Tune Liverpool Street sings funky new tune…

Tune Hotel Liverpool Street has a handsome building and a pretty little patio area too

A few weeks ago we published a photo blog about the Tune Hotel Liverpool Street under construction and were excited to then see it open ahead of schedule just before the New Year.  Now the brand new budget hotel is almost fully operational and we were thrilled to visit it the other day and enjoy a tour from its friendly General Manager.

We were happy to find that Tune Liverpool Street has stuck to the core promise of its sister hotel Tune Westminster: transparent online booking (with extras clearly listed), great Hypnos beds, clean rooms and surprisingly friendly service – surprising that is for such a low-priced hotel.

But we also noticed that this new property is significantly more spacious than the original Westminster hotel and had incorporated a number of functional enhancements driven by guest feedback from its older sibling.  And as you’d expect from a shiny new hotel, it was quite a bit funkier too particularly in its public areas, as the photos (all taken by us) indicate…

The coffee station idea was chosen on as an alternative to vending machines which are becoming all the rage at other budget hotels, to provide a more personal service.

The first thing we noticed as we entered was the coffee station which serves Lavazza – definitely not the typical budget hotel coffee option and a statement of intent in itself!  In fact the idea of a coffee station goes a bit against the current of typical budget hotel thinking and means we might already have to revise one of our predicted 2012 hotel trends…

We were also pleased to see some paid internet terminals available for guests to use - again fairly unique for a budget hotel.  We’re sort of OK about the fact that Tune charges for WiFi because unlike many luxury London hotels it is (a) transparent about this before you book and (b) keeps the charge low at £3 per device per 24 hours.  And frankly the room rates are generally low enough to make you not care about this too much.

The hotel’s spacious decked patio is another feature that got us excited – we haven’t even seen outside spaces as lovely as this in London hotels that charge several multiples of the average Tune room rate.  They’ll apparently be serving drinks and snacks there over the summer – subject to the vagaries of the London weather of course.

The hotel's gorgeous terrace is also being promoted to the broader community around the hotel, which is sure to give it added buzz and vibrancy

During construction there was an emphasis on quality building materials that would last and there was nothing cheap and nasty about the rooms and public areas that we inspected.  Furthermore, Tune takes exceptional care to ensure that high standards of cleanliness are met – clearly an issue of central importance in the budget hotel category, a fact also emphasised in our interview with Tune CEO Mark Lankester a while back.

Some of the rooms have tranquil views to the hotel's inner courtyard and all the ones we saw were uniformly decorated in refreshing earthy colours

Moreover, Tune Hotels wants to ensure that staying at a budget hotel doesn’t mean that guests have to compromise on sleep quality - something else the CEO told us.  So they use the same quality Hypnos beds which many 4 and 5 star London hotels also use – and rumour has it that Hypnos beds are also apparently good enough for the Queen!

Tune also caters to guests with special needs with wallet-friendly accessible rooms.

So our overall conclusion after visiting was that the Tune value proposition has if anything been enhanced.  New hotels are also planned to open by the end of June in Paddington and the end of July in King’s Cross.  These will again represent an evolution of the brand based on guest feedback, helping to ensure that continuous improvements are put in place.

Doesn’t this thoughtful, progressive expansion strategy make more sense from a guest experience standpoint than the breakneck growth strategies being deployed by Travelodge and Premier Inn?  We are kind of hoping that the tortoise (albeit a fairly brisk one with several new UK hotels already in the pipeline later this year) again beats the hare in this particular race.

Unlike at many other budget hotels, Tune guests are encouraged to leave feedback as they check out...many have already been making positive comments on TripAdvisor

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Photo credits: London Hotels Insight blogger Timea.

Tagged as: Tune Hotel Liverpool Street, Tune Hotel Westminster, Tune Hotels