathroom was the water kept dripping from the shower area to the toilet area. Mctc had to squeeze the mat dry after every shower.

Notice the engravings on the tap (faucet).

As soon as we slot the card (the card also acted as a door key), the clock began to tick. I wonder if the clock would stop if we didn't turn on the air-cond.

We used up about 10 hours and 15 minutes of air-cond. I did asked the receptionist if we could "keep" the balance and use it when we check into the next Tune Hotels.com. She gave a ngative reply. :(

So, will I stay in Tune Hotels.com again? Definately, but only when the price is right. :)