Dream away: hotel rooms going for a penny in London

It may sound like a dream come true, but Tune Hotels, the low-cost hotel chain from budget airline AirAsia, announced on Monday that it will celebrate the opening of its new hotel in London with rooms from one penny.

The hotel, which will be Tune Hotels' first expansion outside of Asia, is set to open in Westminster, London this August. To celebrate, Tune Hotels is offering rooms from one penny on certain days from 29 June, bookable online at the group's website, tunehotels.com.

There will be 1,000 rooms available in the promotion, to be released on "TuneDays" through June and July.

Tune hotels is the brainchild of Tony Fernandes, the man behind the low cost long-haul airline AirAsia. Following the low-cost model of the airline, Tune Hotels claims to offer the basics - a comfy bed, a shower and security - but charge for the extras normally provided in hotels, such as cleaning and air conditioning.

Eight hotels under the Tune Hotels brand are currently in operation in Malaysia and Indonesia from RM 8 (€2) per night, and the chain says that its prices in London will average £35 (€41) per night but promotional rooms will be available from £9 (€10.77).

Fifteen more hotels – dubbed 'a five star sleeping experience at a one star price' – will open in the Greater London area by 2017. The brand is aiming for 100 hotels in operation by 2015 (including a further 15 across Greater London), which will see it compete directly with EasyHotel, the global brand associated with low-cost airline EasyJet.

EasyHotel recently opened its 12th property in Berlin, offering an opening deal of €10 per night for a room in the Hackescher Markt.

Tune is the private investment group of Fernandes, who is also the principal of the Lotus F-1 racing team. The hotels involve a partnership between Tune and London-based investment group Queensway.