Hi! This is Aggie Lal— Travel in Her Shoes.
And today I'm super excited about today because I'm gonna tell you
how I afford staying in luxury resorts and fancy hotels.
And, yes, I'm a travel blogger, and I sometimes get to do it for free.
But that was not always the case and sometimes not every hotel wants to work with me.
So I still use my few tricks to really enjoy my stay.
Like I have to say, I've stayed on private island hotels.
I've stayed where you get to feed giraffes.
And the prices for these hotels were anything from $700 to $2500 a night.
Just to give you an idea what I mean by luxury.
I know you can stay even more than that.
I haven't so far. I don't think I have.
But I have a few tips for you in case you ever want to stay in a hotel like this
And you probably think that you can't afford it.
Well, maybe we can work on it.
All right, I have to tell you the truth— I used to be one of these snobbish travelers
that thought that the real travel and the real experience
has to be budgeted. That people that stay in five-star hotels
and they say that they travel to a country— like they don't know anything—
That's not real travel.
Well... It might not be. But staying in a 5-star hotel does not
necessarily mean that's your only experience from that country.
So I like to do both. I like to do both
getting to know the locals— that's I guess my #1 reason why I travel.
But staying in a five-star hotel, it's an experience in itself.
Its beautiful architecture, the design— both interior and exterior—
the pools, it's very pleasing and
there's something to be said about the beauty
that we, as humans, like to be surrounded by.
And that doesn't necessarily mean luxury in itself.
It's not like you feel, "Ahh... I love this TV. It's so pretty."
or "This feels rich."
It's just everything is thought of and aesthetically pleasing
and very pleasant to hang-out around, like be part of.
I was never the kind of a girl that was dreaming about her Chanel bag
and never really wanted to have fancy Louis Vuitton shoes
or whatever you can get from Louis Vuitton.
The brands don't really impress me at all
But staying in beautiful place
or being surrounded by nature
that's been composed or worked into a beautiful beach
or a mountain
That's always been my bucket list.
That's always something that I work towards
and makes me very happy when I get to accomplish it.
First, I would say, I personally hate the in-between.
I either like to stay in a really really nice place
or really basic Homestay or Airbnb
or something that's like up to $100.
In Cuba, I stayed with a family for $12.
In Australia, we slept on a camper van for a week.
I loved that. I think it's basic. You have zero expectations.
You're happy if you take a shower that day.
But that way, it lets me save money
and stay in a luxury resort a few days later on.
Because, the amount of money I spend
for that amount of two weeks,
It's the same as if I spend
the entire two weeks staying at mediocre resort.
And the mediocre resorts, it's usually—
The pool is not quite there.
There is no view.
The bed's not comfortable.
Stuff are not cl—things are not clean.
Service is not great.
Food is okay.
I just rather stay with a family
or a super cheapy hotel that's usually family-based.
Super basic.
That's usually way better vibe than a medium hotel.
So that's my advice number one.
Because if I feel that if you stay at super cheap places
then you can really afford to do the expensive ones.
I did it in Guatemala where I stayed in super basic places
then we stayed in a fancy hotel in Belize.
Same in Australia. Same in Africa.
That's been my—that's the way I travel.
I usually avoid the medium hotels to be honest.
And the ratio is you're like,
"Whoa, Aggie! Okay, so you can save by staying
by sleeping in a camper van. But then—
it's still super expensive to stay in a fancy resort."
Well, my rule is
If you are to stay in fancy resort.
You should stay there. That's what I do.
I don't have much parents.
No one pays for my stay.
We have to both work. Me and Michael have to work for this.
We work hard-earned money to stay in these places.
I totally don't get people—
I mean, good for you if you can afford it—
But I don't get how you can stay seven days in a fancy resort
and check-in at 11 P.M.
Or not stay there and do all the activities around.
So the way I travel: I stay cheap.
Get to visit the entire area around it.
And then when I show up at the resort.
I am the—I bet you—
I'm the first person to check in
and the last one to leave
and I won't go anywhere.
Like, I don't care what's outside of the island.
I'm there for a day or two
and sometimes three
I've never stayed longer than three days at a fancy resort.
I just can't afford it. I can't imagine
just spending a week at this point of my life—
YET
I hope it will change— HINT HINT fancy hotels—
you can invite me for longer.
But bet your bottom dollar, I'm not leaving anywhere.
Like I'm staying there for sure for this entire time.
Just enjoying every single facility that's offered.
And I guarantee you after two days of sitting in your room,
even if it's the most beautiful, you're like
"Okay, now I need to change
I need to see what's out there."
And then you move.
Okay, speaking of check-in.
You usually can check-in around 3 P.M.
Maybe 4 P.M.
My piece of advice is if you can and if it's a fancy resort,
organize it so you can show up at the resort—
for example, I've done it a few times—
6 A.M. or 7 A.M. in the morning
and I apologize and I'm like
"I am really sorry.
But this is the way I've planned it
or the way I'm just showing up from the airport.
I know I can check-in until 4 P.M.
I don't wanna pay to check-in until 4.
But is it okay if I just hang out the pool
or enjoy and grab some lunch
or just leave my suitcase and I'll just be around."
I have never—
Because they are really nice resorts,
they will never tell you
now that you showed up
you have to go and leave.
They will always take care of you
because you're technically just showing up
before the check-in is allowed.
And it's totally fine.
This is a little sketchy, I know.
But it crossed my mind by accident
because the hotel transfer that we stayed in Australia
on Hayman Island
only offered to be picked up from mainland.
To get the boat, you could either go at 6 A.M
in the morning or 5 P.M.
So I'm like,
"I'm not going on 5 P.M.
and checking-in at 6 by the time I get to the island
because I'm gonna lose the entire day.
So I had to go early, and they just took care of us.
I'm like, "What if it worked in other places?"
And it has.
It does extend your stay a little bit.
Same at the check-out.
Say, "Would it be okay?"
and of course, it's at the discretion of the hotel.
So it's not like
I want you to take advantage of the hotels.
Cause it's not really cool.
But if you ask them,
"Hey, is that okay if we hang-out 'cause
we happen to arrive early,
or we happen wait for a flight?"
Or whatever.
And no one really cares if there's an extra person
at the pool for another two hours.
As long as you don't overstay and overuse their hospitality,
it's totally cool.
I hope (laugh).
I don't think— I'd say try to go out of season.
In-season prices are crazy.
I remember staying at Sri Panwa in Thailand
where their villa was $2500 per night—in-season.
And only $900 out-of-season.
So that's not too bad.
It's less than half-price.
One thing to keep in mind, of course:
It's always cheaper to stay
for example, on a fancy resort in Thailand or the Philippines
than it is to stay in the Maldives.
It's just because of the currency there, for instance.
Something to keep in mind
If you're dreaming
The quality of the hotel is just as good if not better.
Another tip that I can tell you is
to check out the website called Hotwire.com
and this is website where hotels
don't advertise themselves so low.
But they might still have some rooms available
that they put out there.
So you go to Hotwire's website and showing out
"Whoa, we have a hotel in Thailand or
on Phuket Island,
and it's $700.
It has 3 pools, 200 rooms,
and a golf course.
We're not gonna tell you what the name is,
but our price is $500 down from $2000"
advertising from the hotel.
And that's all you know from Hotwire.
Well, this is a lot of information,
because sometimes you have no guarantee
whether this is the exact same place
but based on that information,
you can drag down go to Booking.com
and find these places and find the location
and try to figure it out.
My biggest core is—
That works every time whenever
I stay on an island
especially when the hotel is
the only hotel on the island.
This totally worked for me a few times.
And I still remember when I was looking
at the prices for One&Only on Hayman Island, Australia.
And the price online was $1200.
I went to Hotwire.com and it said,
"There's a hotel on Hayman Island,
we're not gonna tell you what the name is
but it's $700"
It just happens that One&Only is the only hotel
on Hayman Island.
Because it's a private island.
So you have probably 99% chance
that you're gonna book this hotel.
'Cause that's very little risk,
knowing that there's only one hotel
and sure enough, it was One&Only.
So make sure you check Hotwire
because the prices are enormous
like $500—it's almost 50% off.
And next,
Be careful with transfers.
Again, there are hotels that
charged us, I don't remember,
up to $600 to a transfer
to a private island.
So it's always worth checking
or look on TripAdvisor or Expedia
to find out whether there is a cheaper way
of getting to and from the island, independently from the hotel.
Basically, whenever hotels offer transfers
or offer some sort of service,
like taxi, or anything really,
you're gonna pay premium.
So if you want to avoid that,
try to find a way to figure out
your own way of transport.
And I have been to islands that
you can only get by boat or helicopter,
and they offer helicopter.
But it's cheaper to rent a helicopter by yourself
than to rent it through a hotel, of course.
So just to keep something in mind.
Alright, one more thing.
I always always always travel with my own snacks
And it has nothing to do with staying in fancy resort.
I just hate being hungry.
I don't eat dairy. I don't eat meat.
I'm trying to avoid gluten or wheat in general.
That limits my choices by a lot.
I've just been in too many situations
where I was really hungry.
So I always bring some snacks with me
and it's proven very helpful for me so far.
I guess that's it.
These are my tips
of how I afford to stay in those fancy places
all around the world.
If you have any suggestions or any more questions.
Please let me know in the comments below.
And if you haven't subscribed to my channel,
there's somewhere at my head popping up.
Please do.
It's very important for me to connect with you
and to stay in touch, so that would be really great.
See you on my next video.
Bye!
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét