Budget hotels are mushrooming in the country due to rising demand. But to call these hotels budget boutique hotels are not very correct. Never heard of a budget hotel being a boutique one. A budget hotel is a low cost budget hotel. A good example is Tune Hotels which offer rooms at RM 9 if you book one year in advance. But a boutique should cost us not less than RM 500 a night. These are hotels with rooms less than 100 and built from old conservation buildings.
Malaysian Budget Hotel Association president Datuk Dr Muhammad Nasir Hamzah said: "They are becoming popular among foreign tourists, especially backpackers and locals, and they are becoming the trend of the future. Besides this, green hotels and Islamic concept hotels are also coming up to cater to the niche market."
With rates ranging from RM100 to RM120 per night, they offer an attractive alternative to pricey hotels or budget hotels, popularly called rumah tumpangan (lodging houses), which have poor security and low hygiene level.
There are about 6,000 budget hotels in the country, but only about 1,600 are registered with the association.
He said many budget boutique hotel operators were not registered with the Tourism Ministry. "The operators should get themselves registered to be rated."
Malaysian Tourist Guides Council president Jimmy Leong said domestic travellers and foreign backpackers were in favour of budget boutique hotels. He said the development of such hotels should be encouraged and monitored to ensure that they adhered to safety and health requirements.
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