Tune Hotels opened their first European hotel in Waterloo at the end of August. Tune Westminster is a conversion by Directory design practice Occa of the old Lambeth Building Society headquarters. Creating a stylish hotel where the room size is less than 9sq.metres has been quite a challenge but the practice has risen to it, creating space to a walk around the bed and a podded shower room to provide the en-suite.Tune use the advanced computer control card technology to break down the cost of the room. With advanced proximity locking and the now familiar indicator panel outside the door the key card now controls the sockets in the room. This has enabled the operator to break down the offer and use the flexibility to reduce the base cost. Not for nothing have they been called the easyjet of hotels.
A basic room cost may be £35 for a basement windowless room, or £45 for a room with a triple glazed sound proofing window, but there is then a scale of charges for what is called by the hotel ‘non-essential’ services. So if you want the power tuned on to the room TV you will pay £3 for 24 hours. 24hr internet is £3 more, use of the safe £2 and so on. If during your stay you want fresh towels then this will cost £1.50 -a useful reversal of the ‘drop them on the floor’ supposedly green approach of other hotels. The room rate of course leads to the guest making ‘value driven’ decisions With London average rooms rates topping £170 this represents extraordinarily good value.
