1.29.2009

Alternative Accomodations

We're taking the vacation of a lifetime in a month, and it's not cheap. Most of our vacations involve road trips and stopping to see sights along the way- typically drive-able day trips. Thanks to a cousin's destination wedding in Hawaii, however, we're taking the plunge and actually flying somewhere. I used to live in Hawaii, but can you believe my husband's never even been on a plane? This should be interesting.

We started by checking the typical travel sites for hotel deals... but everything was astronomical to us Midwesterners. Around here, a nice hotel is $100 a night, and everything we were finding in Hawaii was way more- the hotels with the worst reviews hovered around $100 a night. Then an idea occurred to us- we would rather support small, local business than international hotel chains anyway, so why not investigate bed and breakfasts?

We find a bed and breakfast on each of the islands we'll be staying on, and are super-excited about them. Our hosts seem friendly and ready to help, and I feel better knowing I'm not getting cookie-cutter treatment, but I'm staying in a more personalized place. Besides- I think hotel beds are gross.

Surprisingly, though bed and breakfasts are lower-volume than hotels, their prices were significantly below hotel prices, even with online or even employee-family discounts (I have connections!). As a bonus for me who grew up in Hawaii, we'll be staying away from the "touristy" areas and I'll be able to show my husband more of the local scene. From this experience, whenever we travel, near or far, we'll be looking for the local, "grassroots" accommodations, for both cost savings and better service!

1 pennies for thoughts:

Anonymous said...

My husband and I got married on a beach on Maui. We didn't want to stay in a hotel or resort either. I searched and found a great website called VRBO (vacation rental by owner). We found a privately owned condo, with an ocean view and full kitchen in December/January for $130 night! It was beautiful, and an excellent deal. Also, with the full kitchen, we saved a ton of money by cooking a lot of meals ourselves. Enjoy your trip and I hope your cousin has a wonderful wedding. Jen



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