Staycationing

I recently heard from a TV news program about the word above. The news reported that it is the latest trend in vacation in  Metro Manila where families stay in hotels and resorts within the same locality instead of going out-of-town.

photo courtesy of www.abs-cbnnews.com

I was surprised to hear about it because we've been doing that for more than 10 years now and we didn't know that there was a term used for such.  Wikipedia defines  staycation (also spelled stay-cation, stacation, or staykation) as "a neologism for a period of time in which an individual or family stays and relaxes at home, possibly taking day trips to area attractions." It added that staycations became popular in the US during the 2007 to 2010 financial crisis. It also caught in the UK in 2009 when the weak pound made overseas holidays significantly more prohibitive

We usually stay in hotels during birthdays, anniversaries and especially  new year's eve to avoid the smoke and noise that accompany it. We normally stay in hotels located in the makati or ortigas area, and  choose accommodations near malls, have facilities like swimming pool and gym, and if possible those offering complimentary buffet breakfast.

Aside from the group buying sites that have become popular nowadays, we usually book our accommodation through a travel website and this one which we always use,  normally have special promos for locals and expatriates. It's the Asiatravel.com. 

In our over ten years of transacting with Asiatravel, so far we haven't encountered any problems, like security in on-line booking, room reservations, etc. The only thing I don't like about the new presentation of room prices in the website is they have excluded the cost of the taxes and service charge from the room prices showed. You need  to book or simulate one before you get the total (net) price of a room.

Before we actually book, we normally check with tripadvisor for comments of other travellers who have stayed in the hotel.

 Do you also go on staycations?