Im in the midst of trying to find us a hotel room. Im frustrated and discouraged and maybe the YMCA is not looking like such a bad option anymore. I’ve scoured Expedia and TripAdvisor and Orbitz and Agoda and pfffftttthhhhh, I feel like I go around and around. Its frustrating and annoying how different hotels are in different places. In the US- Im a fan of the Country Inn– thats where we stayed when we were in Virginia this summer and it was great. The room was clean, there was free breakfast, free internet, coin laundry right across from our room which was used numerous times, coffee and tea all day, cookies in the evening.  In Asia I’ve found that they don’t so much do TWO queen beds. You can get A queen bed or you can get two twin beds. This is not helpful for a family of four. In fact when I search on expedia or one of those sites I only put in 1 child because otherwise I get the big error “number of guests exceeds max allowed.” I really am not prepared to pay for two rooms. Suites are too expensive.

I told PC last night that there needs to be a website that is like that lending tree commercial “where banks compete for your business.” I want to enter what it is I want, how much Im willing to spend and then let someone else do the legwork. PC is a big fan of the ’boutique’ hotels in Asia, Im more of a grandiose kind of gal….I like the piano in the lobby, the spa, high tea in the lobby etc. But, now that we have kids only three things are really important: pool, internet and free breakfast. My hunger goes from 0-99 quickly and my children have inherited those traits. PC knows all too well that it saves us all a lot of wear and tear if we just have to go downstairs to eat breakfast right away instead of fumbling around trying to find a place to eat and HOW LONG TIL WE GET THERE and etc. etc.

Most of the hotels we look at have pools. Thats an easy one. Very few have free internet and free breakfast. I sort of feel if we are paying $200-$250 a night there better be some damn muffins in the morning. Charging for internet is such a nickle and dimey cheap trick. Like airlines charging for luggage. I’d way rather pay $20 more in the price than have all these “hidden” charges. We’ve been warned by everyone who has been before us that Singapore is expensive, so I know we’re not going to find any real bargains, I just don’t want to choke when I see the final hotel bill.

What do you look for in a hotel? PC and I like to play the “if money were no object” where would we stay game. I’ll put the question to you: if money were no object, where would you go and where would you stay? I demand answers.

Filed under: Travel