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alaysian multimillionaire, Anthony Fernandes,
is moving into the hospitality business in Kenya.
According to a news report by Kenya’s
Business Daily, Tune Hotels, a low-budget hotel chain owned by Fernandes’ Tune
Group, will launch its first African outlet in Nairobi next year.
Construction on Tune Hotel in Nairobi began
in October last year and the building is already four floors high. Tune Hotels
Nairobi will be a 12-storey, 280-room facility that will operate on the ‘no
frills’ model, whereby customers pay only for the amenities they use and are
given a discount for booking early. The hotel will be situated in Westlands, an
affluent suburb in Nairobi, and will charge customers an average of $100 a
night. The hotel chain which Fernandes
started in 2007 already has about 45 outlets in Britain, Australia and India,
among other countries.
“We are looking to provide local travelers as
well as tourists and visitors to Kenya and Nairobi a compelling accommodation
option of international quality that is affordably priced,” Mark Lankester,
Tune Hotels group CEO reportedly said at a briefing to Journalists in Nairobi
on Thursday.
Anthony Fernandes, who is one of Malaysia’s
wealthiest citizens with a net worth FORBES estimates at $650 million, plans to
open 15 hotels in East Africa within the next 5 years in partnership with a
consortium of investors from Kenya and the United Kingdom, using Nairobi as an
initial point of entry. Tune Hotels will join other international hotel brands
like Radisson Blu and Best Western that have recently made an entry into
Kenya’s hospitality industry.
Fernandes bought floundering AirAsia in 2001
and transformed it into the region’s largest low-cost airline. He owns English
Premier League club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and until recently owned the
Caterham Formula 1 team.
Source: Forbes.com
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