New budget hotel group Tune Hotels.com is offering guests the chance to stay in its first London property for just one penny per night. One thousand penny rooms will be available at the 79-bedroom property, which is due to open on Westminster Bridge Road, near Lambeth North tube station, at the end of August 2010.

Already well-established in Asia, where the company operates nine properties, Tune Hotels.com aims to appeal to the budget traveller by offering five-star beds and powerful hot showers at prices which will be typically around £35 per night, with promotional rooms regularly on offer from as low at £9 per night.

Tune Hotels.com is backed by the founder of the low cost airline AirAsia, and its business model is based on a similar limited service concept, cutting unnecessary extras like toiletries and charging on a pay-as-you-use basis for TVs, hairdryers and in-room Wi-Fi.

Tune Hotels.com-Westminster is the first of 15 properties scheduled to open in London by 2017, creating an additional 1,500 bedrooms in the capital at a cost of £150m. The brand intends to have 100 hotels within its portfolio by 2015.