Kedah’s state capital of Alor Setar will see its old city quarter undergo a facelift with the arrival of a new hotel by the international value hotel group Tune Hotels.

Bangunan HBR in Jalan Langgar here will be refurbished to house the 88-room Tune Hotel Alor Setar that is scheduled for opening by the end of November this year.

A signing ceremony was held today between HBR Group and Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Rakyat) for a RM12 million financing facility for the project.

Group CEO Khairil Akmal Hanafi signed for HBR Group while Bank Rakyat was represented by Senior Vice President for Corporate Banking Abdul Razak Abu Bakar. The ceremony was witnessed by State Executive Councillor for Tourism Dato’ Mohd Rawi Abd Hamid.

HBR Group is a second generation family business founded by the late Dato’ Haji Hanafi Ramli in 1977 and now moving aggressively towards hospitality and property development business as part of the group’s transformation programme initiated by Khairil Akmal back in 2012.

Khairil said: “We are very pleased to be working with Tune Hotels in bringing its internationally renowned brand and expertise into Alor Setar. This is a highly anticipated project which I am sure everyone in Alor Setar and Kedah in general will be proud of. This hotel will certainly provide a boost to tourism in the state.”

Meanwhile, Group CEO of Tune Hotels Mark Lankester said: “Tune Hotel Alor Setar is a unique project for the state, HBR Group and ourselves. The art deco design of the building isn’t often found in Malaysia and we intend to preserve much of it, much in the same way many of the hotels in Miami, Florida have been realised. Naturally we will be adding all the modern conveniences and flair that you will have seen with the recent openings in Malaysia of the Tune Hotels in klia2, Taiping and imminently, Cyberjaya.”

“For our chain, we have been looking to connect Northern-most Peninsular Malaysia to Southern Thailand, where we have the Tune Hotel in Hat Yai and Phuket. This opportunity does precisely that and having hotels in both cities perfectly compliments the needs of our guests,” added Mark.

Tune Hotel Alor Setar will be the group’s second property in Kedah, after Tune Hotel Kulim in the southern part of the state. Other Tune Hotels located in the northern region include in George Town, Penang and Taiping, Perak.

Most of the rooms at Tune Hotel Alor Setar will feature an individual private garden set in a balcony overseeing the city, the first of its kind in Alor Setar.

The new Tune Hotel will be in close proximity to all the major Kedah state government offices, the new Alor Setar railway station and Pekan Rabu, the city’s popular regional product community market. Historic and iconic buildings and monuments like Masjid Zahir, Balai Seni, the Royal Museum and the 165-metre Alor Setar Tower are within a short distance from the hotel.

Kedah, located in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia bordering Thailand, is best known as the country’s rice bowl due to its vast and developed paddy plantations. Tourism has become an increasingly significant contributor to the state’s economy, which together with Penang, Perlis and northern Perak form the Northern Corridor Economic Region.

Tune Hotels is part of Tune Group, a lifestyle business conglomerate co-founded by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, who are the Group CEO and Executive Chairman respectively of Asia’s largest low cost carrier the AirAsia Group.

There are currently 45 Tune Hotels available for booking across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, England, Scotland, Australia, India and Japan.

For real-time updates and promotion alerts, guests can stay connected with Tune Hotels via Facebook at www.facebook.com/tunehotels and on Twitter via www.twitter.com/tunehotels.

For booking and further information, visit www.tunehotels.com.