Travel In Style (Without Breaking The Bank) – Part 2 of 2

Travel Buzz

“Cancellable.” That’s the key word when booking an accommodation. Like your lovelife, you need to be prepared to let go. You can lock-in your habibi and hope that everything goes as planned until such time that you will come to the realization that it was not or will ever meant to be. As mentioned in my previous post (Deconstructing A Myth: Travel Is Only For The Rich?), you have to book early so that you can lock-in the cheaper prices. But always make sure that it’s “cancellable” in case your plans don’t push thru.

So how do I get decent accommodation when I travel without spending too much? How do you choose among so many options? I try to simplify my life thru loyalty. As you probably have seen in my previous posts, I’m very loyal: 5 frequent flyer loyalty programmes (Travel In Style Part 1), loyal foodie (Mendokoro Ramenba: Arguably The Best Ramen In Manila), loyal to self (The Joys Of Travelling Solo), and now hotel loyalty program. Like your lovelife, you need to be loyal to avoid any drama. In the last 14 years, I have been a Le Club Accor member. I started by subscribing to this loyalty programme where you pay an amount which is about the same as a night stay in their 5 star hotel but comes with perks (aside from a free night stay in any of their hotels worldwide, you get 50% off on group dining at Spiral (Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila), access to periodic room sale, 15% discount on food and drinks, member for a day voucher, birthday cake, etc.). Last year, I forgot to renew my subscription and Accor thought that I was not renewing so they sent me a loyalty card (which has most of the perks as having a subscription) which I can keep for free if I continue to stay in their hotels for at least 10 nights per year. Not bad for a regular traveler like me.

So why Le Club Accor? This loyalty club is like a basket of hotel brands that cater to low, mid, and high end accommodations. There’s a brand for you if you are on a tight budget, and a brand if “money is no object” to you. Some of their low-end brands (less than $60 per night) are Ibis, Ibis Styles, and Adagio. Their mid-scale brands ($60 – $160) are Grand Mercure, Sebel, Novotel, and Mercure. High-end brands ($160 up) are Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Rixos, M McGallery, and Pullman. Sometimes, the prices can overlap depending on the location and the season. Say you can stay in a high-end brand in Istanbul for the same price as a mid-scale brand in Athens. But what made me stick to this programme are the cancellable option, all-year round member’s special rate, periodic room sale, and points that you earn every time you stay in their hotels on top of the perks that were previously mentioned. The cancellable option gives you the flexibility to cancel at least a day before your stay (no booking platforms such as Agoda and Expedia can match that cancellation policy). The member’s special rate and the room sale will offer you with bargain prices and options. The points you earned and accumulated for every stay are convertible to cash vouchers that you can use to pay for your next stay. If I could remember it right, it’s one point to a dollar, so if you have spent $1,000 for a 10 night stay in one of their low or mid-scale hotels, that’s 1,000 points. For every 2000 points, you get I think $60 dollars voucher. So that’s about a free night stay in one of their low to mid-scale accommodations. They also have this accelerator point system (additional points you get which sometimes doubles up the actual points from your stay) which up to this time I still have no idea how it is computed, but there was a time when I have raked in more than 18,000 points which I have converted to 9 cash vouchers of 40 euro each (yeah, you have the option to redeem your points in dollar or euro). That’s 9 free night stay in their low-end accommodation (low-end here means 3-star hotel, so not that shabby I guess).

Though they have extensive presence across Europe, Asia and Oceania, Accor hotels are limited in US and Africa. That’s why there would be trips where I have to make use of Agoda or Expedia, but you also need to be smart when using these booking platforms. Credit card companies do not only have tie ups with airlines but also with hotels and their booking platforms. So it is not rare where credit card promos will include discounts on these platforms of up to 10%. So if I have a planned trip, I would check out which of my credit cards (I mentioned in my previous post that I have two, Citi and BDO Amex) have hotel and/or booking platform promos. Booking smart does not only mean being on a lookout for discounts, but also knowing how to book to get the least price. So say you are going to 2 or 3 destinations, where you are indifferent to the order of the trip. To be specific, say you are going to Auckland and Wellington for 2 weeks and you don’t really care whether you want to do Auckland first or Wellington. Booking smart means that for the same Auckland and Wellington hotels that you are interested in, you need to check the prices of Auckland for the first week and Wellington on the 2nd week and compare it if you do Wellington on the first and Auckland on the following week. You’ll be surprised that hotel prices can go up between weeks for whatever reason (I’ll say there may be a scheduled convention or event on that week where the prices are much higher). You can then arrange the order of your trip depending on which order will have you end up spending so much less. Yeah it’s a lot of work, just like your lovelife.

There are also ways to save up from just planning your trip alone (and I’m not referring to airfares and hotel prices). From the same example above, say you have decided to do Auckland on the first week and Wellington on the second week coz that would give you the least price. Say you have booked a roundtrip ticket from Manila to Auckland (Manila-Auckland-Manila) and booked a domestic flight between Auckland and Wellington (Auckland-Wellington-Auckland). When booking that domestic flight, you can check if there is a return flight to Auckland just a few hours before you can catch your return flight to Manila. This means you no longer have to stay in Auckland for a night just to catch your Manila flight. This will save you roundtrip airport transfers which is very expensive in some cities (between $30 to $50 per trip depending on the distance of the airport from the city, or about $60 to $100 roundtrip, or equivalent to a night hotel accommodation). Depending on your budget, you can also plan your activities without spending a lot. Like instead of booking a guided tour for your desired place of interest, why not read about that place first and then do your own tour? You can do the hop-on-hop-off bus to familiarize yourself with your new environment, but you can also learn how to use the subway (particularly the complex ones like those in Tokyo) to get to the different touristy sites that you have always wanted to see. There are also ways to save up on subway tickets (ie 24 hour pass, 7-day pass, reloadable card, etc.). The only thing that I would strongly advise not to scrimp on is on food. My Mom used to say that you can be stingy on most things but not on food. Trips are best enjoyed with good food and lots of walking to burn those calories.

Who knows, getting fit (both body and bank account) from your trips will get you your next lovelife.

(Left) Lunch by the beach. My Mom said don’t scrimp on food, so I’m having mini burgers, fries, soda plus Vitamin D from the sun 😉 (Right) Lounging by the beach. Don’t I look fit from all the walking? (Super Paradise Beach Club)