Staycation has been on my mind lately, I have also written a post on this subject some days ago, now this idea has returned to my mind and refused to budge. I just want a get-away from the mundane and humdrum work routine made worse by the current economic gloom and exacerbated by the senseless killing of the innocent in the Mumbai incident.
Traveling overseas should be better and if one were to visit neighboring countries, it would also be economical. Nearby places like Malaysia and Indonesia would seem decent choices, however I have personal reservations for visiting a neighboring country for I have read and heard stories (from real-life accounts of friends and news) of the hosts of crimes being perpetuated by the local criminals on Singaporeans and even on the locals, sometimes right in the eyes of the local law-enforcers. The relatively high number of traffic accidents involving travel coaches deters me too.
Our local media has been ramping up the idea of staycation recently, with an intense advertising publicity blitz on the local farm stays, is it a bid to encourage Singaporeans to spend more in the midst of the current recession so as to revive the economy? Plausible reasoning.
With a staycation in Singapore, the bulk of the related expenditure would be on local accommodation, mainly hotels, for a night of stay. I believe a night’s stay at the local hotel would be sufficient for a relaxing local get-away, at least for me.
I ran some checks on the accommodation charges at some of the better hotels here in Singapore, ‘better’ in the context of location: situated in the CBD or Sentosa. The prices are not so cheap after all, especially on weekends and nearer to Christmas and the New Year, the prices are high!
I finally decided on one local hotel after a ‘rigorous evaluation’ and the price seems fair, an amount befitting the ‘calibre’ of the hotel. Again, in this financially distressing time when ‘retrenchments’ and ‘cost cutting’ are fast becoming buzzwords, every little expenditure must be value for money, thus I decided to search for some online reviews about the hotel lest I rue not having done sufficient checks on my intended hotel if the accommodation turns awry.
With a few simple punches on the keyboard, I discovered a comprehensive hotel review website which is a boon to hotel idiots like me. I searched for the reviews of my intended hotel and was shocked at the multitude of negative reviews about the hotel! After perusing the reviews, I decided not to book the hotel.
The hotel review website underscores the importance of new social media to businesses and it can only be beneficial to customers like us. One bad service rendered by a business would be enough to send an irate customer turning to the internet and ‘proliferating’ his unpleasant experience and anger over the multiplicities of social networking sites, giving potential customers some ‘food for thought’ before their actual purchase of the goods or services.
Comments
Good to know there's a hotel review site. Most hotels features their establishments with a polished-up front n they can be deceiving. We had on occasions thru internet bookings, encountered hotels that were horribly sub-standard. Hv since booked via travel agents where we could ask for an alternative or a refund if things turn out bad.
Looking at Sg from afar, it seems there is enough to do there. So much efforts has been put in with The Flyer, Sentosa, beach-chalets (my fave). I love going to the Botanical Gardens n then jalan all the way to Orchard n then jalan some more. Awesome sight there with so much buzz. The crowd just makes it cozier, doesnt it ?
Island hopping in Singapore is not common yet as it has not really been commercialized, till now, it is for the rich and famous mainly.
Singapore has originally 63 islands but many of them have been merged or earmarked for certain development, leaving only a few natural islands for exploration :)